By Bret Clark
The federal administration announced an intern program hoping to attract more qualified employees.
The U.S. Office of Personal Management, under executive order, released plans to develop guidelines for hiring of interns that the entire administration will follow.
Edmund Byrnes, of the Office of Personal Management, said his department will establish general guidelines and require other divisions to develop their own programs within those guidelines.
Under the program, agencies will be able to automatically hire interns who have performed well instead of requiring them to go through the normal extended process of hiring.
“If you have proven you are a good worker, you don’t have to prove it again. You can just be hired,” Byrnes said.
The program will also regulate how much interns may be paid, and puts a two year limit on an internship.
Byrnes said internships will be in professional, scientific and administrative positions.
BYU has sent interns to work in these types of positions for many years, said Scott Dunaway, director of BYU’s Washington Seminar.
Dunaway said some departments in the federal administration already have intern programs set up like the one proposed.
“I think President Clinton is trying to create a system that standardizes internships,” he said.
There are two main reasons more people have not been attracted to internships in the federal administration, Dunaway said. People are not informed and the competition for internships available is very high, he said.
“(The program) will make career possibilities in the federal bureaucracy more widely understood,” Dunaway said.
He said the Clinton Administration, despite some controversy, has been good for the intern program. About six interns from BYU have served in the White House under President Clinton and had good experiences, Dunaway said.
The Office of Personal Management plans to have its regulations completed by late fall, Byrnes said. From there agencies will have to develop their own regulations and should be able to benefit from this program by June 2001.
Aaron Roueche, a graduate student from Virginia studying public policy is working as an intern now for the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.
“My internship has gotten me excited about working for a good cause. It has opened possibilities and experiences,” he said.
Roueche has been working there for about three months, and said the experience has opened up options for him. He said working in the federal government is definitely one option for his future plans.
Dunway expressed some concern that the administration that will replace Clinton’s may have a different program in mind. If that is the case, this program may never be put in use.
