Office of the Secretary Management Intern Program

Upon successful completion of the program, interns are permanently placed within one of the Office of the Secretary’s Policy, Management, and Budget offices. The OSMIP contains three core components:

• Training
• Rotational assignments
• Mentoring

Training

Each intern is required to complete a prescribed curriculum of leadership and management courses. The curriculum is based on the Office of Personnel Management’s Executive Core Qualifications and develops knowledge and skill in areas such as:

• The Federal Budget
• Project Management
• Critical Thinking
• Strategic Planning
• Leadership Skills and Techniques

Online Learning
DOIU offers over 2,000 online courses that cover a variety of technical and non-technical topics. Interns are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this flexible training delivery to augment their skill development and intern experience.

Rotational Assignments

Interns complete six, four-month rotational assignments in various offices within the Office of the Secretary. The rotations are designed to provide practical and on-the-job experiences in the different disciplines. The interns have opportunities to learn from many high-level leaders in the federal management field.

Representative rotational opportunities include:

• Office of Law Enforcement and Security
• Office of Policy Analysis
• Office of Budget
• Office of Human Resources
• Office of Planning and Performance Management

Mentoring

Each intern benefits from participation in a structured mentoring program with a mentor of his or her choice. Mentors guide interns throughout the two-year program.

Mentors and protégés participate in formal training at the orientation and are involved in on-going activities over the course of the program. Many of these mentor/protégé relationships extend beyond program completion.

Vacancy Announcement

The Office of the Secretary Management Intern Program (OSMIP) is a two-year program designed to recruit, develop, and retain a group of diverse future leaders for the Department's management functions. Interns are recruited at the GS 7 level with promotion potential to the GS-12 and are officially assigned to the DOI University for the first two years of the program. Interns are hired under the Federal Career Intern Program hiring authority as Schedule B excepted service appointments. Upon successful performance in the two-year training component, interns are noncompetitively converted to a permanent appointment in the competitive service and are permanently placed within one of the Office of the Secretary's Policy, Management, and Budget offices. Schedule B excepted service appointments are offered the same health and life insurance benefits as competitive service appointees in addition to paid federal holidays, flexible work schedules, and transportation subsidies.

Application Requirements

At a minimum, each applicant must hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. All Office of the Secretary Management intern positions are located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. In order to qualify at the GS-7 level, applicants must have one full academic year of graduate education or law school or superior academic achievement OR one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-5 level. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

• Superior Academic Achievement is a GPA of 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
• Specialized experience is that which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and ability to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience for this position includes but is not limited to experience in policy formulation, program planning, program monitoring, and program evaluation.

How to Apply

The next class for this program is slated to begin in the winter/spring of 2010, and recruiting for this program will begin in the fall of 2009. Resumes are not being accepted at this time. Please continue to monitor this website for updates.

Click here for contact information.