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Agencies pitch 500 tech jobs at recruiting event
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Agency representatives convened in Silver Spring, Md., in early November to participate in the rst job fair hosted by the federal CIO Council.
During the two-day recruiting and hiring event, 33 agencies pitched 500 job opportunities in IT and cybersecurity to candidates interested in joining the federal IT ranks.
About 1,800 prospective employees attended the event. Participants ranged from those still in college to those with decades of professional experience.
“It’s enlightening to see that people do want to be part of the federal government, and not everybody’s 40 \[years old\] and above anymore,” Department of Health and Human Services CIO Beth Killoran told FCW.
In addition to the main expo space lled with agency booths, rooms were sectioned off throughout the Silver Spring Civic Building for hiring managers to conduct interviews with participants and even make on-the-spot job offers.
Although some agencies opted not to do direct hires at the event, Killoran said HHS made three offers the rst day and had three to six more in the queue for the second day.
HHS is recruiting for 86 positions, she added. Almost half
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are in cybersecurity, but the vacancies also extend to program management, help-desk operations, systems administration, governance and policy, and capital planning.
“At this kind of hiring fair, it’s a one-stop shop,” said Chris Hoggan, a human resources specialist at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. “We’re able to do everything that we need to at the event.”
Jason Miller, a senior at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, said meeting with agency representatives and learning more about federal hiring was worth the four-hour drive, “even if I don’t get a job.”
However, he added that the large number of attendees made it dif cult to speak with hiring managers.
The event also offered free training seminars on résumé writing, interviewing and navigating the USAJobs website. Given the good turnout, agencies and the CIO Council expressed interest in building on the job fair’s momentum.
“If people keep showing interest in this kind of hiring event, then we’re going to keep pushing this kind of thing,” Hoggan said.
— Chase Gunter
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