The state of California wants me, kind of
Jun 1st, 2009 by admin
The state of California isn’t the most reliable employer around as state budget cuts are on the way, but since being laid off almost a month ago I’ve tried to get an an eligibility list for a state job.
I finally made it on one of the eligible lists, although the results aren’t encouraging.
For anyone who hasn’t applied for a state job, I can tell you from my limited experience of applying that for most of them you have to take an exam and be on that department’s “exam list.” It can take years to get hired. Really. Years.
I recently received a letter from a state department congratulating me on passing an exam. I took it online for an assistant public information officer job, and it basically required me to answer questions about my qualifications. Apparently I’m not overly qualified, although I thought my years of newspaper experience would get me in the door.
I had a score of 75, which if you remember from elementary school, doesn’t amount to much. That gives me a rank of 5, far below the 95% that applicants with a ranking of 1 received.
And to make it worse, the letter notes that “When filling vacancies, the appointment method will give consideration to individuals in the highest three ranks.”
In other words, I’m way behind the people ranked 1, 2, 3 an d 4. Of the 128 people on the eligible list, about 85 are ranked ahead of me. All of those people would have to die, find another job, choose not to take the job if offered, or somehow be disqualified for me to get the job. And that’s before competing with the 20 people who I scored 75 with for a 5 ranking.
The good news is that I’ll be on the list for two years. In that time, I’ll either move up or off the list somehow.
