There are several ways to find available federal jobs of alltypes. The first three, examining periodicals and online job databasesplus directly contacting a federal agency's personnel office, arethe most productive and are discussed in detail later in Chapter 29 ofthe Government Job Finder. The others are treated immediatelybelow in their entirety.

Periodicals. There are a number of periodicals that carry listings of federal government job openings. These mayinclude both Competitive Service jobs and Excepted Service andPAC positions.

Online job databases. One of the Internet's successstories is how effectively it has been used to convey informationabout federal job vacancies and the federal hiring process. The federal government maintains easily accessible jobdatabases on the Internet and most federal job vacancies areavailable on each state's online job service described in Chapter 28.But even if you are not connected to the Internet, you canstill get the complete federal job database on floppy disks every two weeks as described under "job services."

Federal Agency's Personnel Office. Contacting a federal agency's personnel office directly or using its jobhotline to learn of job openings is the most sure-fire way to learnof all current openings with a department including Excepted and other special positions.

Newspaper Advertisements. The advertisements for federal jobs that appear in local newspapers are generally for professional positions in the geographic area the paper serves. They usually appear in the business section.National newspapers like The New York Times (229 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 10036; phone: 212/556-1234, Washington Post (1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071; phone: 202/334-6000; The Wall Street Journal (420 LexingtonAve., New York, NY 10170; phone: 212/808-6700 and U.S.A. Today (1000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209; phone: 703/276-5200 are often good sources of federal job ads.

College Career Planning and Placement Offices. If you are in college, check with your school's placement office tosee if it posts vacancy notices from any federal agencies and iffederal recruiters interview on campus. Other campus officesworth checking for specialized information on federal jobsinclude: Minority, Veteran, and Handicapped Affairs, Cooperative Education, Internship, and Student Employment offices;the Financial Aid Office, and the Counseling Center.

The OPM's regional offices distribute to colleges and universities a publication called "Career America News"which furnishes information about new federal hiring proceduresand "hot" career opportunities in the federal government.

Office of Personnel Management. The OPM's central office is aware of virtually all openings at the differentfederal agencies. In addition, local OPM offices should havelistings of all available federal positions. You can locate officesof the OPM in the federal government section of local telephone directories or in some of the federal governmentdirectories identified later in this chapter.

Federal Job Information Touch-Screen Computer Kiosks. These are discussed in Chapter 28. The entries for eachState in that chapter tell you where these are located. Current locations may be obtained via FedFax -- ask for the"Federal Employment Information Sources" document -- and from several of the online services described later in Chapter29.

State Job Service Offices. Serious job seekers shouldvisit state-operated Job Service Centers which are supposed to carry all federal job listings plus state and often local government jobs. Job Service Centers are discussed in Chapter 28 and identified in the state-by-state listingsin that chapter.

For a complete listings of publications and"hotlines,"where you can see job lads or listings, see the bookGovernment Jobs Finder by Daniel Lauber.

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