Aspiring Leader Program
Take the first step in your federal leadership journey.
About the ALP
The Aspiring Leader Program is a six-week program that prepares employees for leadership and professional growth. It is built on the premise that planning early in a career matters: participants leave with a strategy for personal leadership and career development. Designed for early-career professionals, the program is open to GS employees through GS-7 and individuals in comparable wage grade or private-sector roles.
Program Objectives
- Assess and identify current skills and competencies to improve performance
- Develop a plan outlining individual career development goals
- Identify barriers, and strategies for overcoming them
- Create a personal framework for practicing leadership
- Build foundational leadership skills
Who it is for
Employees at Up to GS-7 or equivalent. The program is for you if:
- You are eager to learn the foundational skills that lift your professional capability
- You want to grow in your career but need guidance on the steps that get you there
- You want to develop the skills behind personal success, not just technical ones
- You need help creating a personal brand inside your organization
Cohorts and dates
Runs Oct 19, 2026 to Nov 20, 2026. Ask us about the ALP.
Runs Jun 7, 2027 to Jul 16, 2027. Ask us about the ALP.
Runs Oct 25, 2027 to Dec 17, 2027. Ask us about the ALP.
Ask us to confirm the next cohort, or ask about running the program as a private cohort for a single agency.
What participants do
These are the completion requirements.
Attendance
Attend both weeks of training in full.
Bridge assignments
Complete the assignments set between the first and second weeks.
How the program is built
Individual development
Participants are taught how to manage a career deliberately, and build a career development plan they present to the class.
Assessments
Participants complete a self-awareness assessment, then use what it shows about themselves and others to shape a career strategy.
Experiential learning
Activities that push participants to ask questions, look outward, and practice the skill rather than read about it.
What comes out of it
For the participant
- Learn the fundamental competencies of leadership, and why a leadership mindset comes before a leadership title
- Work with people from other disciplines and other agencies
- Develop career-development strategies that cover the professional and the personal
- Gain insight into what actually motivates public service, including your own
- Build a peer network that outlasts the six weeks
For the organization
- Demonstrate a real commitment to professional development at the grades that rarely get it
- Reinforce continual learning as an expectation rather than a slogan
- Get back employees equipped with the skills and tools to advance
How to apply
Tuition is $2,995 and covers all materials. Most participants are funded by their agency on an SF-182.
Check the requirements
Read the program requirements above and confirm the grade range fits.
Get your agency’s approval
Your supervisor, and your training coordinator if you have one. Check whether your agency runs its own internal competitive process for these seats, because many do.
Register for the session
Choose the cohort you want and register.
Attach the funding document
A completed SF-182 or equivalent. If your agency is paying by government purchase card, give the name, email and phone number of the person responsible for payment instead. The application cannot be submitted without one or the other.
Confirmation
You will receive a confirmation on submission.
Enroll in the ALP at graduateschool.edu
Withdrawals and substitutions more than 14 days before the start are free, a cancellation inside 14 days carries a $1,000 processing fee, and once orientation begins the tuition is non-refundable. Full enrollment and refund policy.
Questions, call (202) 314-3580 or send us a note. Graduate School USA holds GSA Multiple Award Schedule contract 47QRAA24D004K, so a contracting office can order under FAR Subpart 8.4 without an open-market procurement.
Interested in the Aspiring Leader Program?
Tell us who you are putting forward and roughly when. We will come back with the next intake, what the application needs, and whether a private cohort makes more sense.