[Enesta Jones] 
Hello, and welcome 
to "Green Scene." 
I'm Enesta Jones with the 
Office of Public Affairs.
EPA was recently ranked number 
six among the best places to 
work in the Federal Government, 
up three spots from a 
2008 survey.  
EPA employees gave us high 
marks for being a family- 
oriented place to work, 
offering career advancement 
and performance-based awards, 
supporting diversity and 
having effective supervisors. 
Joining me today is Craig Hooks, 
acting assistant administrator 
for EPA's Office of 
Administration and 
Resources Management. 
Craig is here to discuss career 
opportunities at EPA and why it 
is such a rewarding experience 
to be an EPA employee, 
whether you've just graduated 
from college or are planning 
to make a career change.
Welcome to the show, Craig. 
[Craig Hooks] 
Good afternoon.
Pleased to be here. 
[Enesta Jones] 
So, before we talk about career 
opportunities, let's talk 
a little bit about you and your 
interesting professional 
experience at the agency. 
[Craig Hooks] 
Well, great. 
I have kind of a varied 
background. 
I actually have a Bachelor's in 
zoology from the University of 
Florida, and in oceanography 
from Texas A&M University, 
but I've been here for 
about 22 years now.
I started when I was 28 years 
old, and I actually love 
this agency.  
I've been in a variety of 
management positions, 
special assistant positions, 
and have had an opportunity 
to now serve in an assistant 
administrator capacity.
[Enesta Jones] 
I get this question 
all the time, Craig: 
"What's a typical day 
like, Enesta?"
And I always say "it's 
different," but that's 
one of the things I 
love about my job.
What's a typical day 
like for you?
[Craig Hooks] 
Well, a typical day can be very 
different here for me as well. 
Usually a lot of meetings, 
unfortunately, but I have 
an opportunity to travel. 
I've had opportunities to 
travel internationally.
I have opportunities to speak, 
meet with many of the young 
folks here in the agency, 
interns, and so, it's an 
opportunity for me to help 
develop other people here.
So, the day can be very varied 
on a day-to-day basis.
[Enesta Jones] 
Some think you need to have 
a science background to work 
for the agency.
I know that's not true. 
My background is journalism. 
Tell us more about what types 
of diverse jobs are with EPA.
[Craig Hooks] 
Yeah, I get that 
question as well. 
You know, you think about 
the scientific mission of 
the agency to protect human 
health and the environment. 
And, of course, we hire many 
biologists and chemists and 
toxicologists, but we do. 
We have backgrounds and 
educational experiences 
for all kinds of people 
here in the agency. 
We have attorneys, we have 
program specialists, 
communication specialists, 
grants specialists.
We even have criminal 
investigators that 
carry weapons. 
We have an 80-person dive 
team here at the agency.
So, we have all kinds of 
professions here at the agency.
[Enesta Jones] 
And there are 17,000 employees 
at EPA, right? 
[Craig Hooks] 
About 17,000 full time 
employees, yep. 
It's an active, productive 
place to be. 
[Enesta Jones] 
The Marines, they're looking 
for a few good men. 
What is EPA looking for in 
prospective employees? 
[Craig Hooks] 
Well, of course, we're looking, 
again, for those varied 
educational backgrounds as well, 
but I think the kinds of people 
that we're looking to attract 
here at the agency are people 
that really want to come 
here and contribute, 
make a difference on 
a day-to-day basis 
and for the environment.    
One of the great things that I 
love about the agency is that 
we're -- what I always say is 
that we're a flat organization, 
and we're a consensus-based 
organization, so people have 
an ability to come in with 
various backgrounds and really 
make an immediate contribution 
kind of regardless of what 
their educational pursuits have 
been, but a combination of 
educational and professional 
experiences in private sector 
and military; we take all of 
those experiences into 
consideration before we 
bring people on board.
[Enesta Jones] 
Speaking of the workforce, 
I'm hearing that nearly 
half of the workforce will be 
retiring or eligible for 
retirement in the 
next three years. 
How is EPA going to replace 
all these great people?
[Craig Hooks] 
Well, it's going to be tough. 
It's going to be a challenge 
to some extent, although in 
reality, most of the retirements 
take place kind of on 
a steady stream.
We'll probably replace about 
600 people over the next five 
years, so over the next five 
years we'll probably replace 
about 20 percent of 
the workforce.
But I see it as kind of a 
steady flow out the door, 
and we really -- historically, 
we haven't had that much 
trouble recruiting really top-
notch people into the agency. 
[Enesta Jones] 
And talking about gravitating 
people to the agency, 
some may wonder if it's a green 
place to work, a cool place 
to work.
I say yes to both. 
What do you say to that? 
[Craig Hooks] 
Oh, I agree with 
you there, too. 
One of the things that we like 
to do here in the agency is 
really practice our mission, 
so one of the things that we 
try to do is make sure that 
the buildings that we house 
are sustainable. 
We try to purchase -- in fact, 
we're the first agency in the 
Federal Government to purchase 
100 percent green power that 
basically approximates how 
much power we use on an 
annual basis. 
We try to improve our energy 
efficiency in our buildings.
We promote policies such as 
telecommuting for those folks 
that have the ability to work 
at home or at remote locations, 
and also encourage public 
transportation as well.
So, we try to practice 
what we preach.
[Enesta Jones] 
Kudos to us for addressing our 
environmental footprint. 
What are some other perks 
for working at the agency.
[Craig Hooks] 
Well, you have the normal perks 
that we do, that any federal 
employee has, you know the 
normal life insurance and  
health insurance, that kind of 
thing, but I think one of the 
other areas that EPA really 
excels in, which is probably 
why we rank so high -- high in 
the survey that you mentioned 
earlier, is our ability to 
develop our employees.
We have career and mentoring 
programs here.
We really cater
to our staff.
We offer rotational 
opportunities and details, 
so I think people really feel 
like they have the ability to 
come here and develop themselves 
professionally and provide  
meaningful help in fulfilling 
the agency's mission.
[Enesta Jones] 
That's great.
Let's move on to something 
that happened recently.
President Obama signed 
the American Recovery 
and Reinvestment Act on February 
the 17th of this year. 
How will this effect 
creating green jobs?
[Craig Hooks] 
Well, I think it's going to 
have a very positive effect 
for the agency and 
for the country. 
It's going to result 
in thousands of jobs.
We're moving money out of our 
air program, our water program, 
our Superfund programs. 
When you put that kind of money 
into the environment or you put 
that kind of money into 
commerce, it will definitely 
result in green jobs and 
a greener environment, 
so I'm definitely looking 
forward to seeing the results, 
which should start to come in 
in the next few months as 
we're pushing the money 
out the door. 
Right now, we've moved about 
62 percent of the agency's 
stimulus money out the door 
now, so we're waiting to see 
that money start to create 
those kinds of green jobs 
that the president
talked about. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Can you elaborate on what types 
of green jobs will be created? 
[Craig Hooks] 
Oh, I think a variety of 
jobs will be created. 
If you look at the programs 
that the money is flowing 
through, it's a variety of 
agency programs, existing 
programs that we've used 
historically; for example, 
our Superfund program. 
There's a lot of hazardous 
waste cleanup sites across 
the country that were employed, 
engaging with the community and  
trying to clean up. 
So, when we put this additional 
$6 billion of Superfund money 
out over these 50 projects -- 
these are for existing projects 
and for new starts across the 
country -- this will result -- 
somebody has to
do that work. 
Somebody has to be trained, 
particularly in where we're 
going into locations where 
we've never been before.
There's going to be new 
opportunities particularly 
at the local level to create 
new jobs for hazardous 
waste cleanup. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Great news both for people 
and for our environment. 
[Craig Hooks] 
Absolutely. 
[Enesta Jones] 
Thank you, Craig, 
for being here today. 
[Craig Hooks] 
I enjoyed it. 
[Enesta Jones] 
For more information on career 
opportunities here at EPA, 
visit www.usjobs.gov.
Thanks for joining us 
on "Green Scene."