FEMA’s job fair in Augusta received a substantial turnout, Wednesday. The agency set up at the May Park Community Center, at 622 Fourth St., to aid job-hunting residents in seeking open government positions in the area.
According to FEMA staff, more than 675 people attended the fair by the time it ended at 4 p.m.
“I got here at 8:30 [a.m.] We weren’t supposed to open until 9:30 and we already had a line of people waiting for us to open,” said Nikki Gaskins Campbell, media relations specialist with FEMA Georgia, on the job fair’s “tremendous” response. “We decided to open a little earlier than 9:30 as a result.”
Rather than being a hiring event, the one-day expo had FEMA human resources representatives helping attendees navigate the process of searching and applying for any of more than 450 roles the government is looking to fill in Georgia—including 120 in Augusta, and others in Alpharetta, Savannah and Valdosta.
The space was lined with computer stations for those ready to apply, though when enough people gathered at one time, staff gave brief presentations explaining the nature of jobs, which are called local hire positions. These are short-term positions, lasting for a period of 120 days, with the possibility of extensions depending on disaster relief needs.
“Local hire employees are local residents who aid in the recovery of their community throughout the recovery process,” Campbell explained. “This event gives local residents an opportunity to help their communities recover from disasters.”
The positions are also all field positions, meaning they’re not work-from-home. FEMA is looking for a wide variety of skills and backgrounds, noted Campbell, ranging from emergency management and external affairs, to logistics and IT, to environmental protection and even customer service.
It’s not uncommon, Campbell also noted, for local hires to remain and transition to becoming reservists, on-call FEMA employees who travel to work the sites of major disasters, as needed.
“This gives people a good introduction into what it’s like to work for an agency that responds to disasters,” said Campbell, who herself was a FEMA reservist. “Local hires not only bring valuable knowledge of the area to our team, but it also helps give a much needed to boost to those local economies severely impacted by Hurricane Helene. They do this by pumping money back into area businesses from the wages they earn through FEMA.”
Those still interested in seeking jobs available through FEMA are encouraged to visit www.USAjobs.com.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
