The federal government is hiring, which is good news for some job-seeking college students.

Jobs in security, public health, engineering, program management and accounting top the federal government’s list of most wanted employees, according to a recently released study by the Partnership for Public Service and the National Academy of Public Administration and made possible by a grant from the New York Times Job Market.

The federal government projects a need for almost 40,000 new hires in the field of security in the next two years, according to the study. This category includes criminal investigators, compliance officers, police officers, security and prison guards and airport screeners.

The Transportation Security Administration plans to hire about 9,000 full-time airport screeners in the next two years, according to the study.

The public health sector includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists and medical technicians. About 26,000 new hires are expected in the next two years in the area of public health with a large number of those being in the field of nursing, according to the study.

Ana Valadez, associate dean for the undergraduate program at the Texas Tech University School of Nursing, said the School of Nursing addressed the national nursing shortage several years ago.

“We addressed this several years ago by increasing our enrollment,” she said. “We have increased enrollment for the past four years.”

Valadez said one problem that occurred with increasing enrollment is the school does not have enough faculty to support the incoming students.

“There is also a faculty shortage running parallel to the student shortage,” she said.

Many of the nursing students who graduate from Tech will begin their careers in hospitals, Valadez said.

“The beautiful thing about nursing is you can do pretty much anything,” she said. “But most of our students take internships in acute hospital settings. Our students very much go into the hospital setting and many into the acute setting.”

Valadez said another trend for nursing students is to continue into higher education, such as receiving a master’s degree before entering the work force.

“Higher education is a trend that is occurring more now than it did 10 years ago,” she said.

The federal government plans to hire about 24,000 individuals in the fields of engineering and science, according to the study. The defense department and NASA need engineers and the threat of bioterrorism has increased the government’s need for scientists, according to the study.

Robert Shindell, director of the Rawls College of Business Career Management Center, said he has known about the federal government’s need for business employees for a few years.

“About 80 percent of their workforce would be eligible to retire in the next 12 years,” he said.

According to the study, the U.S. population will increase at a slower rate than in previous years. This will result in a slower growth rate of available workers, which will create tight labor markets, especially during times of prosperity.

After realizing the opportunities this would have on business students, Shindell said he has been in contact with federal agencies to encourage recruiting on the Tech campus.

“We are actively going out and asking them to recruit on our campus,” he said. “And this response has been very strong.”

Shindell said many students do not realize many jobs exist in government.

“The majority of students still do not realize the opportunity the federal and state governments offer,” he said.

There are opportunities for students in all aspects of the business world, Shindell said.

“There are opportunities across the board in all entities,” he said. “The government is a business and needs people with a business background and an understanding of business.”

Shindell said he tries to make students aware of federal jobs, but many students are hesitant because they believe the salaries are low.

“Salaries for the federal government have been adjusted and they’re very comparable to that of the private sector,” he said.

The biggest decline in demand is for support staff, according to the study. The use of technology is changing work processes and skills requirements. More routine work is either being contracted out or overtaken by technology.

–Courtesy of U-Wire