10/9/2007 7:00:00 PM

Border Patrol nears recruiting goals


YUMA, Ariz. - With more than 36 recruiting events behind them in Fiscal Year 2007, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol's Yuma Sector Recruiting team is well on its way to helping ensure the Border Patrol's goal of hiring a total of 6,000 Border Patrol agents by the end of the 2008 fiscal year.

Charged with enticing would-be applicants to pursue a career as a Border Patrol agent, the recruiting team is doing all it can as it prepares to start the 2008 fiscal year recruiting season, which begins Oct. 1.

"We are committed to attracting and recruiting the best and the brightest," said Yuma Sector's Chief Patrol Agent Paul Beeson. "We are pulling out all the stops and using some non-traditional methods to attract new recruits."

According to Beeson, some of the methods the Border Patrol has incorporated include Internet advertising, attendance at sporting events, sponsorship of sports teams and franchises and showcasing all the patrol has to offer on its recruiting vehicles, which resemble mobile billboards.

In fact, aside from attending several sports venues, such as Yuma Scorpions and Reno, Nev., Silversox baseball games, as well as NASCAR events, the Yuma Sector prominently displays itself on two newly-wrapped vehicles - a 2007 Chevy Tahoe and Dodge Charger. And, according to Beeson, both vehicles draw attention wherever they go.

"We've had an overwhelmingly positive response to our vehicles from people of all ages," Beeson said. "The wraps are an inexpensive way to advertise and these new vehicles are intended to be an attention grabber for prospective applicants."

Along with the vehicle wraps, the distinctive Border Patrol logo can be seen at various NASCAR events thanks to a sponsorship of the #28 Busch Cup race car driven by Derrike Cope, Johnny Sauter, Jeff Green and Robert Richardson Jr.

As a result of the Yuma Sector's recruiting efforts, manpower has increased to about 850 agents from a little more than 500 just one year ago. And the Sector is slated to receive nearly 350 additional agents in the 2008 fiscal year.

To ensure the goal is met, Yuma Sector recruiters will be out in force, planning to attend 108 various events next year.

"In order for us to meet our goal of hiring 350 agents, we realistically have to have about 13,000 applicants," Beeson said. "We are looking for a specific type of individual, so not everyone who applies is going to make it through the entire hiring process."

According to Beeson, the hiring process to become a Border Patrol agent, which includes written, oral, physical and medical exams, an extensive background investigation and successful completion of the Border Patrol Academy, can be daunting for those who don't know what to expect.

But, Beeson said, through innovative advertising, the Yuma Sector and the Border Patrol overall, are sure to turn heads wherever recruiters are seen, and with the success already seen in the recruiting drive, 2008 is shaping up to be a banner year for Border Patrol recruiting.

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