NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Have you recently graduated from high school and are wondering, now what?

The Postal Service is hiring and currently has over 200 job openings in the Bay Area.

They also have job openings in many locations in California and nationwide.

While mail volume has declined, a large number of employees have recently retired, leaving several vacancies. They also are anticipating expanding Sunday package delivery.

The Postal Service is a great place to work and while many of these positions are flexible in nature, they can lead to full time career employment.

Entry level city carrier assistants earn from $15.30 to $15.63 an hour, tractor trailer operators $16.57 to $18.25 an hour and automotive technicians, $19.29 an hour. The Postal Service also offers health benefits and paid vacation.

Applicants must be age 18 at time of hire (or age 16 with a high school diploma or equivalent) and must be a U.S. citizen or have permanent resident alien status.

Males born after Dec. 31, 1959, must be in compliance with the Selective Service System.

Applications are only accepted online by accessing the Web site, www.usps.com/employment .

The following are a few tips to help potential applicants navigate the website to find current vacancies:

• On a PC go to: www.usps.com/employment (the application does not work on MAC);
• Next screen - Under “Search Select Jobs & Apply Online,” click the link >Search our latest job openings;
• Next screen - Under “Job Search” – Select the city and location (i.e. San Francisco and California);
• Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the start button.

To see a listing of all current vacancies in the state of California, do not select a city or functional area. If a city is not listed, there are no vacancies for that location.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.