r/CAcountyworkers

Hello,

This is in regards to a county job/Livescan results interpretation so I feel like this community may be best to help answer my questions and help in a time in need.

So it doesn’t turn in to paragraphs I’ll try for easy bullet points.

-Was conditionally offered a park ranger position (not a sworn LEO position, more of a maintenance ranger with slight code enforcement abilities.)
-It was very made clear that I was a top candidate after the skills exam results and second interview. Hiring manager and potential supervisor kept in contact through physical/Livescan process very excited to see me on the team.
-From the years of 2011-2017 between the ages of 18-25 I was in active addiction and developed a lengthy but pretty minor criminal record. (No violence, no sex crimes and no state prison sentence)
-After receiving the results , HR/employee relations slow played for three weeks (maybe calculating risk based on my results)
-today they rejected my conditional offer and gave me opportunity to appeal.
-By almost every metric, I’m a poster boy for rehabilitation. I won’t get in to crazy detail but essentially I put myself through a very rigorous treatment program, continued education, had a thriving business directly related to my potential position (huge selling point for getting original offer!) , started a very happy little family and currently work for a municipality that accepted my past and have been in good standing with no issues with the courts or my past life for over 9 years.

Happy to clarify or add anything as questions come up.

My questions and request for some insight are around the appeal process.

Have you ever seen someone or successfully navigated this “Fair Chance” appeal process?
If you are on the other side of this… what would you be looking for ?

Thanks so much in advance for your help. After a few months of good news and being excited about a new position , I’m pretty crushed.

Is anyone trying to retire early as a county worker. I’ve never worked in county before and I’m set to start next month. I’ve been contributing to my 401k and Roth IRA as I’ve only worked in the private sector with a goal of retiring by 55. Is this even possible as county worker? Or will they not let me retire by 55? Any drawbacks?

Has anyone ever gotten a job of this list? There seems to be a lot of eligible people. Would it be better to apply thru the emergency hiring postings?

Anybody work in the call center for LA county or others? I just learned that’s where I was placed and would like to brace myself by hearing other experiences. How did you manage stress? What is working in the call center like vs. something like case management? Is it easy to transfer out or move up so that you’re not stuck there?

This completely blindsided me since I have no history of disciplinary complaints at all. I have been reviewing my interactions with coworkers both inside and outside my section in the past week and I can't pinpoint any specific encounter that might have triggered this. I cannot believe they refuse to give ANY details about what the complaint is about.

Has anyone else been through this where you have no idea what the issue might be? I asked some coworkers about their own experience and they all had an idea of what the issue might be that they were reported on. I genuinely have no clue so this feels extra stressful since it can be ANYTHING?

My only calming thought is that if it was something genuinely "serious" like someone claiming I sexually harassed them or threatened violence, they would have fast tracked this whole thing. But, they are taking their sweet time and it can take several weeks before I am given any details.

Anyways, would love some thoughts from others who have dealt with something similar. This process is so frustrating

Update: got a verbal call today
I had an interview two weeks ago. Sent a thank you, and got a warm response. References were requested the following week. HR informed me that one reference had not gotten back 3 days later. I worked to ensure all references were in. It has now been 4 business days, and although I am sure the signs are clear that an offer is incoming, there is still not offer. What does this sound like to you all?

I am coming up to my one year with the LA County in July- yay! Time really flew by and theres so much that I am getting used to and learning…so I might not know all the depts, sections, & etc as I never worked for the county prior to this.

I am currently a int. clerk, I already passed my typing test in Nov of last year and still waiting to be moved up to a Int. Typist Clerk..

I assumed its taking awhile bc of the “hiring freeze.” I waiting for that to open so I can make a little more money.

A friend of mine sugguested I try applying for a Senior Typist Clerk for emergency appt but is that even possible for me to make that jump? Is it heavy on public facing?

What does the work actually entail? It also doesnt specify where the workplace would be. I don’t want to commute so far because I already commute to the office 22 miles each way so 44 miles in total everyday.

So I want to move up little by little so I can make more money little by little.

Any insight and advice would be super appreciated!

It looks like they always have job postings and I applied to one a few months back, took the exam and placed in band 1. I have heard nothing. I know there are budget issues but why open the jobs if you don't plan on hiring anyone?

Any info on when the next round of workforce reductions will occur? I heard sometime this month but am wondering if anyone has a more specific timeline. Thanks !

Hello, I have been navigating the SF eligible lists for a while (as a social worker/clinician), and decided to try other counties. San Mateo didn’t give me a score/rank when placing me on lists, but Alameda gave me a rank of 5.

I was curious if it’s a good, bad, or average score. In SF you can look up the exam results and see how many people are at each rank, but I couldn’t find a similar thing for Alameda. Does that exist?

Need some career advice from people who’ve worked in county, district, or state service 👀
I’m currently working in workforce development for the county, but I recently got the opportunity to interview for an HR position with a school district. Long-term, my ultimate goal is to work for the State of California in HR/personnel, so I’m trying to think strategically about my next move.
What’s making this hard is that:
My current department is grant funded

The district role would give me more direct HR experience

But I know county service also has value/stability and internal growth opportunities

For those who’ve worked in public sector/government:
Would moving from county workforce development into school district HR be a smart move if the end goal is state HR? Or would it make more sense to stay county and continue trying to promote/transfer internally?
I’d really appreciate honest insight from anyone who’s made similar transitions between county, district, and state work 🙏

I applied for social worker I and haven't heard from them since. Does it usually take a long time to get a response back?

How do the texts and interview look like?

Hi, I hope someone can help me.

I have been in my current role with LA County since 2006. As of most recently, within a year or two, the license portion has changed.

In 2006, the license was to have a class C drivers license. Good driving record…yada yada yada

Now I see the same job and same title, it now makes mention, you must have a personal vehicle at the time of assignment and to be used to fulfill job requirements.

My questions is, does the new amend, and having a personal vehicle apply to me and those who were hired before the amended change?

Any info would be helpful and thank you

Is that considered the next step to the hiring process?
I have my hopes kinda high since my references got the email for Sac County.

Can anyone please share tips? I’m practicing and it feels weird talking to myself lol.

Hi all,

I just graduated with my MSW and have multiple interviews for SW I and MHC I positions with different counties and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share what the interview process/questions were like, especially for county behavioral health and child welfare.

Please feel free to dm me, thank you!