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OPA News Release: [02/12/2003]
Contact Name: Yvonne Ralsky
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

First Wave of MBA Fellows Arrives at Labor Department

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao welcomed the first class of MBA Fellows to the department’s workforce today. This class of business school graduates embarks on an intensive two-year training and development program during which they will gain key management skills for potential future advancement within the department’s mid- and senior-level ranks.

Secretary Chao launched The MBA Outreach program last June to attract business school graduates from across the country who can implement private sector approaches to managing Labor Department programs.

“Our effort to recruit MBAs is guided by the President’s call for a more results-oriented government and intended to address a looming management gap,” said Secretary Chao. “Now is the time to enlist and train these professionals so that they will have the experience necessary to fill management-level positions as senior staff retire.”

The number of federal government career executives eligible for retirement will swell substantially in the next five years. By recruiting business school graduates and providing such incentives as recruitment bonuses, the Labor Department attracted candidates with key management skills who could potentially fill the anticipated gaps in the mid- and senior-level management.

The program’s cornerstone is an intensive developmental program in which participants will rotate assignments among various agencies, create individual development plans and take advantage of mentors, networking and opportunities to “shadow” department leaders. Participants will be tasked with such projects as developing organizational studies, proposing new processes to maximize resource utilization, and assisting in fiscal planning.

The first class of MBA Fellows reported to the Department of Labor on Feb.10, 2003 to begin a one-week orientation prior to their first assignments. A second class of fellows is slated to arrive this summer.

The deadline for submitting applications for the second class of MBA fellows is April 20, 2003. For additional information on the Department of Labor’s MBA Outreach Program you may visit www.jobs.dol.gov or e-mail MBA-Fellows@dol.gov.

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