Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Partnership for Public Service will launch a Virtual National Career Services Conference next week, utilizing the world wide web.

"When we last teamed up with the Partnership for Public Service to produce a conventional, bricks and mortar National Career Services Conference here in Washington in 2003, we had about 400 attendees," said OPM Director Linda Springer upon announcing the new initiative. "When we launch the Virtual National Career Services Conference on June 5, we'll obviously have the potential to reach a much greater audience throughout the nation, and at a much lower cost," she indicated.

Springer will offer the conference's opening remarks -an overview of the many rewarding Federal employment opportunities available both now and in the near future-when the Virtual National Career Services Conference commences simultaneously at 11:00 a.m. on June 5 at www.opm.gov and www.ourpublicservice.org.

In addition to the promise of more effective and efficient outreach, Springer said the Virtual National Career Services Conference will also be enhanced by new content, as well as an ongoing distribution channel designed to foster participation well beyond the conference's conclusion on June 7. "Beginning on June 8, both OPM and the Partnership have committed to featuring all 12 conference panels on our respective web sites for the remainder of the year," said Springer.

Following Springer's opening remarks, presentations during the first day of the conference will include a session on "Finding and Applying for Jobs with the Federal Government" and a panel of new employees from five agencies: State, Transportation, Commerce, Homeland Security and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

"The new employees panel features young people talking about why they chose to work in the Federal government," noted Springer. "In a very compelling way, they share their own experiences in career development and making an impact in public service," said the Director. The final panel on the conference's first day features a panel discussion of "Business and Accounting in the Federal Government."

The conference will resume on June 6 at 11:00 a.m., featuring a presentation on "Student Programs in the Federal Government" followed by three panel presentations focused on mission-critical occupations in the Government: "Information Technology in the Federal Government", "Science and the Environment in the Federal Government" and "National Security and Criminal Justice in the Federal Government."

The last day of the conference, June 7, will also begin at 11:00 a.m. with the panel "Engineering in the Federal Government", followed by "Medicine and Public Health in the Federal Government." The conference will conclude with the panels "Conducting a Campaign to Promote Federal Service on Your Campus" and "Conducting a Federal Career Day and Building Sustainable Relationships with Federal Agencies."

In addition to reaching the general public, the Virtual National Career Services Conference specifically aims to provide university career services professionals with valuable resources to use in counseling their students on the opportunities available in the nation's civilian workforce.

The conference is especially targeted to the 600 colleges and universities around the country that participate in OPM's and the Partnership for Public Service's Call to Serve initiative. Students, faculty and staff at the approximately 250 graduate schools belonging to the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) have also been invited to participate.

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