Interview with Margaret Brindzak, Human Resources Analyst, Washoe County, NV

1. I know local governments have been hit hard by the recession. How has hiring been reduced? Have there been layoffs or furloughs?

We have had layoffs and a hiring freeze on positions.

2. What positions do you hire for the most?

Clerical support is the largest position we recruit for.

3. When candidates apply for jobs, can they submit a regular resume and cover letter, or do they need to write application essays or fill out questionnaires?  Do they need to fill out any special application forms?

We only accept on-line applications that allow for a resume and cover letter to be attached. Some recruitments use a selection tools of a training and experience questions which would require attaching a written essay.

4. Does your county use a civil service hiring process?  If so, are there examinations? What kind of exams (written, in-basket exercises, physical exams)? Are there any tips for candidates to prepare for the tests?

We follow a merit process so we use some type of test for every recruitment and the tests will differ with each recruitment based on the job analysis. An example a Deputy Sheriff or Firefighter would require a physical ability test along with a written test where as a clerical position might only require a written test.

5. Are most staff unionized? Yes
6. Are there any hiring preferences, i.e. for veterans?

They would get an additional point as part of testing.
7. What makes an applicant stand out positively?

One of the most important ways is to fill out the application completely. List all of the applicant’s experience and how it is related to the position they are applying for.

8. Any other tips for candidates looking for jobs in local and county government in general?

Read all the information posted about the job before you start the application process. Make sure you understand the requirements and express in your application and/or resume why your experience makes you the best person for the position.

There are two types of government job postings–those that are considered “Open Until Filled” and those that have an official deadline.  What most people don’t realize is that speed is often of the essence, even for jobs with a deadline.

The Services grow leaders. You were promoted based on how well you could solve leadership challenges. Your MOS, AFSC, or rating was certainly important to the mission. But, if you spent any time on active duty, chances are you found yourself doing a variety of jobs. And you did all of them well.
Therein lies the culture trap. Private, government, and non-profit hiring decision makers ask applicant to provide a specific capability—abbreviated by a job title. They don’t want leaders so much as they want marketing leaders, or sales leaders, or IT leaders.

Too often, all those jobs are poorly announced. The postings often include what you think of as minimum requirements: management, strong communications skills, and the ability to solve problems. Your natural reaction is: “I know I can do that job!”

And so you respond enthusiastically. Just after you do, you find another “opportunity” in a field unrelated to the first. Soon you “active” job search has you applying for many, often unrelated, jobs.

But if your résumé doesn’t provide a close match between your excellence in the specific career field the employer wants, you won’t get the job. Worse yet, you can hardly apply to the same company again. The more you follow this flawed model, the longer and more unsuccessful will be your job search.

Avoid that trap by focusing on a specific career field. Think of a career field as a collection of knowledge, skills, abilities, and passions that provide a given service or product. Career fields are approximately defined by a job title.

Now you can apply for any position that calls for a given career field. For example, a production professional understands manufacturing very well. It doesn’t much matter if the manufacturing company he applies to is large or small, in Maine or Washington State, is privately held or publicly traded. To a large degree, it doesn’t much matter what the company makes. Production professionals do production kinds of things.

There are entire books written on the subject of how one gets clear and compelling proof about which career field is right for you. But do get the answer to that question before you apply for that next job.

This blog is for career coaches and counselors and anyone who wants to know more about what Career Counselors do in Community Colleges.  In previous blogs I have mentioned that Career Counselors have individual one hour appointments with current students or college alumni but we also teach career classes.  Career Classes are usually one hour (or unit) to three hours per week for one semester.  One unit classes are either about Understanding Yourself and Assessing Yourself or about The World of Work and Job Search Strategy.  A three unit class would cover all those topics.  If you go to different college’s career centers you will find how they promote workshops, classes, and individual appointments.

The following websites are good examples :

• http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/careerinfo/announcements.htm at Employment Center
• http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/cdw/career.aspx?id=1882- from Career Development services
• http://www.miracosta.edu/instruction/careerservices/index.html
• http://lacitycollege.edu/services/career/index.html
• http://www.sbcc.edu/careercenter/ChooseAMajor.php
• http://www.mcc.edu/9_casd/casd_career-res-cntr.shtml

Many of the college websites direct students to do research and one of the popular websites is Wetfeet.com.  In re-visiting Wetfeet, I noticed the section devoted to real life work stories that college students  find useful.  It turns out that all of the stories can be found at an interesting “emagazine” at http://www.junglecampus.com/.  One of the other well received websites having great career “stories” is found at Road trip Nation.

Many colleges (especially University Career Centers) subscribe to NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers)  for up to date job trend information.  A sample from this excellent resource can be found at  http://naceweb.org/KnowledgeCenter.aspx?fid=210877&menuID=366&ispub=False&nodetype=3&navurl=

Finally, one big reason I am so positive about being a community college career counselor is  that part of my job is promoting obtaining a college degree:

In an analysis reported by the AP of U.S. Department of Labor statistics, people without a high school diploma remain more than three times as likely to be unemployed than are college graduates, with 1 in 7 people with just some high school education unemployed and only 1 in 22 people with a college degree unemployed.  Furthermore, a comparison of unemployment rates by education, comparing pre-recession (December 2007) and August 2010 reaffirms the value of a college education:

• 7.8 percent to 14 percent for people who did not graduate from high school
• 4.7 percent to 10.3 percent for those with just a high school diploma
• 3.9 percent to 8.7 percent for people with some college
• 2.1 percent to 4.6 percent for those with bachelor’s or more advanced degrees

In my next blog, I will highlight some other great websites for helping students to choose, change and confirm their college majors.

“We probably will be a smaller Air Force when all is said and done. It’s likely that the other services will face similar pressures and will have to make choices.”      – Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, Monday, 30 August 2010

Some of you have results of the Air Force’s recent Selective Early Retirement Board (SERB), a move directly in line with the General Schwartz’s statement. If you’re affected, you’ll be leaving active duty no more than 110 days from today on 01 January 2011.

If you’re in another service, there are lessons to be learned given the mounting pressures of personnel costs facing the services.

Cope with the immediate impact:

SERBs and Reductions in Force (RIFs) make logical sense—to the service planners. But if you’re on the receiving end, it’s a bit of a shock. Some will see it as inevitable, some as nearly a betrayal after years of service and sacrifice. I encourage you to see if as an opportunity.

No matter how you, personally, react, you should claim the pride of supporting and defending the Constitution. You got much greater responsibilities than your civilian counterparts. You’ve gone places and done things most people can’t even dream of. You know what real leadership is and you know the indefinable camaraderie so rare in the civilian sector. I think the Marines put it best: “Once a Marine, always a Marine!”

Plan for the transition:

Your service is ready with a plan. Sometimes it’s called the Transition Assistance Program (TAP); sometimes it’s called the Alumni Program. But what ever it’s called, be sure you go.

The quality of the career transition services is getting better. If you’re a senior officer or a top-three NCO, ask about an Executive Transition Assistance Program (ETAP).

Regardless of which TAP you attend there is information about your benefits that is vital. Don’t put off attending. Call the local OPR now to see when the programs are scheduled. And make sure you aren’t tapped for TDY on those days.

That last point is very important. I call it deferred compensation. For years, you missed kids’ or your spouse’s birthday parties, anniversaries, graduations and the like. You even gave up some of your rights as a citizen. You sometimes worked “crashes” that meant 16 hour days, six days a week. And you accepted it all when you raised your right hand. Now, however, the Services owe you deferred compensation: time to make the transition.

It’s natural for your unit to try to benefit from your extensive experience right up until the last day. But it’s also time for you to remind them about preparing your replacement.

Make this transition work for you:

To get the most out of any transition program, take a few minutes to jot down some questions—ideas you should go over with those who depend on you. Here are some suggestions:

- Do you know which career field interests you? Think of a career field as a collection of knowledge, skills, abilities, and passion general described by a job title. So, for example, logistics planning is a career field. Logistic planners do basically similar things whether they are planning a time-phased force deployment list or managing FedEx shipments.

- Leadership or management is not a career field. It is a tool used in almost every endeavor.

- Will you relocate? If you will, what must your new location offer you and your family?

- How much income do you need?

There are other questions, of course. But if you have them written down, you can ask the TAP instructor for guidance.

There is a very rewarding life waiting for you after you hang up the uniform. In a sense, you’ll continue serving by helping America become even more competitive.

I was going to wish you luck in that new career. But I think you make your own.

This summer I have been looking for any positive signs in the job market.  The main positive information seems to indicate that there will be opportunities in the Federal Government in a few years.  The government has conducted research of current employees and found that many plan to retire in the next 3 -5 years.  Here is a summary of what I have found with some web-links for you to use.

United States Federal Government Trends

• http://wherethejobsare.org/WTJA/about/
• Federal Government Needs Massive Hiring Binge, Study Finds
  Steve Vogel – The Washington Post
  The federal government needs to hire more than 270,000 workers for “mission-critical” jobs over the next three years, a surge prompted in part by the large number of baby-boomer federal workers reaching retirement age.
• Federal Government Must Hire Tens of Thousands of New Workers to Fill Mission-Critical Jobs
  Great news for job seekers this Labor Day: the federal government is hiring tens of thousands of new employees. Based on a survey of 35 federal agencies representing nearly 99 percent of the 1.9 million federal workforce, Where the Jobs Are 2009: Mission-Critical Opportunities for America outlines government-wide projected hiring needs for the next three years.
• By 2018, we will need 22 million new workers with college degrees—but will fall short of that number by at least 3 million postsecondary degrees

Links of Interest Related to the Federal Government

• Best Places to Work
• Making the Difference – some special programs
• USAJOBS – Federal Government Job Information

• http://cew.georgetown.edu/jobs2018/ –  National research on job and education outlook for the next 10 years:  Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018.
• http://www.dhs.gov/xstudents/ – Homeland Security related government jobs and information for students

HOMELAND SECURITY JOBS:

• Find Career Opportunities

• Use the Job Finder
• Leadership Journal
• The Blog @ Homeland Security
• Homeland Security Tweets
• Homeland Security Videos

Other current ways I am keeping current about the job market:  belonging to the California Career Development Association and staying tuned to their tele-interviews:

September 9, 2010 at 10:00 am Pacific Time
H.B. Gelatt on:
The Process of Illumination in a Nutshell
The Process of Illumination (POI) is a process of illuminating and expanding our collective worldview one worldview at a time. Since beliefs are the foundation of a worldview, I am promoting beliefs that are more open (receptive to change) and more inclusive (comprehensive in scope). My theme is the minute you make up your mind that the way you see things makes a difference, it will make a difference in the way you see things … and do things. My opinion, in a nutshell, is that the way we see things is the most important and most neglected factor in determining our future and the future of the planet.

AND . . .

September 16, 2010 at 10:00 am Pacific Time
Charles Waldrop on:
Starting a Successful Ex-Offender Entrepreneur Program (including setting up a non-profit and partnering with community organizations)
Many ex-offenders want to start their own businesses. Learn the primary steps, methods, contents, and highlights to equip ex-offenders for this challenge. The speaker will discuss concrete examples from his recent entrepreneur classes, including required texts and results obtained. Discover the important elements, steps, methods, contents, and highlights of starting a successful ex-offender entrepreneur preparation program.

AND . . .

September 23, 2010 at 10:00 am Pacific Time
Carmen Croonquest on:
Recipe for Happiness for the Helping Professions

For interviewee biographies, valuable prework exercises, more information and to register for these events, visit the Careerwell website: http://careerwell.org

Earn FREE* Continuing Education Hoursby participating in these tele-interviews.

*Free for listeners who are members of participating organizations. Everyone who participates in these free tele-interviews will dial a regular toll number (not toll-free/1-800). Any long-distance charges you incur depend on your long-distance plan and service provider, which will charge you directly, as customary.

Listeners are encouraged to do the exercises before the live tele-interview to get the most out of it.

Easy, Online Registration

REGISTER HERE to listen to live tele-interview and/or receive link to audio recording.

brought to you by . . .
California Career Development Association

facilitated by . . .
Dr. Sally Gelardin
Ed.D., International & Multicultural Education
National Certified Counselor
Distance Credentialed Counselor
http://careerwell.org

As a resume writer and interview coach, I am blessed with wonderful clients that run the gamut from entry level to senior executives. Some have a great handle on how to self-promote; most do not. And surprisingly this isn’t always related to stature, experience, or education.

Business depends on growth, and growth depends on the cumulative impact of each employee’s individual performance. Your performance of a key function absolutely impacts the bottom line. Knowing yourself, your character, strengths, talents, and skills, relating these to your performance, and then demonstrating how your performance influenced your company’s year-end performance report, is an essential aspect of career management that impacts not only the interview, but also your annual review and other business conversations.

Your character, strengths, talents, education and skills—your credentials or value proposition—must be articulated clearly. They must be connected, in your interview conversation, to your employer’s bottom line. In relating stories of how your performance improved a previous employer’s business, you establish yourself as an employee who provides a return on investment. That is, investing in your pay will produce a return through your performance.

So many cannot articulate these workplace stories, and indeed, have no idea of what kind of return they offer. And what of you and your return? Any ideas?

The next blog will launch wholeheartedly into this topic. Until then, I encourage each reader to create a list of five or more aspects of their current or last job, a list of responsibilities or accountabilities that contribute to business growth or sustainability. If you are an administrative assistant, you must be organized and organize others; a network administrator, you must proactively keep the network humming along; a salesperson, you must not only keep existing accounts, but you must add new ones. Challenge yourself to create your list and tune in next month to see how to relate these to bottom line impact!

The federal government offers a vast array of career opportunities, unparallelled job security, and extraordinary benefits. In addition, a large percentage of current federal employees are now eligible to retire. Because of this, the federal government is planning to hire 600,000 people in the next two years, and to do that, they will need to make the hiring process much easier for outside (non-federal) applicants. Many job-seekers from outside the federal system have complained for years about the difficulty and complexity–not to mention the inscrutability–of the federal hiring process (the “competitive” hiring process in particular).

The President issued an executive order in May to improve the process, and this order is supposed to be implemented by November 2010. The new directive is designed to (hopefully) speed up the process, allow applicants to see where they are in the system, get hiring managers involved in hiring, and generally make the process less cumbersome. I’m sure not all the changes are going to happen right away, but it seems promising.  Until these reforms are implemented, though, there are many tips job seekers should be aware of when applying for federal jobs.  For example:

• If you put in your job seeker profile that you only want a permanent job (and don’t check of temporary or term positions), many of your applications won’t be viewed by HR at all because you are screening yourself out for many positions. Many temporary positions are eventually converted to permanent posts, so be sure to select all options when searching.
• Understand the jargon. Many positions ask for “one year experience at a GS 7 level” or something similar. GS 7 is for candidates with a bachelor’s degree, and GS 9 is for those with a master’s. Higher levels are difficult to qualify for unless you have some years of service in the federal government.
• The federal government typically can’t hire for potential, but instead seems to hire only based on demonstrated experience, and you have to demonstrate it in your application clearly.
• You have to re-write your entire (non-federal) resume and focus on keywords in the job description– rephrasing something in your own words can mean you are not found best qualified.
• You will have to write essays, and sometimes fax in your transcripts, or even mail (!) in your application. (These “Knowledge, Skills and Abilities” essays will be disappearing in Nov. 2010). 
• “Status candidates” mean people who already work for the federal government and/or have special hiring consideration due to recently finishing Peace Corps or AmeriCorps or something similar.
• It can take months, even up to a whole year, to get through the hiring process. Take a look at this actual flowchart of the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development’s process and you can see why. (This is supposed to be improved in the new system).
• Even if you apply and are best qualified, it is unlikely that your resume will be seen by the hiring manager unless you are a veteran, because of the rule of three–only the top 3 candidates can be forwarded. (This rule is ending in Nov. 2010).
• Many jobs still aren’t posted on USAJobs, because they are federal career intern program or excepted service positions– and the name “career intern” is totally misleading because it’s a full-time, trainee-ship, two-year job, designed to turn into a permanent position. Consider calling federal agencies in your area to inquire about fellowships or career intern positions. These can be some of the best ways to break into the federal government.

Military professionals, with their in-depth knowledge of the Federal culture and their experience in responsible jobs, often tell me they want to continue to serve, but in the private sector.

What better way than to join a contractor’s team dedicated to a Federal contract?

If they are still on active duty or recently retired, it’s important to check their service’s ethical guidelines as a first step.

Huge Federal spending initiatives attract thousands of companies all across America. In response, the government has improved a powerful website that can work for job seekers and their coaches.

While much of the private sector may be unsure of how the economy is going and thus be reluctant to hire, a Federal contract is a serious offer of work.

Consider tapping into Federal Business Opportunities website https://www.fbo.gov/ to find this information:

- Which companies might boost their chances of winning a Federal contract by benefiting from the skills military professionals have?

- What are the contract decision makers’ names and contact information?

- When will this opportunity expire?

- Who are the target companies’ competition (by name)?

- How much is this contract worth?

As always, jobseekers look to offer value. In this case, helping with the dilemma those contractors face. Companies who bid on a contract must convince the government they have the resources (people) to do the work. But companies cannot afford to hire those people before the contract is awarded.

Transitioning military professionals may be able to help, if they begin their campaigns before their last day on active duty. When they go beyond the usual value in their resume to show they understand a contractor’s unique challenges, they open the door to building relationships that land jobs.

Considering the average job search can easily take up to a year, this strategy can help lock in a committment even before people leave active duty.

Those who leave the military can easily miss one of its greatest benefits: free transition (career) assistance. In the past, there were several reasons for this.
Sometimes, service members thought their training and high standard of ethics would be enough to make them very attractive to employers.

Those retiring after a long career faced another barrier. Their organizations wanted to get the most from their corporate knowledge and experience right up to the day they retired.

For many, their dedication to the mission made it easy to shift the transition assistance sessions further down the schedule.

Now, however, the services seem to be taking a greater interest in the program. Over the last few years, DoD has funded hundreds of career transition specialists’ attendance at professional development conferences and memberships in professional career development organizations.

Career focus seems to be folded in to more service events. For example, the long-running Air Force Information Technology Conference will integrate a career fair. Some of the nation’s top IT thought leaders are present at the event which draws some 6,000 service-connected people together for the three day meeting.

Veterans aren’t the only ones who benefit from this new focus. If you are a résumé writer or a career coach working with veterans, be sure to ask what they took away from their transition assistance program. The new knowledge these special clients have can make the work we do more efficient and effective.