Thousands of people across Iowa’s western half who can converse easily with people they don’t know are needed to fill temporary, part-time jobs. Dan Sipe, at the U.S. Census Bureau, says they’re now taking applications for census workers in preparation for the 2010 nationwide count.
He says most of the positions they will be hiring for in mid-February are for field work which will start in early to mid-April. The training process for successful applicants will begin in March. Sipe says you don’t need any special advance training in order to be considered for the temporary census positions.
He says they need people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and those with bi-lingual skills are especially needed. He says the training that’s provided will take care of the rest. The training process will take about 40 hours on five-day basis for eight-hours per day. Classes can also be taken evenings and weekends.
Sipe says you can work as little as ten hours per week or as many as 40. The training is classroom-based and is not something you can study by using your P-C or Mac in a home-based environment. Sipe says for the most part, census takers get a pretty good reception during their home visits with area residents and the process of obtaining the necessary information is much simpler now, than in the past.
The old "long" form used to take quite a while to complete but now there are about six or seven questions, none of which are very invasive. Only those persons who have not already responded to a U.S. Census Bureau mailing will be contacted by a census taker. Sipe says at least one-to-two tests will be given per week, to select prospective candidates for the census positions.
He says they need to recruit five-thousand people for the western half of Iowa — from Interstate 35 west. Not all those who are recruited will be hired, though. They like to hire people to work as close to home as possible because they are most often familiar with the area and the people who live there. For more information, call 866-861-2010 or visit the Census Bureau’s jobs website .