Anyone ever work for the US Census?

[FLAngie]

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[FLAngie]

During the phone interview I was told this job would last 12 weeks, after our training I was told it's going to last 8 weeks. Today after 2 weeks of work, I was told they ran out of assignment areas for our district since they kept hiring people. So tomorrow is going to be my last day of work unless other districts need help

Same thing happened in my area too. First we were told 12 weeks, then at training we were told 8 weeks. Now after two weeks of assignments, we are done. There are a few in my group that are finishing up their AA's today, but those of us that have finished our last AA are pretty much done.

Are there other groups that this is happening too?

 

[windycitymom]

We were told some extra people were being trained in case people drop out. Apparently, people are not dropping out, so they are giving AAs to these "new" people. No one seems how long all this should last.

Last week, I put in 36 hours. So far this week, I put in 20 hours (I don't canvass in the rain). I did 8 hours yesterday and would do more today except I'm having people over tonight that I need to get ready for. I'll do more tomorrow too.

You had better be able to be on your feet for a long time if you want to do this job!

 

[Dizneydaz]

Our area has had alot of problems with our HHC's. Last week we were told Production was behind so instead of 20-40 hrs./wk we are not to work more than 20 hrs. However, that has now changed as more AA's are getting done.

I am sitting here right now waiting for my HHC to stop "beachballing" so I can continue work. Luckily, my area inc. my DSis' house so I stopped to use her computer while I wait. I have been stuck for 45 min. now and have soft rebooted 3 times. Last week, due to problems with HHC I only had about 22 hours. The computer had a mind of it's own and took away all my AA's at one point! Inc. one that all I had to do to complete was finish my DVs.

I was traded this week to an area closer to my home but my new CL didn't get me any work for 2-1/2 days. I only worked 4.5 hours on Monday to finishe my previous CL area and then nothing until Thursday. My dreams of 30-40/week are not happening. It's so frustrating since the reason I haven't worked is completely out of my control.

Good news is I did get my first paycheck deposited on 4/15 as promised. And since it inc. OT for training plus a lot of miles, the amount made me happy. Still waiting on the paperwork to show me how much I made before taxes. Should get it soon. Next weeks check will be substantially smaller but it looks like construction(my normal field) may be picking up a little and I have some work to do which pays way more than $16.50/hr.

I am now calling Tech line to help out.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Same thing happened in my area too. First we were told 12 weeks, then at training we were told 8 weeks. Now after two weeks of assignments, we are done. There are a few in my group that are finishing up their AA's today, but those of us that have finished our last AA are pretty much done.

Are there other groups that this is happening too?

The same thing is happening here. We were told 8 weeks after training well today starts our first week of actual AA's..no training. Our CL was scolded because we only have 10% done and the other groups have much more done (they have been at this 3 weeks at least). So they are bringing in other groups to help us. I have 1 or 2 more days worth of work and I do not know how much more I will get.

 

[disney1990]

We don't seem to have a problem with running out of work here in Maryland. There is as much as we want at this point and this is our 3 full week of work. But our HHCs are giving us a headache. The map spotting is all over the place especially around tall buildings and trees. I can map stop 3 townhouses and then the 4th one will map spot across the street or in the middle of the street.

Today I worked all day in pouring rain today -- fun, fun.

 

[windycitymom]

After this week, our entire team should be done with our AA's. Our Crew Leader said she doesn't know what will happen next either. I was hoping to do this until early June, but we'll be done before the end of April.
Does anyone know if they are still testing and/or hiring people? I was told they would need more people in August, but who knows what happens in the mean time.

 

[Maikahi]

After this week, our entire team should be done with our AA's. Our Crew Leader said she doesn't know what will happen next either. I was hoping to do this until early June, but we'll be done before the end of April.
Does anyone know if they are still testing and/or hiring people? I was told they would need more people in August, but who knows what happens in the mean time.

We're in a similar boat here. We were told we would be working for about 10 weeks and most likely end on June 6th (having started in early April). We did one week of training and then on our 2nd day of actual canvassing we were told to get our numbers up or else people would start being fired. This angered many people seeing that we had so many problems with our HHCs. Two days later we were told that we were doing a great job and surpassing expectations. Then week 2 rolled around and there were no new AAs to work. Most of us only worked half the week. It is now week 3 and two members of our team have been given assignments in another county and the rest of us are just waiting around with no word. This is so frustrating.

 

[RichNKatHolly]

Hi. I just had my admin day yesterday and will start training next week. I'm not sure how much work there is, but our CL said to expect it to go beyond 8 weeks.

 

[Glenn]

Same problem in IL. We were hoping for 6 wks but all our AAs were done in little over 2 wks. Now we are waiting to see what happens. I know they stopped testing very early since they had way more people try for it than ever was expected.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We don't seem to have a problem with running out of work here in Maryland. There is as much as we want at this point and this is our 3 full week of work. But our HHCs are giving us a headache. The map spotting is all over the place especially around tall buildings and trees. I can map stop 3 townhouses and then the 4th one will map spot across the street or in the middle of the street.

Today I worked all day in pouring rain today -- fun, fun.

Oh those HHC! On Friday 2 of my 3 AA's froze up and after I completed almost all the work they were taken away and reassigned. Yesterday, 1 of 3 did the same. But at least 2 of 3 worked!

Oh, and it was 103 where I worked yesterday. Cooling down today to the mid-90's. We'll be in the mid-60's by the end of the week. Gotta love So. Cal. weather.

 

[disney1990]

Oh those HHC! On Friday 2 of my 3 AA's froze up and after I completed almost all the work they were taken away and reassigned. Yesterday, 1 of 3 did the same. But at least 2 of 3 worked!

Oh, and it was 103 where I worked yesterday. Cooling down today to the mid-90's. We'll be in the mid-60's by the end of the week. Gotta love So. Cal. weather.

I worked for 6 hours today. We have have thunderstorms approaching -- should be in in a 2 hours or so. However, it is getting very cloudy and my HHC started map stopping all over the place, so I gave up and came home. When you map spot townhouses and the dots are all over the place -- it's time to call it a day.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I worked for 6 hours today. We have have thunderstorms approaching -- should be in in a 2 hours or so. However, it is getting very cloudy and my HHC started map stopping all over the place, so I gave up and came home. When you map spot townhouses and the dots are all over the place -- it's time to call it a day.

Sounds right to me! I worked about 2 1/2 hours and got that AA to pass (also saved two dogs-found their owner ). Got 2 more AA's and worked on one close to my house after lunch. Still beachballing-looks like QC still has HHC problems. Called Tech today-spent 18 min. with them and they told me the same thing my FOS said. After that they have no solution though they said the problem is known and being taken care.

Temp. here mid 90's. Supposed to drop about 15 degrees tomorrow-so much better. Now if only my HHC would cooperate.

 

[disney1990]

Sounds right to me! I worked about 2 1/2 hours and got that AA to pass (also saved two dogs-found their owner ). Got 2 more AA's and worked on one close to my house after lunch. Still beachballing-looks like QC still has HHC problems. Called Tech today-spent 18 min. with them and they told me the same thing my FOS said. After that they have no solution though they said the problem is known and being taken care.

Temp. here mid 90's. Supposed to drop about 15 degrees tomorrow-so much better. Now if only my HHC would cooperate.

I hope your weather is better tomorrow. Today was absolutely beautiful -- about 67 degrees and sunny -- until the storms started to rolling. Tomorrow is only supposed to be about 53 degrees -- chill, chill.

If I could get the map spots to go where they are supposed to be "Life Would be Good". Boy, I hate those things.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Hey how's everyone doing? My CL just got 7 more listers so I am trying to get all my AA's done since my CL told me there are quite a few AA's left. I did discover that in my group the people that are willing to work 40 hours are getting more AA's.

I am taking today off..it is my first day off since Easter. Although I don't work over 40 hours weather has been pretty bad around here so many of my days were cut short.

 

[Soccer Princess]

Thanks for all of the great info from everyone! I have my first training day tomorrow. What if you do the week of training and then fail your test? Do you still get paid for the training at least?

 

[windycitymom]

Our group is done - all AA's in our area are finished. We were told to be ready to turn in everything (Census bag, HHC, etc.) on Monday. There will probably be more work of some type, but not sure when or where or who? In the mean time, I'm gonna miss the money! I would have put in 40 hours, but it was raining too hard on some days. Of course, now that the weather is nice, the work is done. No one is sure what is next

 

[windycitymom]

Thanks for all of the great info from everyone! I have my first training day tomorrow. What if you do the week of training and then fail your test? Do you still get paid for the training at least?

You still get paid for the training (Our group had about 36 hrs. of training). We took a test at the end, but our CL Supervisor never said that if you didn't pass, you were out. No one in our group failed or even came close. The test is easier than you think after a week of training. I missed two questions and got a 98%. We were given 30 minutes to take the test, plus we could use our training book during the test! Really, don't worry about the test at the end of the week.

 

[FLAngie]

Our group is done - all AA's in our area are finished. We were told to be ready to turn in everything (Census bag, HHC, etc.) on Monday. There will probably be more work of some type, but not sure when or where or who? In the mean time, I'm gonna miss the money! I would have put in 40 hours, but it was raining too hard on some days. Of course, now that the weather is nice, the work is done. No one is sure what is next

Our group is done after 3 weeks and have turned in everything (bag, HHC, books, ID) last Friday. We were just told that they will contact us if they need any of us later on.

 

[disney1990]

You turned in your bags? We were told that our bags were ours to keep. Hum.

We are starting our 4th week of working tomorrow. I hear we are about 65% complete. I was also told that all the remaining AAs are big. The one I am working on and will finished up tomorrow is going to end up at over 500 HUs -- so far I have worked on it for about 16 hours (counting a 1/2 hour compute each direction for 3 days). I don't really know how much longer we have, but I am going to try to work as many hours as I can each day until that happens.

If anybody hears what the next phase is, let us know. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get called back to work some more.