Senior Employment Specialist

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.

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.

Supplemental Questionnaire:  A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application.  Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.  Failure to submit the Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification.

THE COUNTY

Alameda County, located on the east side of San Francisco Bay, is California's seventh-largest county.  The County employs 9,700 full-time employees and operates on an annual budget of $3.4 billion.  Oakland, the County seat, is California's eighth largest city.  One and a half million people call Alameda County home and live in a variety of incorporated cities, unincorporated communities and rural areas.  As a major urban county, Alameda provides a full range of services to its citizens.  The County is a blend of culturally and ethnically diverse communities, and its mixture of cosmopolitan and suburban areas provides the perfect environment for families and their active lifestyles.  The County offers extensive cultural resources, countless recreational opportunities and an array of fine public and private colleges and universities.  

THE HEALTH CARE SERVICES AGENCY

Alameda County's Health Services Program is administered by the Health Care Services Agency and includes the following program areas: Behavioral Health, Public Health, Environmental Health, and Agency Administration/Indigent Health. The ultimate mission of the Health Care Services Agency is to provide fully integrated health care services through a comprehensive network of public and private partnerships that ensure optimal health and well-being and respect the diversity of all residents. Health Care Services Agency currently has multiple career opportunities for experienced professionals to become part of a service delivery team dedicated to the optimal health and well-being of Alameda County residents.  For more information about the Health Care Services Agency, please visit www.acgov.org/health/

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

It is the mission of Alameda County Behavioral Health to maximize the recovery, resilience and wellness of all eligible Alameda County residents who are developing or experiencing serious mental health, alcohol, or drug concerns. We envision communities where people realize their potential, and where stigma and discrimination against those with mental health, alcohol and/or drug issues are a thing of the past.

Only through exemplifying the following Alameda County Behavioral Health values will we be successful:

ACBHCS

Access - where every door is the right door for welcoming people with complex needs;

Consumer and Family Empowerment - through shared decision‐making best practices, that clinically produce effective outcomes;

Best Practices - business excellence that uses public resources cost‐effectively;

Health and Wellness - by integrating emotional, spiritual and physical health care;

Culturally Responsive - appropriate services built on the strengths and life experiences of culturally diverse consumers and their families;

Social Inclusion - utilizing advocacy and education to eliminate stigma, discrimination, isolation, and misunderstanding of persons with mental illness and substance abuse.

For more information about Alameda County Behavioral Health, please visit www.acbhcs.org/

THE POSITION

Under general direction from Division Director, to supervise multi-disciplinary staff providing vocational and employment services to Mental Health clients; to personally perform therapeutic, rehabilitative and related services; and to do related work as required.

Senior Employment Specialist is the first-line supervisory level in the Employment Specialist series.  Incumbents provide the full range of supervisory duties including: delegating work, scheduling staff, training, evaluating performance, addressing discipline, program planning and performing limited administrative duties.  This supervisor is a specialist in the implementation and monitoring of the Evidence Based Practice - Individual Placement and Support - Supported Employment, but will also need to be knowledgeable in billing standards of Medi-Cal.  Senior Employment Specialist are responsible for assisting with the daily operation of the mental health program and team, such as at the Vocational Program.  In addition, Senior Employment Specialist generally have responsibility for only one program and may carry a modified caseload.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications and knowledge and skills below, the ideal candidate will:

• Know principles and practices of effective supervision, training, program planning and community mental health consultation
• Utilize creative engagement strategies to address ambivalent clients, resistant employers and guarded family members.
• Communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Interview, counsel, and maintain effective working relations with clients, family members, employers, schools, county staff and other agencies.
• Know and have experience with psychosocial factors relevant to mental health such as personality, human growth and development, interpersonal relationships, family dynamics, community integration and socioeconomic resource provisions, substance abuse, including the relevance of these as related to plan development and establishing wellness and recovery goals.
• Know and stay current with vocational rehabilitation principles and methods particularly as they relate to mental health clients; understanding of current evidenced based, innovations related to good rehab practices.
• Know the business community, personnel management, and employer needs assessments to assist staff in accessing jobs on behalf of assigned clients

For a detailed listing of the essential responsibilities and core competency requirements for this position, please click here for the job description.

The minimum professional requirements for admission to the competitive assessment process include:

Education:

Possession of a Bachelor's Degree from a recognized college or university in the field of rehabilitation, social psychology, counseling, business administration, marketing, human resources or a closely-related social science or business field.

 AND

EITHER I 

Experience:The equivalent of five years of full-time experience as an Employment Specialist II in the Alameda County classified service.

OR II

Experience:The equivalent of three years direct supervisory experience in either human services professions such as rehabilitation, psychology, counseling, job solicitation, marketing or business, AND direct service experience working with disabled or disadvantaged populations, (such as mentally ill, substance abuse, homeless, or co-occurring).

License: Possession of a valid California Motor Vehicle operator's license is required for both levels.

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

NOTE:  the level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the "Example of Duties" section of this specification.

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:

• Psychosocial factors relevant to mental health such as personality, human growth and development, interpersonal relationships, family dynamics, community integration and socioeconomic resource provisions, substance abuse, including the relevance of these as related to plan development and establishing wellness and recovery goals.
• Dynamics of personal and social adjustment, normal and abnormal behavior and current psychiatric diagnostic techniques appropriate to rehabilitative work.
• Vocational Rehabilitation principles and methods particularly as they relate to mental health clients; understanding of current evidenced based, innovations related to good rehab practices.
• Principles and practices of effective supervision, training, program planning and community mental health consultation.
• Creative engagement strategies to address ambivalent clients, resistant employers and guarded family members.
• Various mental health facilities and levels of treatment, vocational rehabilitation programs, and public and private community agencies concerned with mental health.
• The business community, personnel management, employer needs assessments as required to assists staff to access jobs on behalf of assigned clients.
• Statistical research and evaluative methods pertaining to mental health programs and Evidenced Based Practices in the filed.
• Psychopharmacology's impact on a client's ability to work or how adjustment to medication can impact work outcomes.
• Multi-social, ethnic, and cultural groups.

Ability to:

• Interview, counsel, and maintain effective working relations with clients, family members, employers, schools, county staff and other agencies.
• Develop individualized, practical and effective employment training plans.
• Understand terms and best practices in both mental health and drug and alcohol treatment.
• Effectively market and represent a program, its clients and services to employers. 
• Work with a diverse client population.
• Know a variety of different engagement tools to progress clients with ambivalence.
• Utilize retention strategies to help customers keep working.
• Communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Administer examinations/vocational testing and draw valid conclusions from their results.
• Work cooperatively and effectively with community agencies, service providers, school officials, and the public.
• Write clear and concise reports.

The examination will consist of the following steps: 1) A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. 2) Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process which is a review of candidates' Supplemental Questionnaires to select the best qualified applicants to continue in the process. 3) Those candidates selected as best qualified will move on to the next step in the examination process, an oral interview examination which will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview examination 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: 

**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.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PLAN

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 statues.  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/divisions/ps/application.htm

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 ensure 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.

Nicole Lewis-Bolton, Human Resources Analyst

Human Resource Services, County of Alameda

(510) 272-6468 • nicole.lewis-bolton@acgov.org

Disaster Service Worker

All Alameda County employees are designated Disaster Service Workers through state and local law.  Employment with the County requires the affirmation of a loyalty oath to this effect.  Employees are required to report to work as ordered in the event of an emergency.

Equal Employment Opportunity

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.