PRESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT FELLOWS

Fellowships

Presidential Management Fellows
The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program serves as an innovative way to recruit new and young talent into the agency. The program attracts highly qualified persons with graduate degrees from a variety of academic disciplines, and prepares them to be effective leaders and managers.

Presidential Management Fellows (PMFs) are identified by the Office of Personnel Management as individuals with leadership potential. OPM uses a national competitive process that gauges competency in critical thinking, interpersonal skills, and commitment to public service.

Presidential Management Fellows have diverse sets of qualifications and backgrounds. PMFs include graduates of public policy, business management, natural resource management, law, public administration, and others. All PMFs have graduate degrees, either at the Master’s or Doctoral level. The PMF program provides an additional staffing tool to enhance the diversity and quality of the Forest Service workforce. The Forest Service intends to emphasize the leadership development and training aspects of the program to ensure Fellows are well prepared to compete for permanent placements in the agency and have a strong foundation to begin their careers as managers and leaders.

How much does FS use the PMF Program? FS hired 14 into the program this year -- the largest class of hires to date -- and has hired a total of 53 using the PMF program in the past 5 years. The agency is trying to increase the use of this program to bring new leaders on board. Masters and PhD students from a range of disciplines as well as JD students are encouraged to apply. The application process for the class of 2008 began in November 2007, finalists will be announced in March 2008, and fellowships will begin in the summer and fall of 2008. The process proceeds on a similar timeline each year.

Learn more about the Presidential Management Fellows program with the Forest Service.