Odds of Getting In
You have a high school diploma? You have a driver's license? Are you relatively healthy and drug free? Then head on over to your local Department of Transportation and sign up. But seriously, even though this isn't one of those fields that's super strict on who they hire, you probably can't exactly just stroll in and get a job right off the bat.
Although the job qualifications are fairly minimal, the projected job growth for highway maintenance workers is slower than the national average (source). Between 2012 and 2022, there will be an estimated 30,000 job openings (source). That's around 3,000 job openings each year. It seems like a lot, but they're spread across the entire country.
Even though you may have qualifications up the wazoo, your local office might not have an open position to fill. It's not you, it's them.