Intelligence community to host virtual career fair

You've heard on Federal News Radio about growing concern that the "ability of government agencies to fulfill their missions is in peril" without major hiring efforts.

The Intelligence Community is stepping up its efforts and changing the way, and perhaps the future, of federal hiring.

Coming to a computer near you is the Intelligence Community Virtual Career Fair on Tuesday, March 16th.

Dr. Elizabeth Kolmstetter, Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer for the Intelligence Community in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told the Federal Drive the she's excited about having a "cost effective way to attract a very tech savvy workforce" while at the same being able to have a greater geographic reach.

Most of the jobs available through the virtual fair will be located in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area, but now anyone can participate in the fair anywhere there's access to the internet, without paying travel expenses.

With "over a thousand, probably two thousand" positions available now in cybersecurity right now governmentwide and hundreds more in related fields available during the fair, Kolmstetter said there was no way of knowing exactly how many there are at this point. "We haven't even counted all of them because we have so many agencies."

The positions are in:

• Cybersecurity/Information Assurance
• Engineering and Physical Science
• Foreign Languages
• Information Technology
• Intelligence Analysis
• Law Enforcement, and others.

Agencies planning to participate in this first IC-wide virtual fair are:

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
• Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
• National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)
• National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
• National Security Agency (NSA)
• Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

In addition to the agencies, Kolmstetter said they plan to "have booths representing governmentwide benefits, diversity information, and opportunities for heritage Americans."

Actively recruiting "heritage Americans", or second or third generation Americans has distinct advantages to it. Diversity is critical to completing the IC mission, said Kolmstetter, with and increased understanding of ethnicity and cultural differences, as well as a "diversity of ideas. We see ourselves as a very innovative workforce and bringing a variety of background experiences and ideas is critical to us."

Kolmstetter said that more than 20,000 hits to the application website have been registered so far, and that applicants can register for the job fair right up until the day of the fair.

She reassures applicants that while there has been substantial interest in the openings, "if we don't have enough positions in one agency, we are looking for ways to share the resumes across to other agencies that still have openings so that this is a much efficient way to help applicants find jobs but also for us to staff."

Learn more about careers in the Intelligence Community on intelligence.gov, or apply directly at http://intelligence.gov/how-to-apply/submit-your-resume/.

You can also hear more about efforts to increase the federal IT workforce in an interview with Tim McManus, Vice President for Education and Outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, by clicking here.