Federal Workforce: OPM Needs to Take Additional Actions to Improve the Federal Early Career Talent Pipeline
Fast Facts
The Office of Personnel Management's Pathways Programs serve as a pipeline for bringing young employees into the federal government. But the programs have seen a 64% decrease in the number of hires since FY 2013.
Although efforts have increased the number of hires, OPM should do more to improve the programs, including:
Getting more data on year-to-year hiring fluctuations
Collecting feedback from program participants
Looking at lessons-learned to help recruit, hire, retain, and manage its early career talent pipeline
Our recommendations address these issues.
Highlights
What GAO Found
When it was established in 2010, Pathways consisted of (1) an internship program for current students, (2) a recent graduates program, and (3) the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program for individuals who obtained advanced degrees within the preceding 2 years. On Feb.19, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order (EO) 14217, which began the process of terminating the PMF program. The EO did not address the internship or recent graduates program that remain part of Pathways and include the majority of program participants.
GAO's analysis of OPM's data found that the overall hiring trend has shown a 64 percent decrease since the implementation of the programs in fiscal year 2013 but has fluctuated within that timeframe. OPM has analyzed and reported on hiring trends. But OPM has not determined the information needed to identify factors that impact hiring trends or developed a plan to collect and assess that information, which would better position it to understand hiring fluctuations.
While OPM has taken steps to collect feedback from agencies on the challenges of Pathways, it did not collect feedback from its participants. Without a plan to collect and evaluate feedback data from all participants, OPM is unable to determine whether participants are satisfied with the programs or faced challenges.
OPM has not established a lessons-learned process for Pathways. OPM identified agency successes in recruitment and outreach that may be used to improve Pathways hiring. Although OPM meets with agency officials about using Pathways, agencies continue to request additional information on making Pathways more effective. Without a process in place to collect and share lessons learned, OPM is missing an opportunity to leverage stakeholders' knowledge to improve the government's ability to recruit, hire, retain, and manage its early career talent pipeline.
Why GAO Did This Study
Pathways Programs (Pathways) can provide an early career pipeline for students and recent graduates to the federal government. According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Pathways are the primary vehicle for recruiting and placing students and recent graduates into federal internship and fellowship positions.
GAO was asked to review federal internship programs. This report examines the extent to which OPM has (1) increased internship and fellowship opportunities through Pathways, (2) collected information on any challenges from agencies and participants that could be used to improve Pathways, and (3) established a lessons-learned process for recruitment and outreach. GAO reviewed federal statutes, regulations, and guidance on Pathways. GAO also analyzed OPM data on Pathways hires from fiscal years 2013 to 2023—the most recent years of data—to identify demographic and other information on Pathways hires. GAO also interviewed OPM officials and organizations knowledgeable about students' advancement to obtain their views on OPM's efforts to increase internships and fellowships through Pathways.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that OPM develop and implement plans to collect and assess evidence to understand Pathways hiring trends, collect and evaluate feedback data from Pathways participants, and collect and share lessons learned associated with recruitment and outreach for Pathways. OPM concurred with all three recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Personnel Management | The Director of OPM should develop and implement a plan to collect and assess the evidence OPM needs to identify factors impacting hiring trends of existing Pathways Programs. (Recommendation 1) |
OPM concurred with the recommendation. As of September 2025, OPM stated that it is developing a process to systematically collect and analyze data to better understand the factors influencing hiring trends in the Pathways Internship and Recent Graduates Programs. According to OPM, this effort would allow it to better support agencies' use of the programs. To fully implement this recommendation, OPM needs to finalize its process, such as identifying the data needed and how the data will be collected, and implement its plan. Doing so would better position OPM to improve Pathways Programs and ensure they are well-utilized and responsive to evolving workforce needs.
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| Office of Personnel Management | The Director of OPM should develop and implement a plan to collect and evaluate feedback data from Pathways participants on their satisfaction with existing Pathways Programs. (Recommendation 2) |
OPM concurred with the recommendation. As of September 2025, OPM reported that it plans to administer a survey to current and former Pathways participants. The survey will gather feedback on overall experiences while in the program, level of satisfaction, and areas for improvement. According to OPM, it will administer the survey in fiscal year 2026 and at least every two years thereafter. To fully implement this recommendation, OPM needs to finalize and implement its plan for collecting and evaluating feedback data from Pathways participants. Doing so will inform OPM of participants' perspectives and help OPM improve the quality and impact of the programs.
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| Office of Personnel Management | The Director of OPM should develop and implement a process for collecting and sharing lessons-learned associated with recruitment and outreach for existing Pathways Programs. (Recommendation 3) |
OPM concurred with the recommendation. As of September 2025, OPM reported that it will (1) restart the Government-wide Recruitment and Outreach Community of Practice to support collaboration and knowledge-sharing across agencies, (2) continue to engage with agencies' Pathways Program Officers and Talent Teams, and (3) help agencies track hiring metrics and regularly update agency leaders. To fully implement this recommendation, OPM needs to carry out these or other actions to share information about recruitment and outreach for Pathways Programs. Doing so will help agencies strengthen their outreach efforts, recruit high-quality early career candidates, and manage their early career talent pipeline.
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