Doesn’t anyone want to work for Tim Geithner?

How else do you explain that there are 555 available jobs at the Department of the Treasury, ranging from legal assistant to chief technology officer for the Office of Financial Stability (which is running the TARP program)?

Granted, the number of job openings at Treasury is not as large as some other government agencies (1,352 openings at the Interior Department, for example), but this is still baffling. More than 30,000 financial executives in New York alone have lost their jobs since 2007. There has to be an equal number of bankers across the rest of the nation that are unemployed — are any of them looking for jobs within the federal government?

It is expected that President Obama will name Herb Allison, the current chief executive of Fannie Mae to head the TARP program as an assistant secretary. This is not meant to question Allison’s abilities at handling either post, but instead to shine a light on what is a vexing issue — with so many bankers out of work, why is it so hard to find people to work at the Treasury Department? Does the building not have air conditioning? Do they make everyone wear paper hats while in the office?

A number of high-profile candidates for top posts have withdrawn their names from consideration for various reasons. And many other positions are still vacant. In this time of crisis, having all battle stations manned should not be a concern.

Wasn’t this supposed to be the hip administration? The one that everyone wanted to work for? If actors can quit their jobs to go work at the White House, why is it turning out to be so hard to find people to work at the Treasury Department?