The State Department recently announced, through an article in Foreign Policy, that it has “temporarily suspended hiring” through the Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF), one of the only pathways for young people to get into government. The Class of 2016 PMF Facebook group and GroupMe chat application erupted in a tirade of confusion, disappointment, exasperation, and a subliminal understanding that has become all-too-familiar for Millennials serving in the Trump Administration.
Though one month after the announcement our fellowship class has yet to receive official guidance announcing or detailing the suspension, at least it wasn't announced in a tweet, we joked.
The Presidential Management Fellowship, along with the Boren and Rangel/Pickering fellowships form the holy trinity of prestigious recruitment programs hiring top graduates into federal government. Some 6,000 young people apply to the Presidential Management Fellowship every year, drawn to public service because of a generational imaginary bookended by September 11, 2001 and November 8, 2016. Only five percent—roughly 400 students—make it through the rigorous, multistage application and interview process, and less than half of that number ultimately land positions in government. Still, these fellowships are our best bet to break into the public sector.
The State Department announcement regarding PMF hiring is just one in a series of hiring cuts targeting the Millennial talent bloodline and significantly damaging and depleting the continuous flow of non-partisan, unelected future government leaders.
The purpose of these federally funded fellowships is to attract, develop, and retain a diverse pool of top-performing graduate students, providing a “continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service.” The PMF program, for example, was created by Executive Order in 1977 to ensure young people with valuable skills and management potential would come to Washington—and stay. The fellowship has arduous requirements on top of the regular 9-to-5 in order to guarantee these graduates evolve from entry-level employees into managerial roles during the course of the two-year program. The goal is to “develop a cadre of potential government leaders” that will execute the back room governance and implement each administration's policies while the elected officials and their political appointments do the visible politicking with flags flying in the background.
If we cut these programs sourcing some of the best candidates America has to offer, who will fill the vacuum left by the exodus and expulsion of dedicated lifelong public servants?
At a time when generational diversity is a critical staffing concern in Foggy Bottom, less than seven percent of the federal government is under 30—and this proportion is likely to shrink even further as these legacy programs are redefined or discontinued. The U.S. government, which has already sponsored tuition and security clearances for the most recent recipients of the Diplomacy Fellows Program (DFP) and Rangel and Pickering fellowships, is telling new fellows that their positions have been drastically edited or altogether removed. A handful of PMFs from the 2016 and 2017 fellow classes who have already accepted offers and received clearances from several agencies, including the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID), have been patiently awaiting onboarding dates only to discover their agencies cannot actually hire them. Not only have the bureaus failed to communicate these changes to the fellows, but when fellows have called for clarification, for example, following the Foreign Policy piece, neither Human Resources nor their employing bureau seemed to have a uniform understanding of the hiring freeze or its fine points in terms of implementation.
The Class of 2017 Fellows, and Millennials across the U.S., beholden to their youthful idealism and altruism, are discovering that this administration does not prioritize or appreciate their diversity, skills, or motivation to serve. #DrainTheSwamp, Trump's draconian attempt to cut costs and reduce a swollen public workforce, appears as an ill-conceived laceration of the elements required for America to advance, prosper, and remain secure. In this hostile ecosystem of what Roger Cohen appropriately cites as a “rudeness and remoteness” atypical between career public servants, their respective agencies, and the administration, serious questions about the future of the federal workforce are increasingly pressing: Who can we count on to stay? Where will candidates with critical language skills, students that excel in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and exceptional writers and historians take their talents?
Members of the current fellowship classes are fed up and being told to leave DC; the next generation of public servants might not come.
The views expressed in this piece belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Department of Defense or the United States Government.