Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen is looking into ways for more Virgin Islanders to get federal jobs in the territory, according to a release from her office.
She met Friday with federal Office of Personnel Management staff members to discuss entry-level job availability, promotion practices and timely access to information on openings in the territory. According to the release, she asked for the meeting because of numerous complaints over the years from Virgin Islanders about perceived roadblocks to federal employment.
"It was a very productive meeting," the delegate said. "We discussed strategies to increase opportunities for locals who are interested in federal government service, either locally or on the mainland."
Two strategies toward increasing federal opportunities for Virgin Islanders, the release said, will be to set up a job fair and expand the cooperative program in which high school students can work in federal agencies as part-time or summer employees, in preparation for possible permanent employment after graduation.
Another will be to place touch-screen computer kiosks with federal employment information on St. Croix and to provide a better location for the existing kiosk on St. Thomas.
The release said Christensen was given statistics on the number of federal employees in the territory and the percentage who are Virgin Islanders, but it did not provide those figures.
