Hiring Bonanza
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Joanne Moffett, human resources chief for the Defense Security Service, has set up special recruiting days for college grads. Graduates are invited to DSS to spend a day with investigators to learn about the agency. Moffett's staff helps the grads fill out application forms. Moffett says the recruiting days work better than job fairs, in which she would have to compete with high-profile agencies such as the FBI and Secret Service. As a result, this summer's class of trainees will include 45 future investigators, up from the typical 25. "We got a better than expected return," she says.
The FBI, meanwhile, received 47,000 applications for special agent jobs between February and June. That's more applications than the bureau has received in the last four years combined. The agency had hired about 500 agents as of June and expected to hire the remaining 400 by the end of the year. "We do have people from other federal agencies who want to come to the FBI to get at the forefront of homeland security," says Joseph Bross, the FBI's recruitment supervisor.
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Agencies also add to their applicant pools by offering online hiring. The FBI accepts applications on FBIJobs.com, while the INS, which has received 140,000 applications for Border Patrol and immigration inspector jobs, takes applications through OPM's Web site.
All of the extra hiring means business is booming at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. The Treasury Department's academy in Glynco, Ga., offers boot camp and refresher training for many federal law enforcement officers. Enrollment at the center has almost doubled this year to 50,000 trainees, up from 26,000 last year.
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