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The California Department of Human Resources recently unveiled a new tool to help those applying for state jobs determine which classifications they are most suited to. The new feature is the department’s latest effort to simplify its hiring process, which has been criticized for being difficult to navigate.
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Prospective state workers can access the new skills matching tool on the CalCareers homepage by clicking on “Find my Classification.” There applicants can input their resume or manually insert their work experience. From there, they are given a list of classifications that fit their background. It will give key indictators like “strong fit” or “worth considering.”
In an interview with The Sacramento Bee, CalHR Director Monica Erickson said determining which classifications an applicant is qualified for is a common obstacle.
“It’s no news that individuals that are always looking for employment with the state have a difficult time matching their skills to the job classifications that we have in state government, so we were trying to look for a way to make it easier to match their skills with the job classifications that we have with the state,” she said.
The tool — which has been used by about 800 active users since its rollout on Sept. 30 — primarily uses each classification’s minimum requirements and matches it to those terms in the applicant’s resume, according to Erickson. CalHR said information shared on the platform is not stored or saved.
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Once a jobseeker uses the tool, CalHR says they’ll have a “more targeted” approach. They can save time by searching by classifications they meet rather than a mass list of all job postings.
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When trying out the new CalCareers feature, The Bee used a random curriculum vitae from a Yale Law School professor. The took offered classifications like “Attorney III, Political Practices Commission” and “Tax Counsel III.”
Erickson said the classifications with the most openings are typically “Analyst I” and “Analyst II,” which are generalist positions.
The skill-matching tool comes a few months after the state launched its new hiring guide. State agencies aren’t required to implement the guide, but are encouraged to. The new policy aims to cut the amount of time managers use to review and score applications, which could help speed up the hiring process.
“I think over time we’ve become very rigid in our hiring processes where we didn’t need to be, and this (new guide) kind of helped clarify that for our hiring managers while continuing to you know do merit-based hires,” Erickson said.
The initiatives could help lower the state’s vacancy rate by simplifying the hiring process and making it more attractive to candidates. California has made progress in recent years. The vacancy rate was about 20.6% in summer 2023, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting, compared to about 16.6% this August.
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