Job seekers with the skills needed to prevent another terrorist attack continue to be the No. 1 priority for federal hiring officials, according to two-year government hiring projections released this week by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.
The Department of Homeland Security expects to hire 22,000 airport screeners and more than 15,000 customs officers and border patrol agents during the next two years.
The FBI needs 3,700 criminal investigators, and myriad agencies - from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Department of Defense - need 3,670 intelligence analysts with foreign language skills.
But the demand in the national security field is much larger. The partnership was unable to cull data from the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency.
But based on estimates, the government is still trying to attain the robustness that is needed in a post-Sept. 11 world.
"As a nation, we're expecting our government to prioritize our physical security, and that's a relatively new phenomenon," said Max Stier, president of the partnership, which operates as a human resources think tank for the government.
Meeting these needs is expected to be difficult. The federal work force is older than the private sector, meaning the wave of retiring baby boomers is going to start sooner. In addition, the government can hire only U.S. citizens, which shrinks the pool of eligible applicants.
Other large areas of growth include the medical and public health field. The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that it needs about 28,000 workers - more than half of whom are nurses - for its hospitals.
The government also will need workers with enough business acumen to oversee private-sector contractors.
The Office of Personnel Management, National Security Agency and others have launched television ad campaigns in select cities nationwide to help with recruitment. Sign-on bonuses and tuition repayments also are a key tool, but not every agency is using them, according to the survey.
"Some agencies get it, and some don't," Stier said. "These are very powerful incentives, and without them, some people are financially precluded from joining the public sector."
Applicants have a better chance of earning perks at the Rockville-based Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for instance, than the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration.
The commission, which employs 3,200 full-time employees, awarded 180 recruitment bonuses worth more than $1.25 million and 31 student loan repayments in fiscal 2005 and 2006.
During the same period, Social Security, which employs more than 60,000 people, offered only 12 sign-on bonuses. The report did not list how much those bonuses were worth. Hiring at the agency has dwindled under congressional budget cuts.
"At the end of the day, if the money is not there, the money not there," Stier said. "We have to make sure Congress supplies the resources agencies need to fill critical positions."
If you're looking for a job with the government - or want to know where you're most likely to get a sign-on bonus - the survey is available at the Partnership's home page at ourpublic service.org/OPS/.
Passport solution?
The State Department is ordering 350 Washington-area diplomats and newly hired civil servants to New Hampshire and Louisiana to help clear 3 million pending passport applications this summer, according to the Associated Press.
Chosen workers will undergo a week of refresher training beginning Monday and arrive in New Orleans and Portsmouth, N.H., the next week.
The State Department is paying travel and accommodation expenses plus a per diem allowance for meals. Workers also will get one long weekend break over the two-month assignment.
Most of the people selected have worked for the agency for less than five years. Workers who have a "pressing family commitment" in Washington will be allowed to do the work from the local passport facility, according to the Associated Press.
The backlog is the result of new security measures. American travelers flying to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean are now required to show a passport. The rule, which took effect in January, has been suspended until the end of September, to allow the State Department time to catch up.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. The writer can be reached at melissa.harris@baltsun.com or 410-715-2885. Recent back issues can be read at baltimoresun.com/federal.