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Date: June 18, 2004
ARDEC hires 500th new Intern
The Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center has hired more than 500 new scientists and engineers since starting an initiative to replenish its workforce five years ago, according to Sandra Gibson, director of Picatinny’s civilian personnel advisory center.
Gibson said that the center acknowledged reaching this milestone Jun.1 when Director Michael P. Devine administered the oath of office to four new interns.
Mary Rosato, David Harvey, David Hosier and Douglas Mac Gorman became career conditional federal employees during a short ceremony in which they agreed to uphold and support the Constitution.
In front of an audience of ARDEC executives and managers, the new employees took the oath and became the center’s newest employees, she said
ARDEC began the recruiting effort in December 1998, she said
“We began interviewing candidates for 75 engineering and scientist openings that month. The first new employee reported to work in April of the following year.”
ARDEC continues to recruit new engineers and scientists from the best engineering schools, she said.
The center has formed alliances with a number of local colleges and universities as a result of the initiative. Last year, it participated in 37 on-campus recruitment events.
The average age of the 500 interns hired to date is 23.5 years. Their average grade point average is 3.2 on a 4.0 scale.
Under the program, Gibson said, new engineers and scientists are hired at GS-05 through GS-09 depending on their qualifications.
“As an additional enticement, all eligible interns receive a recruitment bonus that equals 25 percent of their starting base salary.”
Those hired at the GS-05 and GS-07 level also receive one-time accelerated promotions after 6 months of training. All interns receive non-competitive promotion potential to the full performance grade of GS-12, she said.
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