There are several resources that are extremely helpful in finding a civil service job as well as keeping you updated as to the latest civil service-relevant news, information on new civil service job opportunities, and general activities within the civil service area.
First one is The Chief-Leader, or just “The Chief” for short. The Chief newspaper is the leading resource I recommend for good, reliable, and updated information on civil service jobs, union activities, information on benefits and contract activities for New York City and surrounding areas as well as other municipal-like agencies like NYC Transit Authority (NYCTA) and NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation (HHC). I am personally a subscriber and I am not making any compensation with this referral or discussion – The Chief is just a great resource.
I started reading The Chief when I worked in private industry over 28 years ago when I was looking to get a Civil Service job. I waited for the test announcement, and after I took the test, the list was posted in The Chief as soon as it was available.
As a city manager, I would sometimes get information out of The Chief before my Human Resources (HR) departments would have it. I would find out what list was being “called” (an agency ‘calls’ a list to fill vacant or provisionally-filled positions), the people who passed, their test score, list number, and if my agency was calling it.
There are great articles and professional column writers; information on Social Security, Taxes, and Retirement Planning all related to your income from your Civil Service job. The editorials are passionate and well-articulated and the “Letters to the Editor” column has postings from readers and subscribers that are impassioned and intense with their particular position.
As far as tests for jobs, the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, or DCAS, is the place to go – and need to go to – in order to file for a test.
The Civil Service tests that are offered are usually listed at the beginning of the city’s fiscal year, which is July 1. The DCAS site lists these tests and filing dates, as well as instructions on how to apply. The Chief also publishes the list as soon as it’s available.
Filing is done on-line through their OASys system. OASys is a bit clunky to use and it is very important that you regularly save your application as you fill it out. It is merciless and will gladly lose your extensively-typed details if you inadvertently move off the page or if it times you out.
I’ve spent many a late night refilling my job history details in that went away because I stepped away from the computer for a moment, or logged out the earlier evening to continue the next day just to find my last entries gone…
Of course this information is in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) area…
OASys is where you also fill out your experience and education (E&E) details. If applying for an E&E only test then it is extremely important that you provide the detail needed to prove your E&E. If the positing says you need 5 years of experience, you must somehow articulate it here – there is no other application. Must have worked on capital projects in excess of $300,000.00 – this is where that gets spelled out.
The NYC Jobs website is an ok resource, but it doesn’t always have the latest updates. The links sometimes have issues in getting to the open jobs or take you in a loop back to the main page. If you have issues here I recommend you go directly to the agency website if you can, however some of the agencies are only using the NYC Jobs webpage. NYC Jobs can be used as the reference point for you to find out about agencies that have civilian opportunities that may be surprising to you. But that’s for another post…
The city has slowly moved into on-line arena and regular job search sites, like Monster, Indeed, or GlassDoor will SOMETIMES have available jobs. Certainly not all available jobs are posted. Again, The Chief and the agencies websites are the best resources for the latest available postings and positions.
Are you ready to find your pot of gold?…
Questions and Comments welcomed below.
Image Courtesy of Alyssa Smith through unsplash.com
