Without A Strategy, Your State Jobs Search Is a Waste of Time

Nobody wants to spend a ton of time finding a new job.

Yet, the California State Civil Service hiring process seems to demand just that -- finding out the job classifications you qualify for, taking civil service exams as needed for those job classifications, and then fashioning compelling job application packets for open positions in those job classifications that get you from the candidate pool into the interview pool.

The way you reduce the amount of time spent? Strategy.

What I teach in my California State Jobs Bootcamp that separates me from the free workshops put on by the State is that I teach each client to develop a job search strategy that is unique to them. Having a job search strategy will help you focus your efforts on not only the kinds of State jobs you want, but the ones you are most likely to get given your qualifications. A State jobs search strategy is a combination of a lot of factors particular to each client - how much time they want to spend on probation, how quickly they want to be hired, their qualifications, and how much they want to earn, among many other factors. Once the strategy is in place, my clients can use that strategy to prioritize which jobs to apply for so they don't waste time applying for jobs they don't want, don't qualify for, or don't have a high likelihood of getting. If the strategy doesn't work, my clients have the tools they need to change it in light of their strengths and preferences.

Because I stick with my clients through their State jobs search, I continue to give them advice on strategy.

Here's the one thing that every State jobs search strategy starts with: Minimum qualifications. One of the things that irks me to no end is that, when you go the CalCareers page to start your State jobs journey and click on the "Get A State Job" icon, the first thing it tells you is to look for available jobs.

Total. Waste. Of. F'ing. Time. Why?

It doesn't matter what jobs are available if you don't meet the minimum qualifications for the job classification the job is in. A job classification is a type of job, like Office Assistant. A job or opening is a position in that job classification. If, for example, there were an opening for an Office Assistant, but you don't meet the minimum qualifications for the Office Assistant job classification, applying for that opening is a waste of time. Minimum qualifications for job classifications in State civil service are not negotiable - either you meet them or you don't. For those job classifications that require civil service exams, you may not even be able to take those exams if you don't meet the minimum qualifications for those job classifications. If you somehow do take an exam for a job classification but you don't meet its minimum qualifications, you can be disqualified from getting interviews for all openings in that job classification.

So here's a rule of thumb: It's not whether there are open positions that matters; what matters is what job classifications you qualify for.

That is my superpower: Helping my clients figure out all the job classifications they qualify for and then helping them craft a job search strategy based on that pool of job classifications.

Once you have your strategy - prioritizing the job classifications you're going to apply for open positions in based on what you qualify for and other priorities you have, such as salary, probation period, etc. -- then you can plan how to execute your job search strategy. Your plan is when and how often you apply for open positions and how you prioritize applying for open positions based on your strategy. That is why the back of my business cards state my mantra: Strategize. Plan. Execute.

Because applying for open positions in any job classification you don't qualify for is a total waste of time.