Sierra College workshop helps job seekers break into state careers

At Sierra College, a one-night community education course is teaching job seekers how to navigate the competitive process of landing a state job.

The course, "How to Get a Job with the State", is offered to community members through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Community Education at Sierra College. The course is included in the online catalog, Kaleidoscope, where community members can find career-oriented courses to creative skillsets, like art or language.

The state job how-to is one that has become particularly helpful as career experts report college graduates are entering a turbulent economy. The career website, Handshake, found job postings have declined by 15% while the number of applications has increased by 30%.

The course, taught by Michelle Allen, has changed over the years, she says, along with technology and the job market. She teaches students how to navigate the online state careers portal, CalCareers, while sharing applicable anecdotes of her own career with the State of California that spans multiple agencies and positions.

For Steven Brown, who spent more than 30 years in sales, the workshop was a chance to try something new.

"At the age of early 50s, I had to redo my resume, I had to go on interviews, I had to learn how to do Zoom interviews, Teams interviews," Brown said.

Allen, who began her career with the California Department of Education, says the demand for state jobs remains high but she teaches that there can be delays when applying.

"There's always a need and right now we have close to 3,000 openings statewide," she said, adding that most of those positions are in the Sacramento region and neighboring areas like El Dorado, San Joaquin, and Yolo Counties.

Allen provides worksheets with step-by-step guides on where to find tests, information about specific jobs, and tips on how to submit the best application possible based on her experience.

For Allen, the work is about more than just teaching application steps.

"It will bring tears to my eyes sometimes because it's so meaningful for them," she said. "There's rarely anything that beats helping somebody get a good-paying, steady job."

But she also gives the class a dose of reality.

"I tell them, right up front, most of you aren't going to go on and work from the state, not because you're not capable, or have the skillsets, you're gonna give up. Because you're not going to hear anything back, you're not going to get a response."

Her advice?

"You've got to kind of be a little driven. I really don't think there's one person in this class that couldn't go work for the state," Allen said. "If they get in, and get on, they can move to their dream job and their dream salary."

Allen repeated the advice to the class that it's not about what job, but just getting in the door with the state. The possibilities are there.