Census Bureau Hiring

The U.S. Census Bureau will see a short-term boost in its work force soon as the agency will attempt to hire hundreds of thousands of census takers to help disseminate the 2010 census. What's more, the bureau expects to fill each and every position.

The bureau wants to hire thousands of part-time census takers to go door-to-door to locate households and conduct brief interviews with residents.

Results from these once-a-decade interviews help determine the demographics of the area and how federal funds are spent in that community. For example, the data used from the Census Bureau helps determine if a community needs improved roads, schools, housing or public safety.

When the bureau put the word out that it was hiring, out of work job seekers flooded the agency with applications. And, the response to open positions was so overwhelming that the bureau suspended its ad campaign for the temporary positions.

"What we're seeing now is blowing our socks off….we're seeing a huge response to very little media," said Wendy Button, the decennial recruiting chief for the Census Bureau in a Wall Street Journal report.

"We are in a strange way, the beneficiary of the recession," added Census Director Robert Groves in the report.

These temporary jobs may seem attractive to unemployed workers because they offer good pay, ($10 – $20 an hour) flexible hours, paid training, and reimbursement for authorized work-related expenses, such as mileage repayment. And, the census taker positions, which can last several weeks, allow the workers to stay close to home and work within their own communities.

Census takers must be able to speak English; however, bilingual applicants are needed in communities with a large number of residents that speak other languages.

The bureau will determine the final number of new hires needed after the census forms-which are mailed to all U.S. residents - are returned.

In fact, the state of California projects that it will hire about 110,000 census takers between January and June, and Michigan plans to hire 23,000, according to the Wall Street Journal.

If you're interested in working for the Census Bureau as a Census taker visit http://2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs, or visit Military.com's Job Board.