Government Jobs Easier Access Now Remember the bad old days? You'd hire a reader/driver hopefully who could work during day time hours. You would drive to some obscure place in the suburbs or a downtown location with congested parking to read Federal job announcements. Some of these might be poorly copied or out of date. You would have to stand in a crowd six people deep in front of some bulletin board just to get a chance to read these announcements, copy the necessary information for your Sf171 form and off you'd go. The next step might involve closeting yourself for days and completing that Sf171 form as meticulously as possible then submitting a dated and signed copy of it and any other information requested to a Federal register or sometimes to a hiring agency directly. The age of computers and bulletin board systems has changed all of this. Gone is the Sf171, replaced by the simpler Of612 form, also the waiting in lines to see possibly out of date announcements, or calling an 800 number at a Federal Job Information Center and getting a busy signal. Sure, the government like everyone else is downsizing and Federal jobs are no where near as plentiful as they were a few years ago. But now you as a blind computer user and Federal job seeker can access these announcements and other information with great ease. Here's how! The Office of Personnel Management has established a bulletin board service besides their Career America line to make it possible for job seekers to call in directly to download job announcements and other information. All you have to do to access this service is set your telecommunications software for 8 data bits, no parity and one stop bit. Any baud rate from 2400 baud up will work. As with many things governmental, their modem is slow. It will talk to your modem at 9600 baud so your downloads will not be ultra fast. If you call after telephone rates are down you should be able to download your needed information in less than a few minutes. If you have access to the Internet, you can telnet to this system using the following internet address. telnet fjob.mail.opm.gov. this will save you a long distance call if you are already on the internet. I have tried both access methods and they work equally well. Here is what my sample online session looked like after I called this system at area code 912 757-3100. After you have your telecommunications program up and running you type the following manually to contact this system. atdt 1 912 757-3100 CONNECT 9600/ARQ Federal Job Opportunities Board - FJOB A service of the: United States Office of Personnel Management Staffing Service Center Macon, GA Internet Telnet Address: FJOB.MAIL.OPM.GOV Internet FTP Address: FTP.FJOB.MAIL.OPM.GOV Direct Dial: (912) 757-3100 Communication parameters... Parity: None, Databits: 8, Stop bits: 1 To report problems accessing the bulletin board call: 912-757-3090 Note: Passwords on this system can be UPPER or lower case (or a combination). If your password doesn't appear to work try taking your Caps Lock off (or putting it on). First Name? eric Last Name? clegg Calling From SACRAMENTO, CA If this is not the location you are calling from, then it is possible that someone else is already using the name you entered and you will have to enter a slightly different version of your name. Is this the location you are calling from? (Y or N) Y Enter Your Password: ******** FJOB Welcomes ERIC CLEGG Calling From SACRAMENTO, CA Your last time on was 08-14-95 21:22 You have read through message 1 Current last message is 20826 You have called this system 4 times before You are caller number 1386973 You are authorized 90 mins this call After you log onto the system you usually get announcements such as the following. ATTENTION FJOB USERS: FULL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING TO THE FJOB!!! The Office of Personnel Management is pleased to announce the addition of full text vacancy announcements to the Federal Job Opportunities Board (FJOB). Beginning on October 16, 1995, the on-line job search will allow you to view or download complete vacancy announcements for many positions listed. If a vacancy announcement is on file for a job you are viewing, an on screen prompt will appear to ask if you would like to see the announcement. With complete vacancy announcements in the system, you can readily make more informed decisions about what positions to pursue and apply for those jobs more quickly. The addition of full text vacancy announcements to the system is voluntary on the part of Federal agencies. Please contact agencies directly or use the automated forms request feature if you don't find attached vacancy announcements for the positions in which you are interested. When you find vacancy announcements available, please do not also use the automated forms request. We're excited to offer this service. We know you have been looking for this enhancement for some time. Please share with us your comments and suggestions. - Press to continue or to stop. - Searching Message Base ... You have no personal messages waiting. -Press Any Key- Main Menu -------------------------------------------------------------- --------------> [1] Federal Jobs [2] Conferences and System Functions [G]oodbye [W]ho's on line [S]how recent callers [H]elp [F]eedback to Sysop [A]lter Settings [R]oadmap Internet Address: FJOB.MAIL.OPM.GOV Command: 1 I have entered 1 to go to the Federal jobs area rather than the conference area. I now see the following selection areas. FEDERAL JOBS -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- [1] Job Opportunities Files and Messages [2] Job Search [3] Application Information and Forms; Other Employment Topics [4] Agency Jobs Entry System [G]oodbye [P]revious Menu [M]ain Menu [H]elp [W]ays to look for Federal Jobs (Help) Command: 1 I have entered number 1 again to get me to the following prompt. JOB OPPORTUNITIES FILES AND MESSAGES -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------- [1] Job files for all open competitive and merit promotion positions [2] Job files by State [3] Job files for Senior Executive Service Positions [4] Messages [5] Combined Access to ALL File Areas [G]oodbye [P]revious Menu [M]ain Menu [H]elp How to [D]ownload a file Command: 2 I have entered the number 2 at this point because I want to select jobs in the western part of the U.s. Type P to Pause, S to Stop listing +-------------------------------------------------------- | DOWNLOAD AREA FOR FEDERAL OPPORTUNITIES | DESIGNATED STATE OF DUTY LOCATION +-------------------------------------------------------- Some of the files in this area are compressed with PKZIP. If you download a file with the .ZIP extension you will need the program PKUNZIP to extract the text file. PKZ110.EXE is available in the Utilities Download section if you don't already have PKUNZIP. Files that end with the .TXT extension can be downloaded or viewed online. To view one of these files online choose the file area you want to go to, press to download the file, to logoff after transfer, and to type (display) the file to your screen. (These files are updated daily, Tuesday - Saturday). File area # 1 ... Southeastern U.S. File area # 2 ... Central U.S. File area # 3 ... South Western U.S. File area # 4 ... Western/Pacific U.S. - Press to continue or to stop. - File area # 5 ... Northeastern U.S. File area # 6 ... Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area File area # 7 ... Overseas Opportunities File area # 8 ... Files needed for Additional Processing Select File Area (L to List): 4 File area # 4 ... Western/Pacific U.S. +---------------------------------------------+ | JOBS IN | WESTERN AND PACIFIC UNITED STATES +---------------------------------------------+ The following files show jobs by the state where the job vacancy exists. (These files are updated daily, Tuesday - Friday). WESTERN.TXT 163614 3-05-96 Western U.S. - Report format Includes the states listed below. WESTERN.ZIP 38028 3-05-96 Western U.S. - Report compressed Includes the states listed below. AK.TXT 10970 3-05-96 Alaska - Report format AK.ZIP 3716 3-05-96 Alaska - Report compressed CA.TXT 101842 3-05-96 California - Report format CA.ZIP 23721 3-05-96 California - Report compressed HI.TXT 18958 3-05-96 Hawaii - Report format HI.ZIP 4898 3-05-96 Hawaii - Report compressed ID.TXT 57654 3-05-96 Idaho - Report format - Press to continue or to stop. - I have selected area 4 which contains files in the western region. I wish to download the file named ca.zip. I now get the following prompts from the system. rea, ownload,

rotocol, xamine, ew, earch, ag Selection or to exit: d File Name? ca.zip Log off after download(Y/N)? Y Select from the following transfer protocols: T - TYPE file (display file to screen for viewing.) C - ASCII with DC2/DC4 Capture A - ASCII only, no Control Codes X - XMODEM O - XMODEM-1k Y - YMODEM (Batch) G - YMODEM-g (Batch) S - SEAlink K - KERMIT W - SuperKERMIT (Sliding Windows) Z - ZMODEM-90(Tm) Choose one (Q to Quit): Z File Name: CA.ZIP File Size: 23721 Bytes Protocol: ZMODEM-90(Tm) Est. Time: 0 mins, 21 secs at 9600 bps Awaiting Start Signal (Ctrl-X to abort) NOW SELECT - matching download protocol on your communication package. Usually done with PAGE DOWN KEY on most COMM packages. Otherwise refer to your communications package's manual for proper downloading instructions. For Batch Downloads After selecting download, enter first name to download, enter a space, then second name. (filename1 filename2 etc...) rz ** If you are using zmodem which I did, you can ignore the last paragraph. Your download using zmodem will be automatic. Press H to hangup now, A to abort logoff. Time to logoff: 10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1. Internet Addresses: Telnet to - FJOB.MAIL.OPM.GOV FTP to - FTP.FJOB.MAIL.OPM.GOV Mail to - INFO@FJOB.MAIL.OPM.GOV Thank you for calling the Federal Job Opportunity Board. Logged on at 19:55:13 Logged off at 19:59:31 Well now, you've downloaded the file or files you want. Now what do you do with them. First you must uncompress these files. You do this by typing pkunzip then the file name complete with the .zip extension and you must specify a path to the directory where you want the file to be uncompressed. In my case since the original file goes to my download directory and I want the output file to appear in my files directory I would type the following to accomplish this: if the file is in your download directory type: pkunzip ca.zip \files. This will uncompress a file called ca.txt which in this case is five times bigger in to this directory. I now can read this file and search through it with my word processor or any other editor. In this case, I read the announcements of interest and block off and save the ones I am interested in pursuing. Here are some brief examples of announcements. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY SPECIALIST GG-0260-12/13 02/21/96-03/07/96 BE6066 ANNOUNCEMENT #: 96-DEU-F254 DUTY LOCATION: FOR APPLICATION INFORMATION CALL: IRVINE CA 0001 JOB(S) JOB INFORMATION CENTER AT 800-695-8052 OR CONTACT: FDIC OPM/JOB INFORMATION CENTER 550 17 ST. NW ROOM PA-1700-5124 WASHINGTON DC 20429 9990 (202)942-3540 IMMIGRATION INSPECTOR GS-1816-05 03/04/96-03/11/96 FS9502 ANNOUNCEMENT #: INS 95-2 DUTY LOCATION: FOR APPLICATION INFORMATION CALL: NATIONWIDE MANY JOB(S) CAREER AMERICA CONNECTION AT 912-757-3000 OR CONTACT: TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE FJOB, CALL 912-757-3100; SELECT 1, 3,5,1 IN SEQ;SELECT INS2.TXT SAN FRANCISCO CA 94105 (912)757-3100 REMARKS: TO APPLY YOU MUST CALL THE TAPS LINE 912-757-3092 DURING THE OPEN PERIOD. YOU WILL NEED A COPY OF THE PUBLIC NOTICE TO ANSWER CERTAIN QUESTIONS. YOU CAN CALL 912-757-3000 OR YOUR LOCAL CAREER AMERICA CONNECTION TO REQUEST A COPY OR DOWNLOAD THE FILE INS2.TXT FROM THIS BBS BY SELECTING 1,3,5,1 IN SEQUENCE ORDER AT THE FEDERAL JOB MENU. That is all there is too it! You have now seen the process of obtaining information about Federal jobs from either calling into the bbs directly, accessing the system through its Internet address, making a menu selection, downloading your chosen file, to unzipping the file, to selecting possible jobs of interest with your word processor. Best of luck on your job searc