<p>May 16, 2002</p>
<p><b><font size="+1">Response to college recruiting practices</font></b><br>
  <br>
  Thank you for your question. We hope that the following information will provide 
  a satisfactory context for the manner in which we are approaching recruiting. 
</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Laboratory must employ a variety of recruiting tactics in order to hire 
  the approximately 1,000 new employees needed this fiscal year. Although we hire 
  from many local technical schools, we are constantly looking for new sources 
  to fill job openings requiring specific skill sets. Through research, we identified 
  a technical school in Iowa that has an excellent academic program covering skills 
  that are seriously needed, particularly in Dynamic Experimentation (DX) Division. 
  They include laser optics, robotics and telecommunications. </p>
<p></p>
<p>In April, DX Division sent two hiring managers to a career fair and interview 
  session at Indian Hills Community College. The DX recruiters were highly impressed 
  with the students, the curriculum and the labs/equipment they saw and requested 
  that the Human Resources (HR) Division Recruiting Office invite a number of 
  the students for on-site interviews. As a result, the HR Recruiting Office coordinated 
  an on-site interview day for 13 of the Indian Hills Community College students. 
  Four divisions signed up to interview these students for entry-level technician 
  positions. The event was held at Fuller Lodge in order to accommodate the significant 
  number of interviews that would occur. Laboratory interviewers commented that 
  the skills and quality of students interviewed were exceptional. We expect that 
  the Laboratory will extend employment offers to a significant number of these 
  students.</p>
<p></p>
<p>While the Laboratory recruits extensively within the state (Northern New Mexico 
  Community College, Santa Fe Community College, College of Santa Fe, University 
  of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and 
  Technology, etc), we augment these efforts with regional and national recruiting 
  trips to a variety of colleges, universities and diversity and professional 
  events. The objective is to identify and attract the best candidates to meet 
  the Laboratory's hiring needs. Our technician pay structure is based on both 
  regional and national salary survey data.</p>
<p></p>
<p>To further demonstrate the recruiting successes the Laboratory is experiencing, 
  the HR Recruiting Office invited 19 engineering majors in April for a Just-in-Time 
  Engineering Interview Day at the Laboratory. Fifteen of these students were 
  offered positions and we anticipate that at least 10 will accept. These students 
  came from local, regional and national colleges and universities. </p>
<p></p>
<p>In June, the HR Recruiting Office plans to host an on-site career fair targeted 
  at students from New Mexico schools who are pursuing careers in science and 
  engineering. And in July, the Recruiting Office will host a Just-in-Time Ph.D. 
  Interview Day. Again, we will look at local, regional and national universities 
  for these candidates. We believe that these events are cost-effective and highly 
  efficient in matching candidates and hiring officials. In many cases, these 
  events will continue to be held off of Lab property to better provide for interview 
  space outside of cleared areas and be sensitive to the parking difficulties 
  being experienced at the Laboratory. </p>
<p></p>
<p>In summary, the Laboratory is experiencing a monumental recruitment challenge. 
  It is a time to be creative and aggressive in attracting the highest caliber 
  talent available. </p>
<p></p>
<p><i>--Karen Burkett</i></p>