Customs inspectors are probably the only customs employees with whom the public is familiar. At airports and other ports of entry, they inspect your baggage to ensure compliance with the tariff laws and try to detect smugglers.
Inspectors review ship and plane manifests as they examine cargo and control shipments that are transferred under bond to ports throughout the United States. Customs inspectors are the nation's front-line defenders against smuggling as they work in cooperation with customs special agents, patrol officers, and import specialists, as well as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. As part of the law enforcement team, inspectors perform personal searches, seize contraband, and apprehend violators. They may also be required to wear side arms.
Special agents comprise a highly trained investigative force of the ser-vice whose purpose is to frustrate the efforts of smugglers. Aided by complex radio communications networks, which provide critical data on the activities of suspects, they follow the journey of contraband from its entry along our borders and coastlines. Special agents are assigned to duty stations in most ports of entry and may be called on to travel during the course of their work.
Customs patrol officers carry out the difficult task of detecting and apprehending violators of the 400 statutes enforced by the service. They prevent smuggling into the country and may serve anywhere in the United States from along the frozen northern border to the deserts of the southwest, from urban waterfronts to secluded coastlines. No two assignments are alike; nor are any two working days.
Import specialists assess the rate of duties, an activity that makes the service a major revenue-producing agency of the government. They examine import entry documents, check to see that the imported merchandise agrees with the description, and then classify the merchandise under the tariff schedules to determine the correct duty required. Import specialists become experts in one or more lines of merchandise, and in order to make sure that their expertise remains current, they often examine selected shipments.
Customs aids perform semi-technical duties that require a specialized knowledge of provisions of customs laws and regulations. They assist inspectors and other specialists in the service.
There are other interesting career possibilities, too.
Canine enforcement officers train and use dogs to enforce customs laws pertaining to the smuggling of marijuana, narcotics, and dangerous drugs.
Customs pilots are part of a program of air surveillance of illegal traffic crossing U.S. borders by air, land, or sea. Pilots also apprehend, arrest, and search violators of customs and related laws.
Customs chemists play an important part in protecting the nation's health and safety as well as the security of the country's commerce. They are called upon to analyze imported merchandise ranging from textile fibers to contraband narcotics.
In addition to the above specialist positions there are numerous data processing positions in the Washington headquarters, to say nothing of the usual clerical openings.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
On August 3, 1980, federal air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike that was declared illegal. Their union had rejected a final offer for a new contract, but in spite of the walkout about 60 percent of the 14,200 scheduled daily airline flights continued to operate. Supervisors and non-strikers manned the radar-operated control towers.
President Reagan warned the strikers that unless they returned to work by 11:00 a.m. on August 5, they would be immediately fired. After most of the 13,000 controllers refused to report to their towers, the Federal Aviation Administration sent out the first of the dismissal notices. Although controllers in some other countries refused to clear departures of flights to the United States, this action fizzled as President Reagan remained adamant in his stand against the strikers. Military controllers and supervisors continued to handle the towers with those controllers who had not gone on strike. All airline flight schedules were cut back and a long-range program was instituted for hiring and training controllers. In 1982 the union announced plans to disband. A new union was later formed to represent the controllers who by 1996 numbered 23,000.
Although it announced in 1987 that it would be hiring 2,000 additional controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration, which is in charge of all air traffic control activities, has not let down its standards. Here is how the administration defines the required background:
"General Experience: Progressively responsible experience in administrative, technical, or other work, which demonstrated potential for learning and performing air traffic control work.
"Specialized Experience: Experience in a military or civilian air traffic facility, which demonstrated possession of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the level of work of the specialization for which application is made."
It may be possible to substitute certain education and flight training for experience. But you must check with the Federal Aviation Administration regarding current qualifications. In any case, you must pass a physical examination that includes tests for color vision, a comprehensive written test, and you must be interviewed. The maximum age of thirty was established for entry into a tower, but this requirement may be changed.
Controllers normally work a forty-hour week in FAA control towers at airports using radio, radar, electronic computers, telephones, traffic control lights, and other devices for communication. Night and weekend hours are rotated.
Controllers give taxiing instructions to aircraft on the ground, takeoff instructions, and clearances to incoming planes. At busy locations these duties are rotated among staff members about every two hours. A controller must work quickly, and demands increase as the traffic mounts, especially when there are poor flying conditions and traffic backs up. Brief rest periods provide some relief but they are not always possible. Shift work is necessary in this occupation.
The FAA employs controllers at more than four hundred airports. A few towers are located outside the continental United States in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
Promotion from trainee to a higher grade professional controller depends on satisfactory progression in the training program. Trainees who do not successfully complete the training courses are terminated or reassigned to other positions.
During the first year a trainee is on probation, but afterwards he or she may advance from positions backing up professional controllers to primary positions of responsibility. It takes a controller from three to six years of experience to reach peak performance.
Some professional controllers are selected for research activities with FAA's National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Others may serve as instructors. Trainees receive from fifteen to nineteen weeks of instruction at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and then are assigned to a tower for on-the-job training under close supervision.
Additional information about air traffic control is contained in the VGM Career Horizons Opportunities in Airline Careers. For further in-formation about employment opportunities, contact the Office of Communications, Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20415-0001.
FEDERAL REGULATORY AGENCIES
Recently there has been a trend in the federal government to deregulate. The Civil Aeronautics Board, for example, disbanded in 1984.
It should be noted that many of the positions in the federal agencies concerned with transportation call for specialists in the fields of accounting, data processing, engineering, finance, highway traffic, personnel, planning, research, safety, and transportation. In addition, there are the usual office support positions in the clerical areas.
Department of Transportation
This agency establishes the nation's transportation policy. Under its umbrella there are ten administrations. Their jurisdictions include high-way planning, development, and construction; urban mass transit; rail-roads; aviation; and the safety of waterways, ports, highways, and oil and gas pipelines. Decisions made by this department, in conjunction with the appropriate state and local officials, strongly affect other pro-grams, such as land planning, energy conservation, scarce resource utilization, and technological change.
One of the agencies under the Department of Transportation is the United States Coast Guard. It maintains a system of rescue vessels, air-craft, and communications facilities to carry out its function of saving life and property on the high seas and navigable waters of the United States.
Federal Maritime Commission
This commission regulates the waterborne foreign and domestic off-shore commerce of the country. It ensures that United States international trade is open to all nations on fair and equitable terms and protects against unauthorized activity in the waterborne commerce of the United States.
National Highway Traffic Administration
This agency seeks to ensure that all types of transportation in the United States are conducted safely. The board investigates accidents, conducts studies, and makes recommendations to government agencies. It also regulates the procedures for reporting accidents and promotes the safe transport of hazardous materials by government and private industry.
STATE AND LOCAL REGULATORY AGENCIES
Another layer of agencies regulating intrastate transportation will be found in each of the states. They have various names, the most usual being the Public Utilities Commission, although you may find Department of Transportation or even Railroad Commission. Since their jurisdictions are limited to operations within the state, most of them offer limited career opportunities. You can obtain the name and address of your state agency from your public library or by writing to the secretary of state at your state capital.
