To alleviate the rather high unemployment rate in the country, President Barrack Obama has issued an executive order for the hiring of fresh graduates and taking on interns in the federal workforce.
 The order issued on December 29, 2010, gives undergraduates and fresh graduates the opportunity to be hired in the federal service.
 The new policy is to allow the Federal Government benefits from a diverse workforce that includes students and recent graduates, who infuse the workplace with their enthusiasm, talents, and unique perspectives.
“ The existing competitive hiring process for the federal civil service, however, is structured in a manner that, even at the entry level, favors job applicants who have significant previous work experience. This structure, along with the complexity of the rules governing admission to the career civil service, creates a barrier to recruiting and hiring students and recent graduates. It places the Federal Government at a competitive disadvantage compared to private-sector employers when it comes to hiring qualified applicants for entry-level positions,” the Obama pointed out.
 To compete effectively for students and recent graduates, Obama said that “the Federal Government must improve its recruiting efforts; offer clear paths to Federal internships for students from high school through post-graduate school; offer clear paths to civil service careers for recent graduates; and provide meaningful training, mentoring, and career-development opportunities. Further, exposing students and recent graduates to Federal jobs through internships and similar programmes attracts them to careers in the federal government and enables agency employers to evaluate them on the job to determine whether they are likely to have successful careers in Government.”
Under the new arrangement, the Internship Programme and Recent Graduates Progamme offices are being established to be coordinated by the Pathways Programme in the office of the director of  the office of personnel management.
The office of the director of personnel management is to issue regulations implementing the Pathways Programme which includes
 (a) Description of the positions that executive departments and agencies (agencies) may fill through the Pathways Programs because conditions of good administration necessitate excepting those positions from the competitive hiring rules;
(b) Rules governing whether, to what extent, and in what manner public notice should be provided of job opportunities in the Pathways Programmes;
(c) A description of career-development, training, and mentorship opportunities for participants in the Pathways Programmes;
(d) Requirements that managers meaningfully assess the performance of participants in the Pathways Programmes to identify those who should be considered for conversion to career civil service positions;
(e) a description of OPM oversight of agency use of the Pathways Programmes to ensure that (i) they serve as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the competitive hiring process, and (ii) agencies are using the Pathways Programs in a genuine effort to develop talent for careers in the civil service;
(f) a description of OPM plans to evaluate agencies’ effectiveness in recruiting and retaining talent using the Pathways Programmes and of the satisfaction of Pathways Programs participants and their hiring managers; and
(g) standard naming conventions across agencies, so that students and recent graduates can clearly understand and compare the career pathway opportunities available to them in the federal government.
Specifically, the Internship Programme shall provide students in high schools, community colleges, 4-year colleges, trade schools, career and technical education programmrs, and other qualifying educational institutions and programmes, as determined by OPM, with paid opportunities to work in agencies and explore federal careers while still in school. The Internship Program would replace the existing Student Career Experience Programme, established pursuant to Executive Order 12015 of October 26, 1977. The following principles and policies shall govern the Internship Programme:
(a) Participants in the programme shall be referred to as “Interns” and shall be students enrolled, or accepted for enrollment, in qualifying educational institutions and programmes, as determined by OPM.
(b) Subject to any exceptions OPM may establish by regulation, agencies shall provide Interns with meaningful experience of the intern.
(c) Students employed by third-party internship providers but placed in agencies may, to the extent permitted by OPM regulations, be treated as participants in the Internship Programme.
On the other hand, the recent Graduates Program shall provide individuals who have recently graduated from qualifying educational institutions or programs with developmental experiences in the federal government intended to promote possible careers in the civil service. The following principles and policies shall govern the Recent Graduates Programme:
(a) Participants in the programme shall be referred to as “Recent Graduates” and must have obtained a qualifying degree, or completed a qualifying career or technical education programme, as determined by OPM, within the preceding 2 years, except that veterans who, due to their military service obligation, were precluded from participating in the Recent Graduates Programme during the 2-year period after obtaining a qualifying degree or completing a qualifying programme shall be eligible to participate in the Programme within 6 years of obtaining a qualifying degree or completing a qualifying programme.
(b) Responsibilities assigned to a Recent Graduate shall be consistent with his or her qualifications, educational background, and career interests, the purpose of the Recent Graduates Programme, and agency needs.