What is Open Opportunities?
Open Opportunities is a government wide program offering professional development opportunities to current federal employees and internships to students. The program facilitates collaboration and knowledge sharing across the federal government.
Benefits for federal employees and current students
Open Opportunities is for federal employees looking to gain additional experience, and students looking for internships. The program offers a wide variety of real world projects to work on.
By participating you can:
- Advance your career by sharpening skills, or learning new ones.
- Break out of your routine - collaborate with other employees across different agencies.
- Make new contacts and join a community of innovators.
- Work remotely or in-person - in fact 99.9% can be done remotely, so there are no travel costs (some internships are in-person only).
- Choose from a wide range of projects across the government - some may take as little as 1-2 hours, while others may take 20% time over several months.
Benefits for agencies and supervisors
Open Opportunities offers an easy way for agencies, departments and other areas of the federal government to:
- Connect the federal workforce—learn what other areas of the government are doing and share best practices.
- Gain interagency insights and points of contact.
- Tap into the talent and expertise that’s often buried in agency silos.
- Meet their mission, while offering professional development to fellow feds.
Collaboration and knowledge sharing across the federal government
Opportunities offer an easy way for agencies, departments and other areas of the federal government to:
- Meet their mission, while offering professional development to fellow feds.
- Learn what other areas of the government are doing and share best practices.
How does it work?
There are two ways you can participate.
Post an opportunity
You can create and post opportunities. Get help on projects, propose working groups, get testers for new ideas or products or create a team to work on an idea you have.
Work on an opportunity
You can apply to and work on opportunities that sound interesting. Choose from a wide range of projects and discover something new.
Can federal contractors participate?
Some federal contractors can post opportunities on behalf of their federal manager, but they can't apply to or work on an opportunity.
Does it cost anything to post an opportunity or participate in one?
No. You don't have to pay to pay to post an opportunity or participate in one.
Does it cost anything to create a community?
Yes, you have to pay to create a community on Open Opportunities. To learn more about how a cost-effective community can benefit your agency, email us at openopps@usajobs.gov