California Job Blog

For 2019 holidays, click here ! Employees with the State Of California are entitled to the following paid holidays in 2018: New Year's Day (January 1) Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 15) President's Day (February 19) Memorial Day (May 28) Independence Day (July 4) Labor Day (September 3) Veteran's Day (November 11) Thanksgiving Day (November 22) Day After Thanksgiving Day (November 23) Christmas Day (December 25) State employees also get Cesar Chavez Day off. In 2018 it falls on a Saturday, so all State employees get a day (8 hours) of Holiday Credit! Notes On Holidays: New Year’s Day – January 1 Martin Luther King Jr. Day – 3rd Monday in January President’s Day – 3rd Monday In February Cesar Chavez Day – March 31 Memorial Day – The last Monday in May Independence Day – July 4 Labor Day – First Monday in September Veterans Day – November 11 Thanksgiving Day – 4th Thursday in November Day After Thanksgiving – The Friday after Thanksgiv...

One of the best pieces of advice I can give to someone trying to land a job with the State of California is to follow all directions provided in the job advertisement. Read it carefully & Print it and make notes in the margins if you need to. The easiest way to get disqualified from a job (even if you’re the most qualified applicant!) is to not follow the instructions in the bulletin. The State of California's hiring process is merit-based . However, that doesn't mean that just because you are that you can get away with submitting a poor-quality State Application or failing to submit all required documents. Additional Required Documents Reference the Job Control (JC-xxx) or position number. Many departments have multiple openings in the same classification and the only way they know which one you’re applying for is in the position number or the Job Control number. You might be one of a hundred applicants for a position and the hiring unit is not going to take the ...

How the State's Hiring Process Works The State hiring process can be daunting, especially if you’re trying to enter the California State Civil Service for the first time. The following is a brief overview of what an applicant can expect in the State's hiring process. The CA Job Blog also has a much more detailed and in-depth guide to getting a job with the State of California and someone is always available to contact with any questions. STEP #1: Set Up Your CalCareer Account To get started, follow these 3 simple steps to create and set up your profile: Visit jobs.ca.gov Click on Create Account and sign up. Once you have signed up, sign in and set up your profile by completing the My Application section. We've got a step-by-step guide for creating an account . By completing this section, you are setting up your State Application. This is the application you’ll use to apply for all State jobs. Take your time and make sure it is organized. Make sure your r...

Instructions to Register for CalCareer Notifications: Start at Jobs.ca.gov . You must have created and be logged into your CalCareer account to set job notifications. Click on Advanced Job Search . You can search by any criteria you'd like. You can search by county, or by time base, for example. We'll use a classification search in this example because that's the most common. Pick the classification you’d like to search by. We'll use Associate Governmental Program Analyst for our example. When you get the search results, you can see there is a box that says Use Exact Phrase Match under the search box. If you click that, it should help cut through the clutter of irrelevant job postings showing up in your search results. The State's search engine is not very precise. A misspelling (even a letter off) can cause no search results to be returned. If you do spell it right, you're likely to get a lot of extraneous classifications in your search res...

Pre and Post Tax Retirement Contributions When calculating your effective tax rate, the types and amounts of your monthly (or bi-monthly) deductions need to be factored in. Some deductions are made pre-tax, and some are made post-tax. CalPERS contributions, for example, are made pre-tax. This means that before calculating how much you ultimately have to pay in Federal and California State taxes, your retirement contributions are subtracted first. Retirement contributions are subtracted from the income you pay taxes on, as far as the IRS in concerned. This is beneficial in lowering the total amount of income taxes you pay each year. If you had a monthly salary of $4,200 and a $300 CalPERS contribution, the adjusted salary used to determine how much you have pay in Federal and State taxes is $3,900 ($4,200-$300). If, in addition to your $300 per month CalPERS contribution, you contributed $100 each month to a 401(k), your taxable income would be $3,800 ($4,200-$300-$100). The Ca...

A few years ago, you didn’t see many State employers requiring a resume. Now, though, it's becoming much more common. In advanced and supervisory positions especially you're now more likely to see A Resume Is Required in the job posting. If an application is required to apply for a position, you'll have to have it uploaded and submitted electronically with your application. The CalCareer account system will prevent you from submitting an application if it doesn't recognize a resume is included also. If you are submitting your application in hard copy, the hiring unit is likely to immediately reject it if there isn't a resume included. Remember, a resume is different from either a cover letter or a Statement of Qualifications . Each of these should be treated separately. A statement of qualifications shouldn't refer to your resume and vice versa. It's possible that a hiring department will require a resume, cover letter and statement of qualifications...