Hispanic advocacy groups are pressing hard to get President-elect Barack Obama to name unprecedented numbers of Hispanics to his administration.

Hispanics interested in working in the Obama administration will have a friendly face on the transition team to receive their résumés, starting Tuesday, when Tampa lawyer Frank Sanchez is expected to join.

Sanchez was Obama’s Latin American advisor and a national Hispanic finance chair during the campaign. He also served in the Clinton administration as chief of staff to the White House’s special envoy to the Americas and then as assistant secretary of transportation in charge of aviation and international affairs.

Sanchez’s name has surfaced for a potential White House job as well, according to a Democratic operative on Capitol Hill familiar with the key players.

Sanchez, whose placement on the transition team had not formally been announced at the time this story was written, declined comment. But top Hispanic advocates say that he has accepted a place on the team that will help select those who will work in the Obama Administration.

“He’ll be coming to D.C. and he’ll be on the transition staff, and so he’ll be able to do a lot of the leg work,” says Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

LULAC is one of 26 national Hispanic groups that will launch a Web site (www.nationalhispanicleadership.org) later this week that will offer advice to Hispanics interested in administration jobs. Site managers will also accept résumés that they will forward to Obama’s transition team.

Buoyed by an estimated 10 million Hispanic voters who overwhelmingly backed Obama in the Nov. 4 election, the organizations believe the historic turnout gives Hispanics their best shot at a larger share of appointments.