Despite a rough economy and belt tightening at federal agencies, some agencies are hiring and now is the time to start making connections and learning how to meet goals, students learned at the University of the Virgin Islands Career Day Tuesday on St. Croix.
Hundreds of high school and University of the Virgin Islands students and other interested young men and women on St. Croix came to the Great Hall on the St. Croix campus and spoke with recruiters from 24 federal and local law enforcement agencies, from Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the V.I. Taxi Commission.
Along with all the law enforcement, another 20 businesses, nonprofits and agencies with offices in the territory came out too, from AFLAC insurance to Home Depot to the Women’s Coalition of St. Croix.
Recruiters answered questions, gave contact information and acted as personal examples and role models for careers in their fields.
The V.I. Police Department and V.I. Bureau of Corrections were on hand too, and VIPD has openings, despite government cutbacks in other areas. While most local agencies are not hiring, there are some V.I. government jobs, from nurse to program coordinator to cook, that are open right now. Information and applications can be found at the V.I. Police Department website and at the V.I. Department of Personnel website, in the related links below.
"This year is a little different from the past few," said Catherine Mills, an organizer of the career day and deputy director of the Puerto Rico-U.S. Virgin Islands High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. UVI usually has a separate general career fair later in the Spring, but this year they decided to combine the two "to make it bigger and better," and bring out more people, Mills said.
Right now, they are focusing on getting students to think about careers, make some contacts and find out more about what the jobs are like and what they need to do to land one, she said.
"Some agencies are hiring, but with the sequester and what not this past year, not all are," she said. The outlook for federal jobs changes frequently and federal jobs are posted online at usajobs.com, she said.
Going to college and getting a degree is critical to most federal law enforcement jobs, he said,
Some recruiters, such as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Resident Agent in Charge Brenda Talavera, said they were acting partly as role models and ambassadors, to show students that it is possible and people like themselves have succeeded before them.
Talavera said she is the resident agent in charge of investigations for Homeland Security.
"We conduct criminal investigations. … We investigate weapons smuggling, human trafficking cases, things like that."
After graduating college, she knew what she wanted to do and immediately applied at ICE and became a special agent in her home town of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has never looked back, she said. She’s been on St. Croix for a year an a half and has moved up the ranks.
"It is the best career there is. There is never a boring day. And you get to serve the public," she said "It is very rewarding because you are giving something back," she added.
Students coming to the job fair will make some contacts and find out about the jobs, but will not be applying this year, "so we are here to helps students get on the right path so they can reach their goals," Talavera said.
UVI’s St. Thomas campus will host the fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday in the UVI Administration and Conference Center.
