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Tampa Office Part Of FBI Hiring Spree; Web Site Fixed

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

Updated: 01/07/2009 01:50 pm

TAMPA - The FBI in Tampa is joining the agency's national hiring spree, with four to six jobs posted today, an FBI spokesman said.

Openings in the Tampa office, which covers 18 Central Florida counties, include telecommunications specialist, electronics technician and office service supervisor, FBI spokesman Dave Couvertier said.

On Tuesday, Couvertier said there were no openings in the Tampa office. But that changed. Couvertier urged jobseekers to go to www.fbijobs.gov every day for new openings.

The federal law enforcement agency has launched what it describes as "one of the largest hiring blitzes in our 100-year history" and hopes to hire more than 2,100 professional staff employees and 850 special agents nationwide.

Agents are hired nationwide, and anyone hired as an agent can expect to be transferred to another part of the country, Couvertier said.

Also, problems with the Web site appear to have been fixed.

John Raucci, assistant director of the FBI's human resources division, says in an e-mail: "This is an extraordinary response by the American public to serve the FBI and far greater than we ever expected. We worked closely with our vendors who manage the website applicant process to ensure the system would better accommodate this large influx, while still providing individuals an opportunity to apply online."

On Tuesday, anyone going to the site and clicking on an application got this message: "Thank you for your interest in the FBI positions. We are expanding the capacity of our servers and expect them to be available soon. Please check back after 3 p.m."

After 3 p.m., this message appeared: "Notice to applicants, Based on the overwhelming response to our FBI Agent position the server is currently unavailable and will be repaired shortly. Please try your request again later."

Later, Internet visitors were redirected to another federal government jobs Web site, www.jobsearch.usa. That site lists specific jobs, but the link to apply for FBI jobs was broken.

The following message was displayed: "There was an error processing your request, please try again."

Today,the application link appeared to have been repaired.

Among the hires the FBI is looking to make are experts in information technology.

The agency also says it is looking to fill jobs in the following categories:

•Finance and accounting

•Security

•Intelligence analysis

•Compliance and quality assurance

•Training and education

•Records management

•Fingerprint examination

•Nursing and counseling

•Physical surveillance

•Electrical engineering

•Physical, natural and social sciences

•Administrative and clerical processes

•Automotive mechanics

•Management and program analysis

Couvertier said the agency also is looking for agents who are fluent in Somali, Swahili and Tamil, Punjabi, Pashto and Vietnamese.

"We are looking for personnel that want to apply that have military or high-level tactical experience and background" such as Delta Force or SEALS, Couvertier said. These agents would be part of the national hostage rescue team.

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