On Wednesday, the Career Center will be hosting an event in the Student Center from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. advising students on how to find a state job.
According to Brandon Littlejohn, a statewide recruiter from the California Department of Human Resources, the state government is one of the largest employers in California with over 200,000 full-time and permanent employees across about 150 state departments.
Littlejohn’s job as statewide recruiter is to not only recruit eligible candidates for various jobs, but to also evaluate said candidates and advise managers.
Statewide unemployment is down to 7.0 percent from 12.4 percent in October 2010, the highest it has been in decades, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to Eva Bell, a student personnel assistant, the decrease in unemployment means the state is “looking to hire.”
Bell, who works in the career center on campus in portable 605B, said that the event will host somewhere between eight to 10 agencies from the state that are looking to recruit.
According to Littlejohn, the agencies include the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, California Transportation, the Department of State Hospitals, and the Department of Veteran Affairs, among others.
Bell stresses that the informational meeting, which will cover topics such as how to search for positions on the website, completing applications, and the follow-through process, is not a job fair.
“(How to find a state job) has been a desired topic amongst students for several years,” said Bell. “We did it nine years ago and the room was full.”
Bell feels that government jobs are “attractive” to students because of the stability and promotability the positions offer.
Commercial Music major Ron Carson agrees with Bell that a job with the state is a great and alluring opportunity to students.
“Nothing is definite or etched in stone but (a job with the state) has the potential to be a career job and that longevity is important,” said Carson.
Sahand Akbari, a microbiology major who has searched for jobs on the state’s website in the past, describes the process as “difficult, confusing and stupid”.
“The testing is a pain…and the way the testing works is confusing,” said Akbari.
Akbari was not impressed by the less than user-friendly website and offered suggestions on how the state might improve their web services.
“They need to consolidate all the information they provide, break up the website into categories and provide step-by-step instructions so that students know exactly what to do and where to go.”
Littlejohn agrees that the process is difficult for users but said that the state is working to improve job-seekers’ experiences on the site.
“(The website) is currently a lot of direction following,” said Littlejohn. “We need to make sure directions are in a centralized location for job seekers.”
Littlejohn went on to say that the state wishes to work closely with colleges in order to “build a pipeline between school and state” that will make the process of transitioning from school and into the workforce more effective.
Kevin Wilson, a sociology major, finds the opportunity to learn more about how to find a state job beneficial to the community as a whole.
“Anytime people come to talk about creating jobs and how to find one it provides a better opportunity for the students it could allow many to be able to pay for school without government aid,” said Wilson.
“Many come (to ARC) because they are lost and feel as if they have failed which leads them to give up and become depressed which causes stress and it goes downhill from there,” Wilson added.
Crime and criminal thinking, Wilson believes, is created by a lack of opportunity and is an alternate provider of money for many people.
“People aren’t born criminals, they are forced,” he said.
However, Wilson does not attribute wealth to happiness.
“The road is hard even for the rich man – having money just makes for an easier way of life.”
While Wednesday’s event will only be information giving, the Career Center will be hosting a job fair on April 30 at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. which state agencies will be apart of.