Policy Director

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION. The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Supplemental Questionnaire:  A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application. 

Failure to submit the Application or Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification. Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.

Applications will only be accepted on-line.

Alameda County is pleased to announce an exciting career opportunity to serve as a Policy Director coordinating agency-wide policies, legislative activities, supporting operating departments’ strategic planning efforts, leading the development and implementation of complex departmental initiatives and programs, and directing and coordinating the activities of a unit.

The Policy Director will support the design of service delivery systems and monitor the Agency’s overall response to regulatory and legislative changes, and conduct best practice reviews and policy analyses. The Policy Director will act as a liaison with State and Federal officials, as well as work in collaboration with the Finance Department and other major programs and units.

 

The Alameda County Social Services Agency (SSA) is comprised of 2,200 men and women working collectively and in partnership with community-based organizations to serve the needs of the community. Services are provided through four departments: Administration and Finance, Adult and Aging Services, Children and Family Services, and Workforce and Benefits Administration. To learn more about the Alameda County Social Services Agency, please visit the website at https://www.alamedasocialservices.org/.

The ideal candidate for this position will have also demonstrated a track record of success as:

• Someone technically and professionally adept and well prepared for advancement who takes personal satisfaction and pride coordinating agency-wide policy, legislative activities and operating departments’ strategic planning efforts.
• Someone capable of identifying opportunities and building strategic and collaborative work relationships to facilitate the accomplishment of business goals. 
• Someone resourceful and highly skilled in analysis who is capable of seeking or collecting and synthesizing information from a variety of clients and sources in an objective, unbiased manner to reach a conclusion, goal, or judgment.
• Someone able to make a positive impact on others by exuding an air of confidence, creating good first impressions by professionally commanding attention, and earning the professional trust and respect of others.
• Someone who can effectively manage one’s own and others time and resources to ensure work is completed efficiently.
• Someone with strong strategic decision making and problem solving skills who can identify and understand issues, problems, and opportunities; who uses effective approaches for choosing a course of action or developing appropriate solutions; and who solves problems by taking action that is consistent with available facts, constraints, and probable consequences.
• Someone who is an effective communicator who clearly conveys information and ideas and interacts with others by relating well to people from varied backgrounds and in different situations; and who exemplifies understanding, courtesy, tact, empathy, concern, and politeness.

For a complete listing of all essential responsibilities and core competency requirements, please see the comprehensive job description at: http://www.jobaps.com/alameda/ClassSpecs.asp 

The current vacancy is in Social Services Agency. Further, please note that the eligible list resulting from this recruitment and selection process may be utilized for other future vacancies which may arise within the next year.

Education:

Possession of a Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in Social Welfare, Planning, Public Administration, Public Policy, Health Care Administration or a closely related field.

And

Experience:

The equivalent of four years of increasingly responsible, full-time, paid administrative experience in the evaluation of or planning for the delivery of health care or social services in a health care or social services agency, social planning, or community organization. (Note: The combination of training and experience must clearly demonstrate possession of the required knowledge and abilities.)

License: A valid California Motor Vehicle license is required.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:

• Research, analytical and data collection techniques.
• Principles and practices of project management.
• Principles and practices of business and public administration.
• Principles and practices of management, supervision, and training.
• Budget administration.
• Program performance budgeting, strategic budgeting and benchmarking.

Ability to:

• Review and analyze a variety of technical review comments on projects and recommends appropriate action.
• Manage project activities and the activities of multi-disciplinary teams.
• Establish, balance and adjust priorities.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships.
• Promote a customer-oriented approach toward meeting the needs of the County.
• Prepare and present clear and concise oral and written communications.
• Prepare a variety of narrative documents, including policy statements, management reports and correspondence.
• Speak effectively before small and large groups.
• Facilitate small and large groups.
• Establish standards and evaluate performance.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with federal, state, local government, other County personnel and the public.
• Resolve operational and procedural problems and conflicts.
• Respond effectively to a variety of changing situations.

THE EXAMINATION WILL CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING STEPS:

1.  A review of the candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process;

2.  A review of candidates' answers the Supplemental Questionnaire to determine the best qualified; only the most suitably best qualified candidates will be invited to the oral interview process;

3.  An oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises.

CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION. 

We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit.  Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position. Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position.  Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.  The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN  

 

Deadline for Filing:	Thursday, November 19, 2020  ***extended Monday, November 30, 2020
Review of Minimum Qualifications:	Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Review of Supplemental Questionnaire for Best Qualified:	Week of December 7, 2020
Oral Interviews*:	****Week of April 12, 2021

****Updated 4/1/2021

***updated 11/18/2020

*The combined oral examination/hiring interview, in addition to establishing an eligibility list, may serve as the final selection interview for vacancies in this classification.

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statutes. To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Well-Being

• Medical – HMO & PPO Plans
• Dental – HMO & PPO Plans
• Vision or Vision Reimbursement
• Share the Savings
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage for eligible employees)
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance 
• County Allowance Credit
• Flexible Spending Accounts - Health FSA, Dependent Care and Adoption Assistance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Voluntary Benefits - Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity and Legal Services
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Retirement Plan - (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan or Roth Plan)

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Floating Holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Catastrophic Sick Leave
• Group Auto/Home Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @jobaps.com, acgov.org and Noreply@jobaps.com as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the 'My applications' button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box Noreply@jobaps.com are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions, please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Ione Bell, Human Resources Analyst
Human Resource Services, County of Alameda
Ione.bell@acgov.org
(510) 272-6456

Alameda County has a diverse workforce, that is representative of the communities we serve, and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance and business need. Alameda County does not discriminate in employment on the basis of, race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors protected under federal, state and local law. Alameda County celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive, and welcoming workplace environment.