Applicants sought for part-time baggage screening jobs
The Transportation Security Administration will start considering job applications from people who want to work part-time as baggage screeners at the nation's airports, a spokesman said Friday.
The security agency is currently seeking part-time screeners at airports in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Mobile, Ala.; Spokane, Wash.; and Maryland's Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). Candidates may apply to work on a part-time basis at other airports as well, but the agency may opt to hire only full-time screeners, according to TSA spokesman Brian Turmail.
"While we will accept part-time applicants at every airport, we don't know if we will hire them," he said.
TSA's announcement marks a shift in its initial recruitment strategy, which was to hire only full-time baggage screeners. But many qualified applicants said they could only work on a part-time basis, said Pamela Pearson, director of workforce creation at TSA, in a statement released Thursday. In addition, many applicants at BWI failed to show up for tests that prospective screeners must pass, while others did not apply at all because of confusion over the application deadline, according to Turmail.
Prospective screeners must first apply online or over the phone. Applicants who make it past this round are then directed to an assessment center, where officials with the testing firm NCS Pearson Inc. evaluate their language and motor skills. But in Baltimore, several qualified candidates didn't show up for testing, according to Turmail.
"What we have seen with Baltimore is a higher-than-anticipated number of no-shows and a higher-than-anticipated number of folks who decided they are not interested in the position [after applying]," he said.
Screeners can earn anywhere from $23,600 to $35,400 a year and get locality pay adjustments. They also receive standard federal benefits, including membership in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan and Federal Employee Retirement System. The agency has not decided whether screeners will be allowed to unionize or what kind of whistleblower protections they will have. TSA chief John Magaw has said the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act would not cover agency employees.
Screeners are recruited on an airport-by-airport basis. Airports in Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Chicago; New York; Minneapolis; Orlando, Fla.; and San Francisco are next up for screener recruitment. TSA is also hiring attorneys and security specialists for the Federal Air Marshal program, according to job announcements on the TSA website. For further information on screener and law enforcement jobs at TSA, call (888) 328-6172.