The time is now if you want to get into a federal position--Washigton Post Jobs Section @ washingtonpost.com

JOBS CHAT, Washington Post Jobs Section, p. H-1

The time is now if you want to get into a federal position


Career counselor Derrick Dortch will chat about job searches

June 6, 2010
Derrick T. Dortch, president of the Diversa Group, is a career counselor who specializes in government job searches and military transition. This is adapted from a recent chat at washingtonpost.com.

Federal hiring freeze? I've heard from two people who do some hiring at large federal agencies in D.C. Both say they anticipate a hiring freeze in the federal government sometime in 2011. Can you say when this might occur and how we can anticipate it? Why would that happen? I plan to look for a new government job toward the end of this year.

Derrick Dortch: Hiring freezes are very much based on what agency you are talking to. There are expected to be increases in hiring in the departments of Defense, Homeland Security Justice and Health and Human Services and in the intelligence community. Each of these departments and the agencies under them will be hiring.

But when some agencies get more, other agencies will get less. As some agencies will be ramping up, some other agencies' budgets may stay the same or decrease depending on how appropriation dollars will be distributed.
Let me give you some examples. The FBI has said it needs to hire more than 800 personnel in 2011. I have talked to people from the U.S. Marshals Service and they indicated that they will need to hire hundreds of individuals. In my conversations with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, they have indicated they need to hire close to 100 personnel. In talking to various agencies that deal with procurement, they have indicated they need to hire about 100 personnel or more. The Bureau of Prisons is hiring a good number of people; the Department of Veterans Affairs is hiring; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is hiring.
Many agencies are hiring. If there is a time to look for a government job and get into the government, the time is between now and 2012, in my opinion.