Need Work Fast? Census Jobs in All 50 States
Good Pay, Little Experience Needed for Some Part-time Positions
Mar 10, 2009
Because the U.S. will conduct a new census for 2010, thousands of jobs – most of them part-time and temporary – are being filled in 2009 and 2010 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
To be a census taker or even to be hired for a better paying Census position such as "partnership specialist," applicants need very little experience, although field representatives must have these basic qualifications:
- Be at least 18 years old
- U.S. Citizenship
- Valid driver's license, vehicle, and private phone line (vehicle users get paid mileage allowances)
- Pass a 30 minute written basic skills test
- Be available to work days, evenings, and weekends
Where to Start Job Search
Job seekers can begin their search online or via phone, and applications are available for downloading. Start searching by finding the regional office that serves your state, so click first on this Census Bureau page.
A map of the U.S. appears and shows which regional offices – Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle – serve each community.
Potential applicants are urged to click on their own region. (Jobs may be available in other regions but the bureau will not pay relocation expenses.)
Once applicants are on the regional page, they should click on the phrase “regional employment” in the vertical list on the left side. That brings up a page with local jobs in each state within the regional office, as well as jobs within the regional offices.
Applicants can also call 1-866-861-2010 for basic facts.
Warning – Many High-Pay Jobs Already Filled
If a local or regional page is empty, it may mean the local office has enough applications. However, note that in many locations there will be jobs available again in the Fall 2009 and even in 2010.
Some jobs may require fluency in Spanish, Vietnamese or another language as well as English. For a variety of higher paying jobs, it may look as if several years of graduate school beyond college are required, but equivalent experience may be substituted.
Those submitting college records in lieu of experience must be prepared to submit a copy of their “transcripts or a listing of college courses showing title of the class, grades earned, completion dates, hours earned, the type of hours earned (semester/quarter), and grade point average.”
For regular census takers, there is typically 3 to 5 days of paid training. Field representatives are paid by the hour – for example, those working out of the Los Angeles office make $ $12.73 per hour to $14.09 per hour depending upon location, while those working out of the Denver office (which is responsible for all the Southwest, Rocky Mountain and northern Plains states) get $11.34 to $13.61, depending on location.
A spot check of regional offices in early March 2009 indicated there were field representative jobs available in connection with both these regions. In other regions, there were still full-time “partnership specialist" jobs available, paying from roughly $52,000 to $82,000. Several asked for fluency in a second language such as Spanish.
Typically the hiring process requires a background check “of all police and other government records to be sure you do not have a criminal record.”
To sum up, the Census Bureau is looking to hire many people to help conduct the 2010 census. Go to its Website for more info by following the points made in this article.
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