Internships will be exempt from federal hiring freeze, White House says

College and high school students: Resume that summer job search.

A federal hiring freeze announced last week will not affect government internships, the White House said Tuesday.

President Trump ordered the civilian hiring freeze last Thursday. Guidance issued two days later said there were exemptions for national security and public safety.

That left students and colleges concerned: How would the freeze affect internships?

The answer came Tuesday in the form of new guidance issued by the acting directors of the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management. That document said the government's paid Pathways Internship and Presidential Management Fellows programs would  be exempt from the freeze.

"Agencies should ensure that such hires understand the provisional nature of these appointments," the guidance reads, "and that conversion is not guaranteed."

Normally, the programs have an option for the government to "convert" interns to employees after internships end.

The internship program is for current students in high school or college; presidential fellows are recent graduates with advanced degrees such as doctorates or law degrees.

However, the document notes that the Recent Graduates program is not exempt. Under that program, those within two years after graduation were eligible for a year of employment, with career training and mentorship.

The guidance ends a week of confusion for schools and students. Various federal agencies and departments also appeared unsure what to do, referring questions from one office to another.

Beyond internships, the guidance declares several groups exempt from the hiring freeze, including seasonal employees. The spokesman for the National Park Service, which manages several historic sites in the Philadelphia region, said parks have about 10,000 seasonal employees each year, 8,000 of whom work during the summer.