Several federal agencies (USFS, NRCS and BLM) have successfully coordinated On-the-Spot Hiring programs at the Society for Range Management annual meetings in past years. For example, at the SRM 60th Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada, 18 Rangeland Management Specialist (RMS, GS-454) entry level vacancies were successfully filled.

Federal Career Intern Program
Hiring authority for this program is provided under the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP) which is designed to help agencies recruit and attract exceptional individuals into the Federal workforce. The program was created under Executive Order 13162 and hiring authority is permitted when recruiting at regional or national levels. Applicants may be university seniors (or graduates) and must be able to report to work within six months of the job offer. Successful candidates are typically offered entry level positions and may be converted to permanent status after two years of acceptable internship. During the internship, work assignments are designed to provide an orientation to the agency and offer progressive on-the-job specialized work experience and training targeted to the full-performance duties of the RMS. For more information, please visit the FCIP website at www.opm.gov/careerintern.

On-the-Spot Hiring Process
The entire process averages a total of four days from Sunday to Wednesday of the SRM annual meetings. Agencies will be present at SRM organized Career Development Workshops on the first Sunday of the meeting and circulate job outreach notices as well as explain the agency hiring process to interested participants. By Monday noon most applications should be submitted, typically coming from graduating seniors or recently graduated young professionals representing many different universities and colleges. Agency teams of Human Resource Specialists review and qualify most applications within one day.

During the next few days qualified applicants will be provided with ~ 30 minute interviews. The interview panels usually consists of regional foresters/ managers/program leads delegated with hiring authority and representing all available vacancies. At the completion of the interviews, offers may be made to exceptional candidates with the intent to fill all available positions by Wednesday afternoon.

Future Efforts
Agencies are very interested in pursuing this opportunity again at the 61st Annual SRM Meeting and Trade Show (January 26-31, 2008) in Louisville, Kentucky. These meetings are in conjunction with the American Forage and Grasslands Council (AFGC) and will present an excellent venue for student and young professional hiring opportunities. For preliminary information please contact Linda Coates-Markle.