NASA doesn't need to recruit.  They get most of their new hires via their co-op program (NASA Pathways).  Students apply for co-op placement via the co-op office at their university.  Co-ops receive semester long positions at a NASA center, either in the summer or during the fall or spring semesters.  They usually do two or three of these rotations, and then, if they performed well, they receive a full time placement after graduation.I didn't even know there was such a program, while I was in university, so that's not how I got to NASA.During my final semester, one of my design team members disappeared for a few days.  When he returned, he told me he'd been at NASA applying for a contractor position as an astronaut instructor for the ISS program.  I wasn't aware such a thing existed, but it sounded like the ideal job for me.  So, I visited the website of the new contractor that had been formed to provide operations for the STS and ISS programs, a company called United Space Alliance (USA).  I submitted an application.  They called me at my office in the Humanities Tutoring Center, the next morning and asked me to fly out for an interview and said they'd arrange a flight, hotel, and rental car.A week later, I was sitting in a huge room with 600 other applicants.  There was a line of small booths set up and in each was a manager for a group.  From the list of 600 names, they'd call out the ones they were interested in talking to.  You'd go to that booth and be interviewed and then return to your seat and wait to see if another group called out your name or if an HR person would call your name to make an offer.  I interviewed for the robotics group and for the avionics group and then accepted the offer from the avionics group.Eight years later, I was able to take advantage of the other way NASA hires. Operations for Shuttle was almost exclusively done by USA and they provided most of the people for ISS, too.  Each group might have 10 USA employees, 2 NASA employees, and a NASA group lead.  Those two NASA positions were usually filled via the co-op program, but once in a while, NASA would get permission from the government to open a position for an experienced person.  Experienced contractors would apply, and if one was selected that person would undergo a badge conversion.  I was fortunate enough to be one of those people.  I swapped my USA badge for a NASA badge, but little else changed.  I kept the same desk, the same phone number, and the same tasks, I just filled out a different timecard system and no longer had a contractor boss.