The San José Management Fellow program seeks individuals who have obtained Master’s degrees in public affairs, public administration, public policy, business administration, or related fields within the past three years.  Through their professional, academic, and extracurricular backgrounds, Management Fellows demonstrate strong leadership potential and a commitment to civic service.

Undergraduate coursework and work experience may not be substituted for graduate coursework.

UPDATE: Due to the City’s extraordinary budget challenges, the San José Management Fellowship Program is not recruiting new candidates for December 2009-November 2010. The Fellowship Program is still in operation, however. We are proud of our 23-year history, and currently have 3 Management Fellows active in department rotations citywide. The City plans to recruit new Fellows again in December 2010.

Normally, the Management Fellowship annually posts for recruitment on CityJobs from mid-December through late January. The process is competitive; the City typically receives close to 200 applications and only hires between 2-4 candidates.

The general recruitment and selection process is as follows:

*Note: The City of San Jose is proud of its longstanding partnership with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). As part of that partnership, the City serves as an annual host for ICMA’s Local Government Management Fellowship (LGMF). Applications received through ICMA are combined with those received on the CityJobs site and proceed along the same selection timeline above. The top candidates are selected from the full pool of Fellowship candidates, regardless of their application’s point of origin.

No.  The City relies on the Management Fellow program to bring in new talent and skills to the City’s workforce, therefore all applicants are evaluated equally regardless of where they live, where they are from, or where they attended school.  Management Fellows come from all over the United States and beyond.

No. The Management Fellowship is not an internship and Management Fellows are not interns.  The Management Fellow position is a full-time, paid, fully-benefited position in the City of San José that builds on prior training received in a relevant Masters program. At the time of the program’s start, Fellows should have completed their Masters program and graduated.

The Management Fellowship begins in early July.  Generally, start dates are not negotiable.  End dates are approximately a year after the start date, but are flexible and reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The City generally selects between two and four candidates annually.

The selection process is extremely competitive.  Every year the City receives many applications from candidates from all over the United States and beyond.  Most candidates have impressive professional, academic, extracurricular, and personal backgrounds.  The City received nearly 200 applications for Management Fellow positions during the 2009-2010 program cycle.

The non-negotiable starting annual salary for Management Fellows is about $60,500.  All incoming Management Fellows earn the same pay.

Yes.  Management Fellows are encouraged to seek out training opportunities offered through the City and outside of the City. The City of San José provides Management Fellows with $1,000 for approved educational and professional development pursuits.  Additionally, the City will sponsor Fellows’ memberships to approved professional associations like the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), and the Municipal Management Association of Northern California (MMANC).  The City sponsors’ all Management Fellows’ participation in the Annual Conferece of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

In addition to required new employee orientation and sexual harassment training, Management Fellows have access to the diverse menu of free trainings provided by the Human Resources Department, ranging from CPR, to professional development (7 Habits of Highly Successful People), to technical applications and leadership skills.