In addition to undergoing the busiest time of the year, the U.S. Postal Service is hosting job fairs in central Illinois this week to recruit for job positions in Illinois and Missouri.

The fairs will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the Danville Post Office and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Eagle Station in Bloomington.

Valerie Hughes, communication manager for the Gateway District of the Postal Service, said the positions needing filled are mainly at the Champaign Processing and Distribution Facility.

The positions include postal support employees and casual mail handlers.

Other positions needing filled across southern Illinois and Missouri include postmaster relief employees, rural carrier associates and transitional employees.

Hughes said some jobs are temporary and some are permanent.

“The job fair is mostly to let people know what jobs are available and what they consist of,” Hughes said. “[Applicants] can then go online and apply for jobs there.”

Despite the reported $11.1 billion loss at the end of the U.S. Postal Service’s fiscal year in September, Hughes attributes the job openings to the Postal Service’s evolving work environment.

“We’re managing our workforce to our work volume … We need greater flexibility in our hours and these positions will offer more flexibility for our work hours,” Hughes said.

At the end of its fiscal year, the Postal Service claimed productivity hitting a record level as work hours declined despite their net loss. They also claimed an 8.7 percent increase in their shipping and packing business.

In February of this year, the Postal Service decided to move the mail processing operations from Bloomington, Carbondale, Centralia, Effingham, Quincy and Springfield to other Illinois and Missouri processing facilities in an effort to consolidate the work.

A February press release stated the consolidation would move more mail processing work to the Champaign facility.

Hughes encourages anyone interested to attend the job fair to see what jobs are available. 

The Eagle Station is located at 1211 Towanda Ave. in Bloomington. For more information on Postal Service careers visit usps.com.