TO: PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND FROM: Jennifer Schembri
STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: RECRUITMENT, HIRING, AND DATE: September 6, 2023
RETENTION STRATEGIES
QUARTERLY STATUS REPORT
Approved Date
RECOMMENDATION
a) Accept the quarterly status report on recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies. b) Approve to adjust the frequency of recruitment, hiring, and retention updates to biannual.
BACKGROUND
The Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee (PSFSS) requested quarterly reports that review the challenges and strategies being implemented to address staffing vacancies, both from a recruitment and retention perspective. The first update was presented on February 16, 2023.
1 ; the second on May 9, 2023.
2 This third report covers all activities around
hiring, workforce pipeline activities, and employee retention efforts, including activities relevant to the strategic support component of the Focus Areas established by the City Council as part of the 2023-2024 Budget Process.
1 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11634938&GUID=E9315336-E358-4200-B96C-B58A03D8B1DA 2 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11967116&GUID=9BE1AE22-C81C-41E9-AE0F-3DE456DBFD95 PSFSS COMMITTEE AGENDA: 9/21/2023
ITEM: (d)5.
9/12/2023
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
ANALYSIS
Vacancy Rate History and Context
The Human Resources (HR) Department continues working to reduce the vacancy rate to less than 10%. This goal will continue to be used as a benchmark to monitor HR’s progress over time. The vacancy rate is dependent both on hiring greater proportions of qualified external candidates and retaining current employees.
In July 2022, the City had approximately 937 vacancies and a 14.5% vacancy rate. By June 2023, that vacancy rate decreased to 12.4%. A total of 160 benefited budgeted full-time equivalent (FTE) were added in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 approved budget for an annual total of 6,628 benefited budgeted FTE. 56 of those 160 additional benefited budgeted FTE were added in July 2023, increasing the vacancy rate to 13.4%.
Below is a historical look at the City’s vacancy rate since FY 2017-2018. It is important to note that from FY 2017-2018 to July FY 2023-2024, an additional 656 benefited budgeted FTE positions were added. While the addition of these positions has been important to continue to improve the City’s service delivery system, it is challenging to reduce and maintain a lower vacancy rate when additional positions are added each year. HR is working with the Budget Office and departments to strategically manage these additional FTE.
Figure 1: City of San José | Priority-Setting
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
Vacancy Rate
Fiscal Year Benefited Budgeted
FTE Vacancy Rate
FY 2017-2018 5,868 12.0%
FY 2018-2019 6,034 12.3%
FY 2019-2020 6,229 11.4%
FY 2020-2021 6,178 13.0%
FY 2021-2022 6,255 11.7%
FY 2022-2023 6,468 12.4%
FY 2023-2024* 6,524 13.4%
*Data as of July 2023. Benefited Budgeted FTE of 6524.16 is based on the addition of 56 FTE that became effective in July 2023.
In the last fiscal year, with the setting of quarterly hiring goals and focused attention on opportunities for external hiring, the City has made significant progress in the volume of hiring.
The table below shows the month-by-month progress in hiring for budgeted positions. While the proportion of internal hires is still higher than our external hires (about 58% for the last fiscal year), that is down from 60% for the last five years. Additionally, in FY 2017-2018 the City’s total budgeted hires were 1,140 and surpassed that level of hiring that occurred by the end of FY2022-2023 at 1,293. Lastly, and referenced in the final section on employee retention, HR is focusing with our department partners on key strategies for employee retention that also influence the vacancy rate.
Month Year Vacancies Vacancy
Rate
External
Hires
Internal
Hires
Total
Hiring*
July 2022 937 14.5% 35 44 79
August 2022 956.70 14.8% 48 75 123
September 2022 940.95 14.5% 61 68 129
October 2022 916.95 14.2% 67 77 144
November 2022 889.20 13.7% 52 71 123
December 2022 925.20 14.3% 20 25 45
January 2023 941.45 14.6% 58 46 104
February 2023 925.95 14.3% 28 60 88
March 2023 905.70 14.0% 65 65 130
April-2023 882.30 13.6% 53 78 131
May-2023 860.03 13.3% 46 62 108
June-2023 798.28 12.4% 43 46 89
Total 798.28 12.4% 576 717 1293
*In addition to the 1293 budgeted hires from FY22-23, the City also hired 1173 employees into non-budgeted positions. For July 2023, the vacancy rate is 13.4% with 47 external and 65 internal hires filling benefited budgeted positions.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
HR actively works with the departments to mitigate the service impacts of vacancies by using short-term strategies such as higher-class opportunities, temporary unclassified employees/consultants, and rehired retirees. The vacancy rate measure is based on and monitored against budgeted benefited positions. However, other critical hiring that is budgeted differently-- such as part-time seasonal hiring in the Parks Recreation, and Neighborhood Services Department or temporary classified employees (overstrength positions)--does not reduce the vacancy rate. In FY 2022-2023, 1,173 people were hired into these types of positions, using significant staff capacity, yet this does not reduce the City’s vacancy rate. These hires completed by HR and department recruiters are in addition to the 1,293 positions that were filled, which positively impacts the vacancy rate.
Strategic Revision and Creation of Position Classifications The City has more than 700 position classifications that require regular revision and updating.
HR is positioned, with a fully staffed team, to make strategic progress in an area that significantly impacts our ability to recruit and hire. One strategy has been to focus on reviewing and updating the education and experience in minimum qualifications. The strategy is informed by research and evidence cited in the May 3, 2023 Strategies for Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention memorandum3that communities of color continue to experience opportunity gaps in access to post-secondary outcomes and continue to experience disproportionately lower completion rates in high school and post-secondary education. Our Employment team is working on reviewing job classifications and modifying the minimum qualification requirements as appropriate for entry-level positions to open opportunities for applications who have the equivalent experience without the formal degree. HR’s focus has been to expand positions where a credential or experience may act as a barrier to potential applications who come from those disadvantaged and/or underserved communities.
Since the last report in May 2023, the Classification and Compensation unit has continued to work with departments to modify classification specifications to address various recruitment and retention issues. An example of this is the Radio Communications Supervisor classification specification, which was updated to reduce the education requirement from 60 semester/90 quarter units to a High School Diploma and allow candidates to use the additional education to substitute for some of the required experience. This will broaden the candidate pool and solve some of the recruitment challenges. Additional minimum qualification updates were made to other classifications such as the Legal Administrative Assistant series, Biologist, Microbiologist, Chemist, Animal Health Technician, and Environmental Laboratory Supervisor to address recruitment and staffing challenges. The HR Department’s classification and compensation team is continuing to analyze position classifications that have a 4-year degree requirement. 3 https://sanjose.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=11967116&GUID=9BE1AE22-C81C-41E9-AE0F-3DE456DBFD95
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
Quarterly Goal Setting
The process to establish Citywide hiring priorities and set quarterly hiring goals began late in Quarter 3 of FY 2021-2022. This has been successful in moving the City toward FY 2017-2018 levels of hiring (1,140 budgeted hires and a 12% vacancy rate) and has resulted in attaining our quarterly hiring goals since Q4 of FY 2021-2022. The process of setting priorities and goals is then managed with an Agile strategy that allows the Employment Division to track recruitment progress (that the current hiring application system does not), focus on the top five priorities for each Department/Office, develop a deeper understanding of the data and limitations of the data, and problem-solve an array of process, procedure, and policy issues that impact efficiency as well as quality hiring. The entire Employment Division and HR Department leadership convene once a week to review progress, resolve issues in the moment, learn new approaches, and celebrate successes. The chart below shows the hiring goals by quarter:
Agile Hiring Goals
Hiring Quarter Minimum
Goal
Maximum
Goal
Job Offers
Accepted
FY 2021-2022, Q3 217 278 174
FY 2021-2022, Q4 194 268 224
FY 2022-2023, Q1 198 292 290
FY 2022-2023, Q2 208 295 258
FY 2022-2023, Q3 178 262 199
FY 2022-2023, Q4 200 297 272
FY 2023-2024, Q1 193 284 102*
*FY 2023-2024 Q1 is not yet complete at the time of this report.
Continuing to Modernize the Hiring Process
1. Centralize Hiring Pilot Project. In partnership with Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services, the Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department’s Code Enforcement Division, and the Housing Department, HR initiated a pilot project team to centralize hiring for departments with the highest vacancy rates in the City. The goal was to analyze how the HR Department can streamline, add support, and reduce vacancies with direct reporting to HR’s Employment Division. The staff currently handling recruitments in these departments now report to the pilot team who were hired in April 2023 and led by a Program Manager, three Analysts, (one in the process of being hired), and one Staff Specialist. The role of this team is to lead recruitments and to work in a consultant/advisory capacity with the above-mentioned departments to provide direct support and increased guidance and direction for recruitment strategies, changes to processes, and prioritization.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
Since the pilot project’s inception in April 2023, twelve full-time BeautifySJ Community Activity Workers positions were filled and the vacancy rate for PRNS has dropped approximately 2% from 22.6% to current vacancy rate of 20.3%. Furthermore, the Planning, Building and Code Enforcement department has filled five of their six previously vacant Code Enforcement Inspector positions. The team is now shifting the centralization from Code to some of the recruitments in the Building Division and will work on filling critical positions.
2. Modernizing the Application System. A cross-departmental NEOGOV Implementation Team was established in February 2023 to implement a new, high-quality software application system, NEOGOV. HR led a project kick-off meeting in March 2023 to communicate objectives and key results with department partners. NEOGOV will go live Citywide on September 25, 2023.
The objectives for NEOGOV encompass a focus on people, processes, and technology to modernize our hiring system. The objectives for the applicant tracking system include:
A. Creating a Modern Hiring Process: Improving and streamlining processes to increase efficiency and accuracy.
B. Establishing a Strong and Collaborating Team: Fostering a high-performing team to recruit talent to the City.
C. Implementing a Reliable Platform: A technology platform to improve the applicant and recruiter experience and provide meaningful data to support decision-making.
NEOGOV will support the City’s efforts to modernize the hiring process in many ways, including:
A. The City’s nearly 700 classification specifications (job descriptions) are now digitized. These were previously maintained as PDF files. Applicants are now able to search and subscribe to specific classification specifications and can receive optional notifications to apply when there is a job opening.
B. The NEOGOV platform will give the City access to over 1.5 million candidates, which can help increase the City’s external hires and reduce the vacancy rate.
Neighboring jurisdictions such as the County of Santa Clara, the City of Fremont, the City of Palo Alto, the City of Oakland, and others, use NEOGOV. Applicant information can be easily transferred for similar roles across jurisdictions, making it easier for qualified applicants to apply for City opportunities.
C. The platform will give the City the ability to review candidate applications, select candidates, schedule interviews, and provide interview ratings and notes, all in one centralized system.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
The project has already resulted in several process-related improvements to streamline and automate strategic steps and actions. The goal, after go-live on September 25th, will be to continue to iterate to improve processes, address any technology challenges, develop reporting and analytic capabilities, and deploy an effective ongoing training strategy.
3. Strategic Marketing and Communications Campaign. The City Manager’s Office of Communications, in partnership with the HR Employment Division, continued the “We are Hiring” campaign. Uniform messaging, branding and marketing were used on each post to establish a common brand for the City that would be easily identifiable. Open recruitments were then shared on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. More than 15 hard-to-fill positions were posted on paid and non-paid job boards including government, industry, and local and national boards. For organic social media posts, we received more than 135,000 impressions or views, 425 shares, and almost 4,000 click-throughs to the HR website (including both webpages about specific positions and the general Employment webpage). For paid social media posts, we received almost 500,000 impressions or views with more than 2,000 click-throughs.
The general hiring campaign included a City banner; tailgate ads on 20 VTA buses with routes throughout San José and nearby cities, which had 700,000 impressions/views; a digital billboard located on Highway 101 and Bowers Avenue, which received 1.2 million impressions/views; and a radio campaign through iHeart radio streaming reaching the greater Bay Area implemented for the month of August.
During the May 2023 update, a question was raised about the use of the Airport’s Clear Channel billboards to promote open positions. The City is only able to use the advertisement space if Clear Channel does not sell the digital advertisement space. We have requested to use this should there be any opportunities to use this space for the hiring campaign and have added this strategy to the Hiring Communications Plan.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
Employee Retention
A 2022 Deloitte study4, “Government can win the talent race – Here’s how,” found that employees value flexibility, purpose, wellbeing, and more and offered insight into how the public sector can attract and retain employees that is included in the graphic in the figure below. 4 https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/public-sector/talent-war-government.html
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
The HR Department and the current focus on retention of City employees aligns with the above values put forward in the study. On June 21, 2023, the HR Department reviewed these values with the Senior and Executive Staff and explored ways that departments can continue to invest in the retention of City employees.
Work That Works For Me
The City is working to create a culture of respect, inclusion, and belonging through a variety of initiatives.
1. RISE (Resilience, Inclusion, Support, Equity) is Phase 2 of the Trauma Informed Care program that was offered to Human Resources and Office of Employee Relations staff in FY 2022-2023. RISE will offer two trauma-informed care training sessions, Candidly Speaking5opportunities, and other support to three teams in Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services, Department of Transportation, and San José Public Library.
2. Executive Leadership Forum with the Billions Institute, born out of the work of Employee Experience Conversations over the last two years, finished the inaugural cohort of approximately 20 City leaders as they explored leadership development within the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The development opportunity will continue with a half-day retreat for all Senior and Executive Staff in the fall and will invite another cohort of leaders to engage in an Executive Leadership Forum this fiscal year.
3. Labor Contracts: Pending Council approval on September 12, 2023, all of the City’s bargaining units will have closed labor contracts providing continued stability for the workforce over the next several years. The tentative agreements 6 call for a 6% general
wage increase for the FY 2023-24, 4% increase in July 2024 and 1% increase in January 2025 for FY 2024-25, and 3.5%-4% increase for FY 2025-26.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
As the evolving workforce seeks more agency, autonomy, and opportunity in their work, the HR Department is offering the following professional development opportunities to City employees:
5 https://www.candidlyspeakingworldwide.org/
6 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/104305/638277208198600000
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
1. Manager Learning Series – During HR’s Employee Experience Conversations program, HR staff identified a deep need for the City to invest in mid-level managers in the organization to support employee retention. HR is working with leaders in several departments to design and develop a Manager Learning Series to provide an opportunity for these leaders to learn how to connect and support their staff, set expectations for their teams, give, and receive feedback, and more. A pilot series is expected to commence in Fall 2023.
2. Human Centered Design Learning Lab – City employees will be invited to ask, “How might we create customer experiences focused on delivering excellent customer service?” in the City’s eighth Learning Lab, held in October 2023.
3. Innovation Academy – The City’s Innovation Academy teaches employees to find small changes that can have a big impact on the processes and procedures they do every day. During this quarter, 166 City employees learned how to get their time back and be empowered in their work. The Innovation Academy is open to all City employees. Find a short video7of how an HR team used the Innovation Academy to streamline the appraisal process.
4. Analyst Academy – The City employs hundreds of Analysts in various roles throughout the City. This Academy will invite Analysts to learn how to find data, analyze data, and use that data to tell a story. A pilot is expected in Fall 2023.
5. Skill Building Training – Workforce Learning and Development (WL&D) will host other skill-building training this fall, including: Hybrid Meeting Design and Facilitation, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint training.
Focus on Wellbeing
The HR Department’s Benefits Division has significantly expanded wellness programs available for staff Citywide to create positive, educational, and supportive environments for staff to live healthier, happier, and more productive lives, both at work and at home. The most notable change was securing Concern, a new Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider effective January 1, 2023. The EAP program is available to all benefited employees. In addition, the Wellness team engages with staff throughout the year to encourage healthy habits such as exercise and spending time outdoors, while also encouraging staff to team up and build relationships through the periodic challenges where teams can earn prizes. The Ola Challenge was hosted during the month of August in alignment with the “Nurture Employee Growth, Safety, and Wellness” Powered by People objective. Participants were encouraged to form 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy7fWhFym88
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
teams, utilize the interactive message board to connect with others across the City, provide daily tips and healthy recipes, learn something new about the state of Hawai’i, and build in time to get as many steps in per day as possible.
Many prizes were given for participants of this challenge and the Wellness team is gearing up for their next challenge expected in October 2023. In addition, the Wellness team has developed a robust intranet page for staff to access a variety of resources to support healthier lifestyles.
Purpose and Impact
1. Citywide Mentorship Program – The annual Citywide Mentorship Program concluded on May 18, 2023, with a memorable and interactive closing ceremony hosted at Kelley Park. Nearly 300 employees – ranging from interns to the City Manager – participated in the six-month-long program from October 2022 through May 2023 with everyone receiving Certificates of Participation. The WL&D team is currently enrolling new participants for the next mentorship cohort that is expected to kick off on September 21, 2023, in person in the Rotunda. WL&D is planning to host more in-person engagement opportunities and offer more coaching strategies for mentors and mentees alike to maximize this invaluable professional development opportunity, expose staff to new departments, invest time and energy in their career goals, and connect individuals across the City.
2. Employee Experience Conversations – EECs are non-performance-related conversations that supervisors can have with their employees and were formerly referred to as “Stay Interviews.” These conversations are a powerful tool to use to connect with employees and help employees to feel heard and valued in the workplace. EECs training was offered to all Senior and Executive staff in Spring 2022 and again in Summer/Fall 2023 and will continue to be offered to supervisors throughout the City over the next year. Through EECs, it is clear that City employees find great purpose in their work at the City and that they find their colleagues are collaborative, talented, and hardworking. We are also finding that supervisors would like more learning opportunities around people management, such as giving feedback, coaching others, and holding their teams accountable. Supervisors have also identified that there is a need for a formal, comprehensive employee onboarding program. We are working with department leaders to continue to capture what their leaders are learning through these conversations. The feedback is being used to design other learning opportunities for City employees, including the Manager Learning Series.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
3. Interns and Internship Opportunities
The City’s Internship Policy8 was recently updated to streamline recruitment by adding language to address both paid and unpaid opportunities, guidance on how to post intern positions, and address questions around salary. This is a vital tool for City departments which now offers more clarity in hosting interns across the City and providing invaluable exposure to careers in public service.
To invest further in the intern community at the City, WL&D has been investing time in a variety of opportunities to make working at the City more appealing to prospective applicants, which include:
A. Intern-View Workshop (July 27, 2023) – Approximately 35 interns participated in this workshop that focused on how to adequately prepare before, during, and after an interview. Participants were assigned groups and had mini-workshops around each of the three stages of applying for a job. The next quarterly event is slated for Fall 2023 to further enhance networking opportunities through thoughtful, engaging, and interactive programs.
B. Citywide University Organization Agreement – Effective July 2023 the City is an official Learning Site for SJSU. With this agreement, any City department can host SJSU interns and enable students to earn academic credit pursuant to their faculty/advisor agreeing to the Learning Plan defined by the City staff, student, and faculty.
C. SJWorks Summer Internships – WL&D provided support to SJWorks through targeted promotion of their summer internship program to Senior and Executive leadership and encouraged departments to connect with SJWorks to host students. The internship program is for grade-school students seeking summer internships through the completion of 100 hours of work with a host organization. There were a total of 14 students placed at City Hall and many more students were hosted outside of City Hall by SJ Library, Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, Happy Hollow Zoo, Emma Prusch Farm Park, and various community centers around City of San José.
D. High School Work Study Program – To continue the City’s Work Study Program, the City released an RFP seeking qualified high schools, technical and vocational programs for the purpose of providing students with internship opportunities across City departments. The intent of the program is to prepare students for higher education and professional job opportunities by placing them within various City departments to gain entry-level professional skills 8 https://www.sanjoseca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/17997/638175187548370000
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
and learn more about their local government. The new contract was awarded to Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and there are a total of 8 students sponsored by 5 departments who began their assignments as of August 21, 2023.
E. City Planner Outreach – WL&D, in coordination with Planning, Building and Code Enforcement, is coordinating with SJSU’s Urban Planning program to secure intern and/or fellow placements in support of creating a pipeline for the City’s Planner series.
4. City Fellowship Hub – The City’s Fellowship program has provided an opportunity to help grow and diversify the City’s talent pipeline. The HR Department has been established as the Fellowship Hub and helps create a community of various Fellows throughout the City. Since May 2023, the City has continued its partnership with CoGenerate, the Stanford Haas Center, and FUSE. As of August 2023, one Stanford Haas Center Fellow has been hired at a full-time capacity with the City’s IT department and will be building upon their work focused on data equity. Additionally, one Encore Fellow based out of the City Manager’s Office is continuing employment with the City past the Fellowship commitment to support the City’s OneCity initiative. Lastly, one fellow from the NextGen Silicon Valley program is rotating from HR into the City Manager’s Office to support violence prevention research.
As of August 2023, there are currently eight active fellows in the City hosted by HR, CMO, ESD, Housing, and the Library.
5. K-12 Partnerships – The team is currently working to target K-12 students to plant the seed of awareness of public service careers that may not otherwise have been present. To help put the City of San José on the employer radar, the team is creating a deliberate outreach campaign to bring awareness about the City, the various functions, and employment opportunities that await within each department. For this reason, the WL&D team is engaging with local high schools and specialty schools to educate students about viable career opportunities.
A. East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD): WL&D connected with the ESUHSD Director of Career Services to explore opportunities to connect career pathways coursework offered across the district with relevant departments and brainstormed some ideas of how to engage City staff with students. Such opportunities may include job shadowing, field trips to City facilities, and/or class presentations by staff.
B. Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE): WL&D was invited to take a tour of the state-of-the-art career pathway classrooms offered at the SVCTE campus in coordination with the Counseling Program Coordinator who expressed great interest in building a similar relationship to that being done with ESUHSD.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
C. PivotalNOW: WL&D also met with PivotalNow, a local non-profit organization that provides career placement assistance and financial support to the foster youth within San José. The assistance available to these youth decreases once they become legal adults and the support for job placement is critical to their financial wellbeing. WL&D hopes to continue discussions on opportunities for students to gain real-world experience and earn an income as their aid comes to an end.
6. Higher Education Institutions – Building off a successful year working closely with the SJSU Career Center, WL&D is poised to expand this experience to other institutions of higher learning and broaden its reach to more residents of the City. These initiatives began earlier this year and the City is planning to engage in many activities during the current academic year.
A. San José State University (SJSU) Signature Engagements – After a successful FY 2022-23 of activities in partnership with the Career Center, the City upgraded its employer partnership level from Blue to Gold, which increases the City’s access to career fairs, on campus informal engagements, and signature SJSU programs happening throughout the year. Since May 2023, the City has been collaborating with the Career Center on setting a schedule of events for the upcoming academic school year so the City is positioned to maximize its presence to the SJSU community. In addition, WL&D is connecting City departments with industry-specific academic departments at SJSU and beyond.
WL&D collaborated with SJSU to establish a Citywide University Organization Agreement/MOU that would enable SJSU interns at the City to earn academic credit as an authorized learning site, pending approval from the appropriate faculty of the student. This is a great investment to only further invest in student interns to consider the City as an employer upon graduation.
B. San José City College (SJCC) – Through multiple conversations with SJCC’s Strategic Partnerships and Workforce Development department, WL&D has identified potential internship opportunities for the Information Technology Department and will be facilitating those conversations in September 2023. SJCC is also interested in engaging with other City departments who employ those in the trades.
C. Santa Clara University (SCU) – Using the recent experience building a relationship with SJSU, WL&D has extended their partnership efforts to include Santa Clara University. Discussions and planning are currently underway to coordinate relevant City staff to engage with students from specific majors in an informal information session in addition to two career fairs happening on campus in the Fall 2023 semester.
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
7. Recruitment and Retention Collaboration
Beyond the above-mentioned partnerships, WL&D and the Employment Division are working together to participate in other relevant virtual and in-person career fairs.
Examples of these include:
A. VivaCalleSJ (June 11, 2023): The HR Employment team and representatives from Environmental Services Department and the Housing Department staffed a booth at the event.
B. Futura Fest (June 25, 2023): HR’s Employment team attended the inaugural career fair hosted by the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley9on June 25, 2023.
There were several hundred attendees and many participants engaged with the City recruiters.
C. SJSU’s Annual Career Carnival (August 29, 2023): The Department of Transportation hosted an “Ask a Recruiter” booth at this event. The recruiters were talking to interested students and sharing information about opportunities across the City.
D. SJSU Business Financial Services and Logistics Carer Fair (September 12, 2023) – HR’s Employment team is mobilizing recruiters and department partners to participate in this promising career fair, with over 600 students expected to attend.
E. SJSU STEM Fair (September 19, 2023) – HR’s WL&D and Employment teams are coordinating to participate in this career fair where the City is being recognized as a Public Interest Technology University Network10 (PIT-UN) employer. Attendance is expected at over 700 students.
This continued partnership between the WL&D and Employment divisions will ensure the success of reaching as many potential applicants as possible and promote vacancies to various demographics that would otherwise not know about such positions.
HR Staffing Update
HR was previously the only Strategic Support department that lacked the support of a Deputy Director. Since the FY 2023-2024 budget approval for a Deputy Director position, Human Resources solicited the help of an executive recruiting agency, Alliance Resource Consulting, LLC, who advertised the Deputy Director recruitment11 in July 2023 with a closing date of August 11, 2023, when the first round of applications began being reviewed. Interviews are scheduled for mid-September with the intention of having a finalist identified by the end of September 2023. The Deputy Director will help provide direct oversight of the Employment and WL&D Divisions to support the City’s efforts in reducing vacancy rates across the City through 9 https://www.latinacoalition.org/
10 https://pitcases.org/
11 https://www.alliancerc.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SJ-Dep-Dir-of-HR-Profile-FINAL.pdf
PUBLIC SAFETY, FINANCE AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT COMMITTEE
September 6, 2023
Subject: Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention Strategies Quarterly Status Report
cross-departmental collaboration, oversight, and modernization of processes while building out pipeline activities to engage community partners.
Two additional positions (Analyst I/II and Senior Analyst) were added to the WL&D team in August 2023 to support the diverse portfolio of pipeline activities aimed at reaching local education institutions (K-12 and higher education institutions), career and technical education organizations, and beyond. The focus will be on engaging and educating specific demographics – the “next generation,” veterans, foster youth, under-served populations, and beyond – about the variety of career opportunities that the City provides to execute the many services offered to its residents. The WL&D team is building strategic relationships between relevant departments and community partners by organizing thoughtful, relevant, and tangible opportunities for potential applicants to learn more about public service through local government.
CONCLUSION AND FOLLOW-UP
In summary, the HR Department will continue to evaluate new ways to continue to improve in the City’s recruitment, hiring, and retention efforts. City staff request that the PSFSS Committee approve to adjust the frequency of these status updates to twice annually.
COORDINATION
This memorandum has been coordinated with the City Manager’s Office of Communications.
Jennifer Schembri
Director of Employee Relations/
Director of Human Resources
The principal authors of this memorandum are Manjit Atwal, Senior Analyst, and Soraya Ahmadyar, Senior Analyst. For questions, please contact Jennifer Schembri, Director of the City Manager’s Office of Employee Relations/Director of Human Resources, at (408) 535-8154.