FlightWay / Careers / Transportation Security Screeners

Engineering & Science

Transportation Security Screeners

Conduct screening of passengers, baggage, or cargo to ensure compliance with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations.

Sector: Engineering & Science
Preparation: Zone 2 — some preparation needed
O*NET code: 33-9093.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Getting Information

a major part of the work — rated 81/100 for importance.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

a major part of the work — rated 78/100 for importance.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.
Performing General Physical Activities

a major part of the work — rated 73/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 73/100 for importance.
Handling and Moving Objects

a major part of the work — rated 72/100 for importance.

Conduct screening of passengers, baggage, or cargo to ensure compliance with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations. May operate basic security equipment such as x-ray machines and hand wands at screening checkpoints.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Monitoring

Needed at a basic working level (45/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
Speaking

Needed at a basic working level (43/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a solid working level (50/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a solid working level (50/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.
Coordination

Needed at a solid working level (48/100), and rated 56/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Public Safety and Security

Needed at a solid working level (58/100), and rated 70/100 for importance.
Customer and Personal Service

Needed at a solid working level (56/100), and rated 65/100 for importance.
English Language

Needed at a solid working level (47/100), and rated 64/100 for importance.
Law and Government

Needed at a basic working level (37/100), and rated 44/100 for importance.

Abilities

Problem Sensitivity

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Selective Attention

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.
Flexibility of Closure

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 63/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (54/100), and rated 63/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 2 — some preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

A high-school diploma is the usual starting point.

Experience

Some prior work experience helps but is rarely required.

Training

Expect a few months to a year of on-the-job training.

What it pays

These are typical engineering compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Transportation Security Screeners specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

SpaceX · NVIDIA · Boeing

$120k – $200k+

Manufacturing Corps

$85k – $140k

Local Engineering Firms

$65k – $110k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

The work is physical — you are on your feet and handling things, not sitting still.From “Performing General Physical Activities”
You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Transportation Security Screeners. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Engineering & Science

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See your fit for Transportation Security Screeners

Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Transportation Security Screeners and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

Take the quiz Open in FlightWay

Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.