Federal Printing Jobs
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is the primary employer of printing professionals in the federal government. This office was established in 1813 as the primary producer of congressional documents under the guidance of the public printer of the United States. As the publisher of American passports, the Congressional Record and the federal budget, the GPO is constantly looking for professionals to carry out its mission. While the GPO's main task is publishing government documents, young professionals can find jobs as proofreaders, IT specialists and printers and receive federal employment benefits.
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Plant Operations Jobs
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The GPO's Plant Operations department oversees formatting and printing of documents for federal agencies. This department hires print services specialists to handle large-format printers, binding and other services needed before documents are mailed out. Before desktop publishing files are sent to print services, Plant Operations runs each document through a gauntlet of proofreading tasks. Applicants with experience in editing large documents and handling high volumes of proofreading projects can find work at the GPO.
Information Dissemination Jobs
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The Information Dissemination department of the GPO offers the greatest opportunity for applicants looking for creative jobs in the federal government. Information Dissemination takes care of everything from maintaining archives of past GPO documents to running outreach programs to area schools about federal printing projects. In terms of federal printing jobs, Information Dissemination offers a wide spectrum of opportunities including graphic design, library management and outreach coordination.
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Information Technology Jobs
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Federal printing jobs go beyond the physical creation of congressional, judicial and White House documents. The GPO has created a Website called GPO Access that allows users to access the Congressional Record, the president's public addresses and other documents created by the agency. This Website is maintained daily by a team of experienced web designers, help desk workers and IT specialists working at the GPO's Washington, D.C., office. AS GPO Access and other online tools become more prevalent, the GPO will hire more IT experts to keep strengthening its online presence.
Benefits
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Every GPO employee is entitled to a full range of government benefits including life insurance, pension and health insurance. The agency's group life insurance is paid in part by the federal government and protects families of employees from financial harm in case of death or disability. Federal printing employees are part of the Federal Employee Retirement System pension and can put some pre-tax money away in thrift savings plans. The federal employee health benefits program gives GPO employees three choices including HMO and point of service when choosing their health insurance. The hourly pay for a federal printing employee can range based on grade and step level with a grade 1, step 1 employee getting $8.17 per hour and a grade 15, step 15 employee getting $59.42 per hour.
Documents Created by Federal Printing Employees
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Federal printing employees work on documents for all three branches of the federal government. The GPO tracks the daily activities of the White House including changes to the Federal Register, transcripts of the president's weekly radio addresses and internal documents from Cabinet members. Federal printing employees are deluged during each session of Congress with legislation, committee reports and congressional calendars that require great manpower. GPO Access maintains an online database of the Supreme Court's past decisions along with the current court's docket of cases.
Federal Printing Contractors
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The GPO sends up to 1,000 federal printing projects each day to approved contractors throughout the United States. For young printing professionals seeking advancement to state and federal jobs, these contractors provide invaluable experience for future positions. GPO contractors and their employees have to be familiar with government printing contracts, style books and publication schedules to keep printing jobs with the federal government.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Photo by vgm8383 (Flickr)
