Several months ago I got an email from a friend. It was forwarded from his wife. I can only imagine that she has an email feed. I had to print out the application and send it in via post. I got an email back from them saying stuff that read like I would only be considered for the unpaid internships.
Then a couple weeks later I got a phone call from the agency saying that they wanted to schedule an interview. It was odd because I told them that I had gotten a notice that they were only looking for unpaid and the reply was simply an emphatic statement that they were interviewing for the had paid jobs. The caller then asked about my enrollment status and residence. We talked about an interview on the 6th and they she hung up on me.
Since she said she would get back to me, I didn’t know her name and the mooted day for the interview was coming up soon I decided to call them and they sent me to voice mail. I left a message and then found that persons email and sent them an email. Then after two weekends later I looked for another phone number to address the problem of scheduling the interview. This time I got the person who called me and she acknowledged that we needed to make an appointment.
Two days later I received a phone call from her at ten in the morning for the interview. The other interviewer, a modeler, was new. I don’t enjoy phone interviewers because of the sound quality. Plus the second interviewer had an accent and that made things a bit more difficult.
The lead interviewer told me that they had two paid positions and one or two unpaid. They confirmed that I was a student, which is a requirement. They asked about the distance between my school and the job site. I told them that there would not be much need for me to be at the University and that I would be available to fill the hourly requirement. I told them when I wanted to graduate. I also pointed out that the location of the job was attractive because I had so many friends nearby.
The second interviewer explained the model they were developing for the region. The position involved experience in GIS and database management. They asked me to describe my experience with databases and what type of databases I had been using. They told me about the database they were using and asked what kind of query language experience I had. They also wanted to know about my programming experience. I said that I understood SQL but had not used SQL Server. I also said that I had a lot of experience with ArcMap 10. I talked about my programming experience.
They wanted to know if I had any questions. I asked what the duration of the position was and what the hours and compensation were. They told me it would likely go until June and required a minimum of PT but they were open to FT. They also said that I would qualify for internship pay.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
CalOpps Reference
This is a post pertaining to the website called CalOpps:
CalOpps (2008). Welcome to CalOpps. Retrieved October 2, 2012, from https://www.calopps.org/default.cfm
Upon logging into this site you end up at the profile options page, which has 14 links on it many of which are redundant. The edit profile link on the profile options page is where you can add your previous job experiences and change their order. To upload a resume you have to paste a text string into a field. This page has several buttons. The job cart is for saving applications, the my applications link shows recent submissions and the profile information link shows a static version of what is loaded into the edit profile above.
The banner has several other links on that are also on the profile options page like an FAQ and a government employment link with a readme. There is also a member agencies link, which produces a full list of the many Bay Area and California Cities available on the site. They are mostly smaller cities smaller with less than 200,000 people. Finally, the banner has a search link.
Clicking on the search link produces a set of search terms: location, category, keyword, salary and type. Search results vary depending upon when the search is made as can be seen from searchers performed on 081812 and 100212. For instance searching for “all locations” on 081812 produced 34 announcements and 27 on 100212.
Once you have made your search you can reorganize the results by these attributes as well as the date. Doing this on 081812 returned two state wide jobs, four jobs in the East Bay that were attractive to someone like myself with experience using GIS. There were two jobs in Sacramento and the South Bay each. Meanwhile, doing this again on 100212 only returned one state wide job.
Meanwhile, choosing an area like SF/Peninsula will narrow the search. On 081812 produced three administrative jobs and four on 100212 produced 4 additional jobs. These included engineer, manager and analyst in environmental compliance and planning cities jobs (sometime several) in places like Half Moon Bay (2), San Carlos (2) Los Altos, South San Francisco and Menlo Park.
If you are a regular visitor to this site much of this will be pre-populated. My automatic search uses the term GIS and the location SF/Peninsula because I am a geographer in the Bay Area. However, just hitting search sometimes doesn’t produce anything. For instance on 100212 this same search produced only one job for the Public Works director in Foster City.
Here are some examples of jobs that I applied to on this site.
I opened an Assistant Job announcement on 081812 and pushed the apply button. This returned a page with the minimum requirement questions. I then had to update my profile, submit a typing certificate and answer a set of diversity questions. I later received an email in September of 2012 saying that I was passed over for the job because I hadn’t submitted a typing certificate.
In May of 2012 I submitted applications for two jobs in the Peninsula. I got an email and did an interview for one of these and the other was an unpaid internship that I passed up. More recently there was a job that I applied for in the East Bay. I have since received a rejection.
Normally I open up this site once every other week. However, sometimes I get emails from people. For instance, I received an email from a prominent local academic on 080912 which I posted here but the announcement was not going to be posted for another month.
This series is a showcase of the different types of job search resources I have encountered. It is a Resource Bibliography that seeks to describe the process through which one must go to find various types of employment.
CalOpps (2008). Welcome to CalOpps. Retrieved October 2, 2012, from https://www.calopps.org/default.cfm
Upon logging into this site you end up at the profile options page, which has 14 links on it many of which are redundant. The edit profile link on the profile options page is where you can add your previous job experiences and change their order. To upload a resume you have to paste a text string into a field. This page has several buttons. The job cart is for saving applications, the my applications link shows recent submissions and the profile information link shows a static version of what is loaded into the edit profile above.
The banner has several other links on that are also on the profile options page like an FAQ and a government employment link with a readme. There is also a member agencies link, which produces a full list of the many Bay Area and California Cities available on the site. They are mostly smaller cities smaller with less than 200,000 people. Finally, the banner has a search link.
Clicking on the search link produces a set of search terms: location, category, keyword, salary and type. Search results vary depending upon when the search is made as can be seen from searchers performed on 081812 and 100212. For instance searching for “all locations” on 081812 produced 34 announcements and 27 on 100212.
Once you have made your search you can reorganize the results by these attributes as well as the date. Doing this on 081812 returned two state wide jobs, four jobs in the East Bay that were attractive to someone like myself with experience using GIS. There were two jobs in Sacramento and the South Bay each. Meanwhile, doing this again on 100212 only returned one state wide job.
Meanwhile, choosing an area like SF/Peninsula will narrow the search. On 081812 produced three administrative jobs and four on 100212 produced 4 additional jobs. These included engineer, manager and analyst in environmental compliance and planning cities jobs (sometime several) in places like Half Moon Bay (2), San Carlos (2) Los Altos, South San Francisco and Menlo Park.
If you are a regular visitor to this site much of this will be pre-populated. My automatic search uses the term GIS and the location SF/Peninsula because I am a geographer in the Bay Area. However, just hitting search sometimes doesn’t produce anything. For instance on 100212 this same search produced only one job for the Public Works director in Foster City.
Here are some examples of jobs that I applied to on this site.
I opened an Assistant Job announcement on 081812 and pushed the apply button. This returned a page with the minimum requirement questions. I then had to update my profile, submit a typing certificate and answer a set of diversity questions. I later received an email in September of 2012 saying that I was passed over for the job because I hadn’t submitted a typing certificate.
In May of 2012 I submitted applications for two jobs in the Peninsula. I got an email and did an interview for one of these and the other was an unpaid internship that I passed up. More recently there was a job that I applied for in the East Bay. I have since received a rejection.
Normally I open up this site once every other week. However, sometimes I get emails from people. For instance, I received an email from a prominent local academic on 080912 which I posted here but the announcement was not going to be posted for another month.
This series is a showcase of the different types of job search resources I have encountered. It is a Resource Bibliography that seeks to describe the process through which one must go to find various types of employment.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Fwd:Fwd: Internship Opportunities
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: Internship Opportunities
Dear J,
Subject: Fwd: Internship Opportunities
Dear J,
I received a phone call yesterday from one of your coworkers at COG about the student internship for which I applied . She told me that she wanted to schedule an interview on the sixth. I was delighted to make the appointment with her. However, once we started to get into the details she told me that she would get back to me about it.
I figured that I should follow up on this because I am indeed interested in this position and am fully qualified to fill the position.
K
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:16 AM
Subject: Internship Opportunities
Date: Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:16 AM
Subject: Internship Opportunities
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Recruitment No.1--63
November 28, 2012
K
Aveunue
CA
Dear K,
The City of EA would like to thank you for your interest in the position of Environmental Programs Technician.
We received an overwhelming number of applications for this recruitment from which we screened and selected candidates with the knowledge and experience that most closely matches the desired background of the ideal candidate. Unfortunately, you were not one of the candidates to be forwarded to the next phase of the testing process.
Again, thank you for your interest in employment with the City of EA. We wish you the best in your employment search.
Sincerely,
ARM
Management Analyst
Human Resources Department
K
Aveunue
CA
Dear K,
The City of EA would like to thank you for your interest in the position of Environmental Programs Technician.
We received an overwhelming number of applications for this recruitment from which we screened and selected candidates with the knowledge and experience that most closely matches the desired background of the ideal candidate. Unfortunately, you were not one of the candidates to be forwarded to the next phase of the testing process.
Again, thank you for your interest in employment with the City of EA. We wish you the best in your employment search.
Sincerely,
ARM
Management Analyst
Human Resources Department
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
A-P/EP Interview
I went to an interview on the other day. I arrived at the location a little early and at the appointed time the first interviewer came down to collect me at the appointed hour and we arrived upstairs around five minutes later. There were pleasantries and I got comfortable. As soon as I had the floor I wrote down everyone’s name. They presented me with several questions about the interdisciplinary elements of the position, my strengths and weaknesses, the laws that pertained to the job, state and federal acts and my background in development.
I started by talking about my undergrad experience to address my interdisciplinary background, moved on to my community based activities and ended up talking about my experience in grad school. I stressed my varied background as an English teacher, a Geographer and spoke at length about the value of my time overseas. I also showed then my most recent resume to showcase my abilities.
In answer to their question on my strengths and weaknesses I told them that I have a lot of knowledge with data management. I said that analysis requires an intimate understanding of what field methods one employs and stressed my interest in what the data I use means and where it comes from. I then said that my greatest weakness lay in the fact that I have yet take a job that puts all of these things together.
For the next question I said that I have had many chances to work with agencies and organizations. I talked about my field methods classes and relied upon my training in under- and grad school as well as my extended education experiences. I also recounted how my knowledge of school clubs and community activism contributed to this interagency and community engagement. These experiences included my organization of seminars and consulting work. I also mentioned how I had played a role in advocating with county transportation organizations. I also noted how the staffs at various agencies shared a lot of the same interests.
For the next question I recounted the parameters of the regulations that the interviewers were interested in and stressed the importance of public participation. It was at this point that I opened my cheat sheet and used it to talk about those regulations. I pointed out that their online resource was especially valuable but explained that it didn’t cover everything because of the role that public participation played. I also stressed that the public purse and time were major concerns.
In my discussion of the question on State and Federal regulations I tried to own the position because I wanted them to understand that this job is who I am. I went on to ask each person’s specialization and discovered that they all did the same job as the one for which I was interviewing. I noticed that the third interviewer wanted me to know that we had attended the same University.
For the last question I indicated that I my background included much experience pertaining to development. Here the third interviewer and I started talking at the same time here and this made things awkward. I used this time to review my recent experiences at my most recent jobs and I explained that they had given me a lot of experience and that my advocacy complimented that.
From here we went on to my questions. I started by asking about how the email I had received came from the adjacent district. They said that theirs was a small district and they relied upon other districts for support. I then asked about their backgrounds. The second interviewer said that he had gone to a different school than I had and the first interviewer indicated that she had gone to school locally. This prompted me to talk about my own local experiences while they looked at my portfolio. They kept my resume and portfolio description. The interview went ten minutes over but though they made no comments about it. However, I believe this would be a consideration in their decision. The first interviewer walked me out and told the receptionist that I was leaving.
I started by talking about my undergrad experience to address my interdisciplinary background, moved on to my community based activities and ended up talking about my experience in grad school. I stressed my varied background as an English teacher, a Geographer and spoke at length about the value of my time overseas. I also showed then my most recent resume to showcase my abilities.
In answer to their question on my strengths and weaknesses I told them that I have a lot of knowledge with data management. I said that analysis requires an intimate understanding of what field methods one employs and stressed my interest in what the data I use means and where it comes from. I then said that my greatest weakness lay in the fact that I have yet take a job that puts all of these things together.
For the next question I said that I have had many chances to work with agencies and organizations. I talked about my field methods classes and relied upon my training in under- and grad school as well as my extended education experiences. I also recounted how my knowledge of school clubs and community activism contributed to this interagency and community engagement. These experiences included my organization of seminars and consulting work. I also mentioned how I had played a role in advocating with county transportation organizations. I also noted how the staffs at various agencies shared a lot of the same interests.
For the next question I recounted the parameters of the regulations that the interviewers were interested in and stressed the importance of public participation. It was at this point that I opened my cheat sheet and used it to talk about those regulations. I pointed out that their online resource was especially valuable but explained that it didn’t cover everything because of the role that public participation played. I also stressed that the public purse and time were major concerns.
In my discussion of the question on State and Federal regulations I tried to own the position because I wanted them to understand that this job is who I am. I went on to ask each person’s specialization and discovered that they all did the same job as the one for which I was interviewing. I noticed that the third interviewer wanted me to know that we had attended the same University.
For the last question I indicated that I my background included much experience pertaining to development. Here the third interviewer and I started talking at the same time here and this made things awkward. I used this time to review my recent experiences at my most recent jobs and I explained that they had given me a lot of experience and that my advocacy complimented that.
From here we went on to my questions. I started by asking about how the email I had received came from the adjacent district. They said that theirs was a small district and they relied upon other districts for support. I then asked about their backgrounds. The second interviewer said that he had gone to a different school than I had and the first interviewer indicated that she had gone to school locally. This prompted me to talk about my own local experiences while they looked at my portfolio. They kept my resume and portfolio description. The interview went ten minutes over but though they made no comments about it. However, I believe this would be a consideration in their decision. The first interviewer walked me out and told the receptionist that I was leaving.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Interview Details A-P/EP
Dear,
Thank you for your prompt reply. I have reviewed these documents and will use them to prepare for the A-P/EP interview we scheduled for the 19th. I have been there in the past and know how to find the Building at Street.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I have reviewed these documents and will use them to prepare for the A-P/EP interview we scheduled for the 19th. I have been there in the past and know how to find the Building at Street.
If you have any new information pertaining to this appointment or details that you feel I should be made aware of you may contact me at any time either at this email address or via my phone number.
Thank you,
On Tue wrote:
Good Morning,
Attached is a letter concerning an interview that has been scheduled for you. I have attached the duty statement for this position for you to review.
Hiring Services Coordinator
Volunteer Coordinator
Student Assistant Coordinator
District
PH#
FAX
Monday, November 19, 2012
Fwd: Internship Opportunities
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 9:16 AM
Subject: Internship Opportunities
Subject: Internship Opportunities
Dear Applicants,
Thank you for your resume(application) for the position of Student Intern. Our review of resumes will take approximately one week to complete and qualified applicants will be notified for interview dates and times. At this time, there are only a limited number of paid internships hours available. There may be opportunities for unpaid internships that can provide you with hands-on experience and course credit. Please let us know if you are interested in being scheduled for a second round of interviews for an unpaid internship.
Sincerely,
Council of Governments
GIS Analyst
GIS Analyst
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