The U.S. Forest Service is committed to diversifying its workforce. Part of that effort is assessing the diversity of the pool of applicants who might be interested in particular positions. Many jobs with the Forest Service are first advertised in an "Outreach Notice" that asks people interested in the position to complete a form.
Many outreach notices contain a statement such as, "The purpose of this Outreach Notice is to determine the potential applicant pool for this position. Assuming sufficient responses are received from this outreach notice, a referral list will be requested on or soon after [date]." All of them indicate the deadline for replying to the outreach notice and provide information that will be helpful in identifying the job posting in USAjobs.gov.
You can find U.S. Forest Service outreach notices at http://jobs.forestry.oregonstate.edu/category/job-type/outreach-notices. The Forest Service maintains a list of them at https://hrm.gdcii.com/outreach/Default.aspx, but that site does not provide a link to the actual notice. Checking the outreach notices frequently and replying to those that interest you can help you be prepared to apply positions as soon as they are posted. This can be a definite advantage in the federal employment process, since completing the application is very time consuming and timeline for accepting applications is often short.
This blog is a service of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of ACES at the University of Illinois. Here, you will find career advice and job descriptions sent to NRES.
