Grambling, Louisiana - The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James recently sent a staff member to the Historically Black College and University (HBCU), Grambling State University as part of OPM's broad outreach strategy to bring America's best and brightest into civil service.
OPM Special Assistant Brenda Bertrand recently spoke on behalf of Director James at Grambling State University's Department of Mass Communication's conference, Expanding Opportunities for Minorities: An Employment Mindset on October 7, 2004.
"As a graduate of a Historically Black College and University, Hampton University, Director James has personal knowledge of the talent produced at these great institutions, and she wants to send a clear message," Bertrand said. "The Federal Government is an employer of choice and America's best and brightest have every reason to heed the noble calling of public service."
The event was attended by Grambling Provost and Vice President, Dr. Robert Dixon, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dr. George Lord, Department Chair Dr. Tunuguntla, as well as 200 undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni from the Mass Communications department. The annual conference was held as part of the university's broad initiative to introduce the HBCU students to career opportunities.
Over the past year, OPM Director Kay Coles James initiated and launched successful outreach campaigns and strategies to fix the Federal hiring process.
James has deployed teams to several Historically Black College and University campuses; the agency launched the ‘Working for America' recruitment fairs, a nationwide tour brought Federal agency human resource specialists face to face with almost 100,000 job seekers; and the newly updated USAJOBS website was updated and currently boasts enhanced features making job search and navigating process simpler for the job seeker.
Since its launch in August 2003, the USAJOBS website has logged 91,169,154 million visits and 808,568 new resumes have been created by job seekers; record numbers for a website of its caliber in both Federal and commercial sectors.
The Grambling State students were given information and publications on the OPM USAJOBS website, www.usajobs.opm.gov, the one-stop location where over 17,000 jobs in the Federal government are currently advertised. Additionally, e-Scholar, the main portal where students can find hundreds of Federally funded educational scholarships, internships, grants, and cooperative programs was highlighted. The e-Scholar website, www.studentjobs.gov/e-scholar.asp, currently has a total value of over $1 billion in educational programs available.
