Air Force moves to fill nearly 700 cybersecurity vacancies

In an effort to quickly fill almost 700 vacant cybersecurity positions, Air Force managers have been authorized to use the streamlined Schedule A hiring authority.

The Defense Department can allow Schedule A in specific cases, including when there is a critical hiring need or when there are special jobs that need to be filled. Schedule A authority allows job seekers to be considered for these jobs without competitive procedures.

The cybersecurity positions approved for Schedule A hiring will perform special functions such as cyberrisk and strategic analysis, incident handling and malware/vulnerability analysis, cyberincident response, cyberexercise facilitation and management, cybervulnerability detection and assessment, network and systems engineering, enterprise architecture, intelligence analysis, investigation, investigative analysis, and cyber-related infrastructure interdependency analysis.

Three authorized organizations include the Strategic Command, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the 24th Air Force. They may hire under the authority until Dec. 31, 2012, or until the Office of Personnel Management establishes applicable qualification standards, whichever is earlier, the Air Force said.

Individuals can apply for the slots on USAJOBS.gov. A vacancy announcement is not required if the selecting official has knowledge of one or more qualified candidates.