Employment

The city / authority employs a civil service hiring approach. The process typically will consist of a number of phases to establish a list of eligible employees from which to make a selection for hire.

Role of HR

The process is centrally-administered by the Human Resources Department. Some processes may include phases administered by other departments such as the Police and Fire Departments when conducting background, criminal history, and psychological examinations.

Reference Checks and Medical Exams

All of the hiring departments will conduct reference checks prior to making a job offer. Prospective safety employees will also undergo a pre-employment medical exam after a conditional offer of employment is made. The pre-employment medical exam is to determine whether the candidate is capable of performing the tasks for which a conditional offer of employment has been made.

Typical Hiring Process

1. The city / authority will announce the job in several places, including local newspapers, city bulletin boards, and Career Mosaic. The announcement will provide a brief summary of the position, the salary, the final filing date, and where to obtain an application.
2. The applications that are received by the filing date will be screened for the relevant education and experience. Typically applications are screened on a best-qualified basis. This means that the application screening is a competitive process resulting in the applicants presenting the best qualifications being accepted into the balance of the recruitment process.
3. The next phase may be a written or performance test which is designed to test specific knowledge, skills, or abilities relevant to the position.
4. Candidates successfully completing the test will be invited to participate in an oral interview process. A three-person panel will ask each candidate a set of structured questions in order to rank them on an employment eligibility list for hiring consideration by the hiring department. All candidates on the list are considered eligible for hire and may be selected by the hiring department for a hiring interview.
5. The hiring department will select a number of persons from the eligibility list to interview in order to fill a vacancy.
6. The hiring department will make a conditional offer of employment to a candidate to fill a vacancy. The conditional offer of employment will consist of a salary offer, a pre-employment medical exam date and time, a start date, and a reporting address.
7. Should the candidate successfully complete the pre-employment medical exam, they are considered hired and report to Human Resources within the first three days of employment for an orientation and INS documentation.
8. The new employee will serve a probationary period of six to 24 months depending on the position for which they are employed.

Contact

For more information, contact Human Resources at (510) 596-4300.