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TSA applicants must take exam anew due to delay
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Posted on Jul 04 2005
Individuals who have been in the Transportation Security Administration’s ready pool of screeners for the Tinian International Airport since last year will have to re-apply and undergo the tests all over again, with the pool period having expired due to delay in the airport’s federalization.
Rhonda Vickery, federal security director for Saipan, said seven of about 125 candidates qualified in the TSA assessments conducted in Tinian last year. Since then, they have been in TSA’s pool of screeners, waiting for the Tinian airport to be federalized.
Airport federalization involves the installation of checkpoint and baggage screening equipment and the deployment of a screening workforce.
However, due to a variety of reasons, the Tinian airport will not be equipped with screening machines until this October at the earliest.
Vickery noted that candidates may only be in the pool for a maximum period of one year. If they’re not hired within this period, they will have to reapply and retake the test.
Nevertheless, Vickery expressed confidence that TSA would get a better applicants’ turnout when it conducts assessments next month.
She noted that unlike previously, the local TSA office is now handling the announcement of job fairs and other recruitment activities.
“We’re getting the word out a lot better because we’re doing it locally,” she said.
TSA is aiming to get the federalization of the Tinian airport to coincide with the completion of its new terminal building, which is expected to happen sometime around October.
Nico Melendez, TSA’s public affairs director in the Western Field region, said the equipment for the Tinian airport had already been shipped to the island.
TSA held a job fair on Tinian last week.
TSA screeners must at least be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national; have a high school diploma, GED or its equivalent, or at least one year of full-tie work experience in security work, aviation screener work, or x-ray technician work, and English proficiency.
