Guess WHO is Hiring 10,000 new employees a month?

Did you say the US government? That is correct.

Kate one of my career counseling clients, is a 50-year old Marketing Communications professional. I told her the federal government was a good job prospect for her. She had not even considered the feds as an employer since she assumed for her the salary would be too low. She was wrong. Right now our federal government is adding more jobs than any organization out there. They are hiring adding nearly 10,000 workers a month! The government has not hired this many people this fast during the last 50 years. So that is great news if you land one of these jobs that are offering excellent salaries and numerous benefits.

Want more good news? This may shock you – it surprised me. The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries, according to a USA TODAY, is 19 % of all federal employees. That’s correct 19% of federal employees are making salaries of $100,000 or more – and that’s without overtime pay and bonuses are added in. The newspaper noted that the total number of federal workers earning $100,000 or more is 382,758 employees – and growing! In fact, the government has had a 46% increase in the number of workers hired since the recession started were added to the payroll earning over six figures.

Politicians may argue about why and how this is happening but the good news is that job hunters actually have a good place to look for a decent paying job. The government hires people in numerous locations throughout the US (and world if you really want an international job.)

I took to the federal jobs website since many previous clients told me it was a difficult task to actually identify potential job openings. Kate did a search but found no openings, I did the search and found 4 great ones for her. So, together I took her by the hand (her on her computer, me on mine as we talked) to teach her HOW to find the openings. Then we began to read through the job requirements which she said was applying for these opportunities can “be a daunting feat” if she hadn’t had me there helping her lead the way.

The government is hiring – you want to be one of them. Here are some sure-fire strategies to more quickly locate Federal Jobs openings, tips on doing applications and ways to enhance your chances of being called for an interview.

• Go to the federal job openings website

• Determine if jobs are available where you live, do your first search listing only state + do not select any other criteria – example I searched “Washington” since I live in the Seattle area and I got 1078 job openings in my state.

• Review these more quickly by clicking on the “Job Summary” heading at the top of the listings. This puts the listings in alphabetical order so you can more easily scan for job titles BUT be warned – it only did 1000 and then it stopped.

• If you want to do a narrow search and only consider jobs near where you live click on the “advance search” link under the WHERE box at top of page. This lets you select some criteria...

• Pick a TITLE search word such as “writer” or “project” this selection pulls job with that word in the JOB TITLE. Where as Manager is to broad the word “Project” finds project manager jobs.

• If you prefer a certain agency, i.e. FBI or Veterans Affairs you can search to see if what jobs that agency has open.

• Listings often cover several areas that have the same opening. Also pay attention to the level advertised. Many openings have varying levels such as one GS 8 job and then one GS 10 with the GS 10 requiring more experience and skills which is why it’ll pay a higher salary.

• The listing has several tabs across the top. Read each one which are in order: Overview; Duties; Qualifications; Benefits + other info; HOW TO APPLY.

• Carefully follow and complete everything needed in their application process. It can be very lengthy. Some involve added questions others have special requirements that you must have to be considered.

• Be sure you apply BEFORE the closing date.

• Always CUSTOMIZE your resume and be sure you hit the major qualifications asked for before you submit for any government job.

The largest employer in the country is the Federal government. The application process is often cumbersome, but persevere, my clients are applying and the government is calling!

© Copyright 2010 Robin Ryan. All rights reserved.