Soothe Your Sequester Worries With a Job at the National Park Service
Yes, the United States government is on the verge of tumbling into the abyss due to the dire straits it finds itself in. How can a modern state be expected to to sustain itself on a scrooge-ish raise in annual expenditures from $3.538 trillion to $3.553 trillion (PDF)? But if all this fretting over national finances has you down, you can console yourself with the knowledge that the National Park Service is still hiring.
According to USAJobs, the keeper of all things employment-related for our friends in Washington, D.C., there are a good many positions open among the nation's federally managed wonders — and some of these openings were listed just today! A search for jobs at the National Park Service reveals such opportunities as:
Park Ranger (Protection), GS-0025-07, a gig (actually, two) paying $24.95 per hour (plus bennies) in San Francisco, with an "open period" for applications closing tomorrow.
If that's too tight a deadline for you, there are two openings for MAINTENANCE WORKER (WATER) that were listed just today and for which you can apply over the course of the next week. If you land one of these positions, you'll pull in $18.45—$23.18 / Per Hour, plus any benefits the federal government may have to offer. If you already applied for the maintenance jobs in February, don't worry that the listing disappeared "when we were notified we needed to remove all vacancy announcements from USAJOBS. We have been given the approval to advertise temporary positions again. Individuals that applied when these positions were initially advertised, do not need to reapply."
The National Park Service is also hiring paramedics and masons, supervisors (at up to $74K) and guides. There are also a bunch of lifeguard slots, though it's not clear whether you have to provide your own Savage Steve Holland script if you land one. So don't fret that you lack an appropriate skill set. Whatever you can do, it's almost certainly good enough for government work.