Security workers needed at Logan

The screener shortage threatens to lengthen the wait for Logan passengers at peak travel times during the holiday season. Thousands of travelers are expected to converge on Logan's 35 screening lines the day before Thanksgiving, and some could be closed at times because of short staffing.

This week, a Transportation Security Administration recruiting kiosk will open at Square One Mall in Saugus, where prospective workers can apply for jobs as baggage or passenger screeners. A similar station at Meadow Glen Mall in Medford took in 24 applications Friday night. The following day, 56 people filled out applications at the security administration's Chelsea screener training center, many of whom were lured by advertisements on a local hip-hop radio station that broadcasted live from the center to help draw recruits.

The campaign underscores how shorthanded the screeners are at Logan, and how difficult it is for the administration to hire and keep workers, especially in Boston and other big cities, where turnover in the jobs is higher than normal.

"We're doing this at the level where the working person is at," said Michael Moore, who leads the recruiting for Federal Personnel Management Inc., a government contractor.

"We're going into the small towns and into the employment offices, and malls to find college students, young people, and retirees looking for work, and talking to them about the opportunity."

About 24 percent of the Boston screeners have left their jobs in the past year, compared with the national average of 16 percent for all airports, according to Ann Davis, the administration's New England spokeswoman.

Right now, Logan is about 130 screeners short of the 981 full-time positions it is supposed to have.

The security administration, which has a moratorium on full-time hiring, is looking for part-time screeners to beef up its work force at 98 airports nationwide. Part timers earn the same hourly wages of $11.30 to $16.96 as full-time screeners, but get a slimmer benefits package and get less-desirable schedules than full-time screeners.

Several factors contribute to high turnover among screeners, Davis said. Airport crowds at Logan peak between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., and again at between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., meaning short shifts and early rising for the screeners. Flights at Logan are more concentrated during the morning and evening peak times, because many of its departures are nonstop. At other airports that serve as hubs, many flights make connecting stops throughout the day, which spreads the flights out more.

The screener jobs have a sliding scale to adjust for regional costs of living, but because they're part time, the wages hardly cover Boston's high cost of living.

Just getting the job can be a tough process.

"It's a harder job than people give it credit for," Davis said. "There's a rigorous process associated with becoming a screener and staying a screener."

To get hired, candidates must fill out an application and pass FBI background, fingerprint, and drug screenings and a credit history check covering the past 10 years. If they pass muster, there are interviews, a three-hour computer test and training -- 40 hours of it in a classroom and 60 hours working in a mock security lane at the Chelsea center, complete with working X-ray and bomb-detection machines.

In the meantime, agents from the federal Office of Personnel Management might pay visits to relatives or former employers to verify the information on candidates' applications.

Moore said many applicants drop out before the training stage. "The citizenship issue raises its head, and English proficiency raises its head," he said, after taking applications in Chelsea last Saturday. Moore hoped about 200 would show up, but less than 60 people did.

Still, many of those who showed up in Chelsea said they weren't discouraged by the tough hiring process.

Anthony Locante and Sabato Lorusso, friends from Everett, both applied. Lorusso, a criminal justice student at North Shore Community College, also hoped the experience would give him a solid background for a law enforcement career.

"I did security before, but it was nothing like this," he said. "They said it was 40 hours of training. I would hope this would really help me out."

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.