So I've been exploring government jobs for a while. Last year Congress passed a law that forgives student loan balances remaining after 10 years of working for the government or non-profit organizations. I have a lot of student loans, so this seemed like something I should explore. I've worked at non-profits, and I'm not really gung-ho to go back because of the low wages and low job security. The federal government is, of course, just the opposite.
Enter usajobs.com. There are some jobs I would be qualified for but would find mind-numbing (i.e. "administrative assistant"). Then there are jobs that would be really interesting but require a top secret security clearance (i.e. political analyst for the CIA), which I really don't think I could - or want to - get at this crazy point in my life.
Turns out there aren't a whole lot of jobs in between those two poles that I'm well-qualified for. But, not to despair - there's still the Census Bureau. Turns out they are hiring lots of statisticians these days. Now I've never really thought of myself as a "statistician," per se. But it turns out I have the qualifications - 15 credit hours in stats and/or research methods. Cool, eh?
Last week the University of Michigan (Wayne State's better funded, better ranked, better organized neighbor to the west) held a career fair that included several government recruiters, including one from the Census Bureau. So I went, resumes and transcripts in hand. I even bought a businessy-looking blazer and pants for the occasion. I got there right as the fair opened and had to wait about 2 hours for the Census recruiter to get there - her connecting flight from Chicago was delayed. (FYI, don't fly through Chicago during the winter if you can help it. It's one of the more unreliable airports. Come to Detroit instead!! lol.)
While I was waiting for the Census recruiter, I talked to recruiters from the Social Security Administration, Department of Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, and the Sault Saint Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The DoJ guy was cool. We chatted for a while about DC. He's a Virginian. I lived in Maryland most of the time I was there. If you've never lived in DC it may not make sense when I say this, but there's a real psychological separation between VA and MD folks in the DC area. At least I experienced that. So the DoJ guy and I had a few good laughs about this phenomenon.
Anyway, just as I was ready to go the Census recruiter showed up. I actually only spoke with her for a minute or so. I had wanted to ask her lots of questions, but there were several people waiting in line to talk to her. So I just told her that I was interested in the statistician position and I had already started my application online. She wanted to interview me on campus that day, but due to U Mich policies, non-U Mich students aren't allowed to use the campus interview rooms. She was still really interested in talking to me, so she said she'd call me the next day.
I emailed her that night to thank her for her time and reiterate my interest in the position. She responded the next morning, asking me if I could come back to U Mich that afternoon for an interview. So I did. I think the interview went really well. She said that she was going to "highly recommend" me to the hiring managers at the Census (yippee!). So I have to wait until a manager of one of the sections (economic, demographic, international, etc.) is interested in me - that could take a while.
If I am hired, it's likely that it would be to the headquarters in DC. That's where the permanent positions are. I could also be hired for a term (2-year) position at one of the field offices. There's a field office in Seattle. I'd love to be there. But I'd also like to have a permanent job.
So, yeah. I'll keep you updated.
Oh, and no sequel to the Pakistan dream yet... :(
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3 comments:
this is so exciting! congrats on the great interview. i hope you hear back from them soon ... good luck, sweetheart!
Good luck! I hear you about the MD/VA thing. I hope you make it out here again...
PS Tag you're it- check kiddodiddo.blogspot.com
Yeah good luck with that....they have idiots training ya that have only trained one week prior to you and that is when they decide to stop texting girlfriends/wife/ or who the hell ever it is they are texting for 8 hrs. They pay a small bit of attention to the cause of the room. Oh yeah, training! then they follow you around and ask a ton of questions of you and you answer with what very little they told you the week prior......only to find out, no wait to be told your wrong and to be treated as if you just mass murdered a Elementary class of children then to have all your computerized work DELETED then a hour or two later to hear, oh no you were right in the beginning....idiot...but oh yeah they have one more week experience than you and know all but the hole in their face from the one in the back side......then it is decided your not doing it right again after you RE-DONE what they deleted and then told to do it again then to find out yet again you were right to begin with...And bare in mind this person is way more experienced than you by one entire week and more than likely they were trained by a person with one more week of experience than them... So your dealing with people who got Govt jobs thinking they are now the CIA and FBI all rolled into one when they aren't authorized to work a coffee pot at home alone. But hopefully you have more luck than i did...i moved from NY to a third world country in America called Lousyana (Louisiana to you guys) where there are nothing but complete idiots and inbreeds....Funny this state has a very high rate of "mentally disabled" residents, i assume it is from inbreeding. Jerry lee Lewis ring a bell? It happens very often here I noticed. Met a girl who married her 3rd cousin and had 4 kids only to sit and watch him molest the two girls and then murder them and they let her move on in life to breed again. The state got the other two kids and pawned them off on another set of idiots to "nurture" them poor soles. And these are the people counting citizens in this country?....pretty hard to do when you only have 7 fingers to count on both arms combined (remember inbreeding is rampant here) The first day i moved to this crap hole I swear on my life this happened..I went to Micky D's and ordered a pop for me and a burger patty for my dog. The total came to exactly $3.00, i handed Einstein a five dollar bill....Took her exactly 3 minutes to give my change back. She had to lay a dollar down and count it off on her fingers then lay the next dollar down and count that finger too........she repeated it several times, We dont want no mistakes after all.....Her parents should have thought about mistakes when they laid down in bed with their 2nd cousin I guess. I am assuming the Census Bureau has employees with brains somewhere in this country, not sure where. You sound like a intelligent person though, I hope for your sake you have much better luck than I did. I blogged "crappy job experience with the Census Bureau and I promise your site was like second on the list. I never dreamed it woudl be a person seeking a job there so maybe this is some good karma coming back to ya for a good deed you did in your life and some one is telling you something....... I lasted exactly 2 weeks and 3 days. Oh it was a hoot. A hoot i could have lived without. I am not sure if it is just because of where I am, but I am assuming somewhere, sometime, someone in DC came down here and hired some of these idiots and said go forth use your seven fingers and count people. that person needs to be treated as if they murdered children. Anyone that gives people in this state a right to do anything other than die needs to be questioned by the CIA and the FBI and by Barbara Walters, if the torture of the FBI and CIA don't teach em a lesson the torture of listening to that babbling old bag will be punishment enough. I vote they put on Bush's finest set of cowboy boots and kick this state off into the Gulf and let every Katrina, Rita finish it off and for good. These are the laziest and most ignorant people on earth.... I can assure you that all that money you guys donated for Katrina went to help only the welfare indigent to help their never ending ride on the system in ways you will never believe. I see it daily here. I moved here and lost everything in that stupid hurricane and I heard Oh you have a job.....good luck your not black enough or poor enough to need help after loosing your entire life of things and stuff. But you betcha FEMA, Red Cross is replacing Tyrone's Mercedes, after he lost his corner in New Orleans Ghetto and crack is hard to sell to the Natl Guard after all. What does all that have to do with the Census? Well like i said someone from DC did come down here and hire some idiot to run the Lousyana office, just makes me wonder about the idiots in DC that would hire idiots here. And to invole innocent me in this crap is a crime that someone, somewhere needs to have Ms Walters attend to. I was one of three in my training class that went to college, worked at a job other than the post office, or was not retired from the Army. Well i know i went to college the others i am not sure but odds are if they did it was a "college in this crap hole" so it doesnt count. Nor was I a Race quota to satisfy some EEOC law. And they do spend more time telling you about that nonsense than they tell you about the job. I heard about every way a person could be harassed (from an idiot i heard this crap) I heard very little about how to do my job until i was canned for, hell i am not even sure if i was canned for doing my job right or was i wrong or was i right, back to that madness no thank you... I should file Workman's comp for the whiplash though, your wrong, your right, your wrong, your right, your wrong, No i am neither wrong or right your just an idiot is the final conclusion i gave the "Crew leader" oh by the way is a un-employed real estate broker.
I would carefully examine the job you will be considering especially if your moving for it. Seems that the Census bureau is not a very well established part of Uncle Sam outside of DC. But you did say something about DC, I hope for your sake that is where you go.. Please consider very carefully taking a job there. I wasn't bitter until i hit this third world part of Amercia. I am sick of looking at 3 eyed, seven fingered, one legged mentally impaired people. I want normal again.
I used to be a paramedic so working city jobs i get that, then i really went crazy and worked as a adjuster and claims examiner for a major health insurance company so i understand stupidity within government and big corporations. But I have never seen anything like this. I never want to see it again either. Being a hooker makes more sense than hmm, the Census. Census is a crap rolls down hill job and the census is a very LONG LONG hill and the more the crap rolls the worse it gets so from DC to all across America is the bottom of the sewer. I know all of the Census work started out as good ideals and makes sense but then you have interpretation after interpretation, etc going on and it gets really screwed up and one day you will wake up and find out your name has been changed because some idiot at payroll screwed it up.....be prepared to change your birth certf and drivers lics.....after all all the crap you have to go through to go up the ladder is just as miserable as going down hill...at some point the boiling depths of hell look like a good place to jump off into...and this was only a couple of weeks of working there too! Are you excited yet? God I know i would be!
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