Are you in the National Guard or Reserves, and looking for a full-time job? Have you heard about the Department of Defense's Personnel Force Innovation (PFI) program? This program allows Guard and Reserve members to apply for active duty tours, working for various DOD agencies.
PFI operates under a charter from DOD to use Reservists to support DOD activities, when regular active duty personnel are not available and PFI reservists are more cost effective than civilian employees or contractor support.
Those selected for PFI duty are activated to full-time active duty, receive active duty pay, allowances, and benefits. PFI is strictly "fee for service." DOD agencies fund the active-duty costs of tours by reimbursing the Guard or Reserve member's military service. Agencies also fund all TDY costs, including moving expenses.
At the time of this article, PFI lists more than 100 tours in places like Kabul, San Francisco and Pennsylvania and in career fields from food service to database programming. They can be stateside or overseas, as short as a few weeks or as long as three years. Here are a few examples, according to an Air Force News Service article about PMI::
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Wiesbaden, Germany, is advertising for an Army chief warrant officer or captain/major with financial management and contracting skills for 36 months.
- The corps is also looking for a public affairs representative in Kabul, Afghanistan, and a property book officer in Seoul, South Korea.
- The Business Transformation Agency in Arlington, Va., wants a data analyst in the grade of E-4 to E-7 for a yearlong tour.
- The Air Force Materiel Command in Tucson, Ariz., needs an aircraft ordnance system mechanic for a 12-month gig.
National Guard and Reservists who are selected for PMI must obtain a conditional release ( DD Form 368 ) from their parent service.
Interested Guard and Reserve members can go to the PFI Web site at http://pfi.dod.mil and scroll through the list of tours, making sure that their skills and rank match what is required. If they like what they see, they apply online. If the agency likes what they see, they will call the servicemember directly for an interview.
Like other online job search services, PFI requires a user account and password, a completed online application, a resume and a biography. PFI likes users to include both a military and a civilian bio, because individuals may qualify for a position based on their civilian skills, as well as military skills. For example, an Army armor sergeant, who works on vehicles in his civilian job, could be selected for a tour at a Marine depot repairing Humvees.
"Another nice thing about PFI is that these tours are often a stepping stone to full-time civilian employment," said one 25-year Guard veteran. "A half-dozen guys have been picked up (as permanent workers)."
Most National Guard and Reservists are eligible for PMI. Retirees, and those with 17 years or more of active federal service are ineligible. If selected, reservists cannot curtail their PMI assignments without the consent of the DOD agency and the PFI director. However, the reservist's unit can prematurely curtail tours because of military priorities, such as contingency operations. In other words, PMI is not a guarantee to get out of unit deployments.
