State jobs (May: home, job openings, neighborhood)

[know_my_self]

I lived in Oklahoma all my life. I would love to work for my state. i'm 23 year old female. I have an associates degree in Diverse studies. I'm working now for a Gov. contractor at FAA doing IT work. It is temp to help with a stimulus plan. what kind of state jobs should i apply for? does any one here work for the state? what kind of education do you have and what position did you get hired for?

[#1soonerfan]

I hate to be the bringer of bad news but if you have stable employment with the FAA stay with it. The state now has THE biggest budget deficit in the NATION right now percentage wise, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion or a little north of 20% of the entire budget. Job cuts will probably get very ugly when its all said and done unfortunately.

For the life of me I have no idea why so much of the state budget is pegged on oil and gas production taxes when memories of the 80's oil bust are still fresh, but I'll spare you my rant. I know you have your heart set on the state but with your IT background maybe look at Tinker or some of the private contractors out there. It generally pays better and your livelihood isn't dependent on this state's god-awful legislature.

[BlackMM]

I work for the state and it just depends on which agency you work for. If the state doesn't have the money for a position, they won't have it open in the first place when you go applying.

I would avoid any grant or temp positions as those are the first ones to get cut. In the states favor, they have until June this year to figure out what to do about the deficit.

[flintysooner]

Originally Posted by know_my_self

I lived in Oklahoma all my life. I would love to work for my state. i'm 23 year old female. I have an associates degree in Diverse studies.

Maybe I should know but what is "Diverse studies?"

[_redbird_]

Originally Posted by flintysooner

Maybe I should know but what is "Diverse studies?"

Sounds like what used to be called a degree in Liberal Arts. Our State agency and most others are in a hiring freeze right now, and we are being furloughed 10 hours a month. Which does not amount to much of a pay cut, to be honest.

But a State job is still pretty steady. Here is the link for current job openings:

Office of Personnel Management - OPM Home Page

Our agency and many others have IT people, but those are usually taken pretty quick. And ours always posts the job openings: agency wide first, then if it is not filled, it gets posted state-wide (for current state employees only), then if still not filled, it gets posted to the public.

[BlackMM]

My advice would be to turn that Associates degree into at least a Bachelors degree, since that will be your primary competition for jobs.