Dear Joyce: I'm a 33-year-old self-employed computer consultant in retail systems. This bad economy impacts my business and I'm looking to enter the employee workplace again (sigh). I've been in I.T. (information technology) for five years and in management for four years before that. I would like to stay in my field, but I'm open to anything I'm qualified for. Ideas? -- D.D.

Dear D.D.: This suggestion comes at you from left field, but consider becoming a federal worker. What?!? You say move from being my own boss to a structured environment? Right. Don't blow off the notion without giving it a fair think-through. A rigidity of structure may be more than offset by the comfort of not wondering where your next bank deposit is coming from.

Tens of thousands of lapsed entrepreneurs and born-again free agents have decided the grass not only is greener but thicker and softer on sore feet in federal landscapes.

Jobs Open About 17,000 federal jobs are currently vacant, according to Baltimore federal job résumé expert, Kathryn Kraemer Troutman. Approximately one-fifth of federal workers are in the Washington, D.C., area; the others are scattered throughout the country.

The federal workforce is becoming more skilled, more educated (40 percent hold advanced degrees) and more white-collar (87 percent). Job categories on the upswing are professional, administrative or technical, such as attorney, personnel director and engineer.

The work done by many blue-collar and clerical workers has been outsourced to private companies. That privatizing policy may be rethought if new national security measures, such as federalizing airport management, are put in place.

Graying Workforce What's ahead for federal hiring numbers? Based on official reports, Troutman, who is the author of "The Federal Résumé Guidebook," says that 60 percent of the federal workforce is eligible to retire within the next five to eight years.

But, as the federal résumé specialist points out, all who are eligible to retire may not do so. Federal agencies are trying to convince their experienced base of workers to stick around and are inviting those who are already retired to come back. The nation needs their expertise.

Even if a substantial group of current and former federal employees decides to hang around or return, huge numbers of good jobs will be filled by qualified individuals outside of the government.

Job Quality Salaries are fair, some say they're under market -- see the federal pay scale on the Office of Personnel Management Web site at www.USAJobs.opm.gov. Benefits are great. Although job security is not what it once was, federal employment certainty beats the private sector by a mile.

Getting In Applying for federal jobs is complex and puzzling to outsiders. It can be a real pain. On her Web site, www.Résumé-Place.com, Troutman offers for-fee assistance on any phase of your application, as well as helpful free tips. A few of her pointers: