The Position

Why join the City of Oakland’s Human Resources Management Department?
Situated at the heart of the Bay Area, the City of Oakland is a vibrant, diverse, and exciting place to work. It is easily accessible, on the forefront of Race and Equity work, and a full-service organization with many innovative community services.

This is the best time to join our team! The Human Resources Department is filling positions vacated due to internal promotions and newly added positions to support the growing need for services. We are under stable leadership and in the early stages of transforming our hiring process. Your unique experiences will be an important contribution to our success. Oakland is a learning organization, committed to developing talent and growing our own!

We are recruiting at the Human Resources Analyst and Senior Human Resources Analyst levels, if you would like to be considered for both levels, you must submit separate applications for each posting. The Human Resources Analyst posting can be found here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/oaklandca/jobs/3956064-0/human-resources-analyst

We are looking for someone who is:

• Analytical and data-driven. You will work closely with client departments to collect job information to develop valid employment exams that ensure positions are properly classified.
• Creative! You will have the opportunity to develop innovative ways to assess applicant qualifications to ensure the best-qualified candidates are available for our hiring managers.
• Interested in learning and developing their career. In addition to the opportunity to work on special projects, you will have access to Race and Equity, supervisory, and other technical training. And, once a City employee, you enjoy hiring preference for all City jobs.
• Customer-focused. The Human Resources Department prides itself on exceptional customer service. You will get a chance to enhance the entire organization by being customer-focused and exceeding expectations.
• A strong relationship builder with excellent communication skills. You will have the opportunity to interface with many diverse client departments: Library, Public Works, Police, Fire, Transportation, Housing, and Information Technology to name a few. With this, you will get to establish meaningful professional relationships and communicate with a variety of audiences.
• Organized and results-driven. You will need to balance multiple assignments and priorities in a dynamic environment. Attention to detail is needed to ensure HR services are timely and accurately delivered.

What you will typically be responsible for:

• Conducting job analyses, organizing recruitment activities, developing and administering employment assessments, and analyzing results to deliver highly qualified candidates to hiring departments.
• Partnering with departments and other stakeholders to develop strategies for developing talent pipelines and improving retention.
• Conducting classification studies and making recommendations regarding the appropriate job classifications; updating and creating classification specifications; evaluating organizational structures; and preparing reports to support your analyses.
• Actively participating in the Department and the City’s goals to advance racial equity, diversity, and inclusion across our workforce.

A few reasons you might love this job:

• Your work will have a direct impact on the City’s ability to provide important public services to a community with a rich and dynamic history.
• You will work with people who are passionate about their craft, care about collaboration, and like to have fun.
• You will have excellent learning opportunities to grow and develop your HR and public administration skills and abilities.
• As a full-service city, Oakland will continually provide you with daily challenges and variety that keep things exciting.

A few challenges you might face in this job:

• You will need to deliver services quickly while balancing priorities.
• You will need to navigate complex rules, policies, and labor agreements that govern the unionized, Civil Service environment that is the City of Oakland.
• Your work will support a variety of hiring managers with varying levels of understanding of the Civil Service process.

Competencies Required:

• Action & Results Focused (Taking Initiative) – Initiating tasks and focusing on accomplishment
• Adaptability – Responding positively to change and modifying behavior as the situation requires
• Attention to Detail – Focusing on the details of work content, work steps, and final work products
• Critical Thinking – Analytically and logically evaluating information, policies, and procedures
• Customer Focus – Attending to the needs and expectations of customers
• Delivering Results – Meeting organizational goals and customer expectations and making decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks
• Innovative Problem Solving – Identifying and analyzing problems in order to propose resolutions and/or recommendations
• Learning Agility – Seeking learning opportunities and applying lessons to one's work
• Political & Organizational Savvy – Working skillfully with politics, procedures, and protocols across organizational levels and boundaries
• Professional Integrity & Ethics – Displaying honesty, adherence to principles, and personal accountability
• Strategic Thinking & Perspective – Evaluating immediate actions in the context of achieving long-range objectives
• Teamwork – Building and maintaining professional relationships, collaborating with others to achieve shared goals
• Valuing Diversity – Appreciating the benefits of varied backgrounds and cultures in the workplace

Minimum Requirements for Application

Any combination of education and relevant experience equivalent to:

A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in public or business administration, human resource management, industrial organizational psychology, or a closely related field.

Four (4) years of progressively responsible professional experience in human resources or personnel administration in one or more of the following areas:

• recruitment, selection, and employment testing;
• position classification and compensation administration;
• employee and labor relations;
• employee development and training,
• or other closely related human resources functional areas.

• Professional Human Resources experience with a local government agency
• Expertise in developing and validating employment exams
• Expertise in conducting job analysis
• A Master's degree in I/O Psychology, Public Administration, Business Administration, or Human Resources Management
• Professional HR certifications through organizations like IPMA-HR, SHRM, HRCI, etc.

Supplemental Information

The Recruitment Process:

The City of Oakland works with a Civil Service system. Applicants apply online, and HR staff review their experience, education, and training listed on the application against the “minimum qualifications” listed for each position.

Candidates who demonstrate that they meet the minimum qualification requirements are then invited to participate in an assessment process (or testing) to measure their knowledge, skills, and abilities in job-related areas. For this recruitment, all qualified applicants will be invited to take an online multiple-choice test. You’ll have 7 days to complete the test once the link is sent to your email. This is tentatively planned to launch during the week of April 10, 2023.

For some recruitments, a structured interview (also known as an “oral exam”) or a job simulation exercise (sometimes called a “performance exam”) may be used. Depending on the number of candidates who pass the multiple-choice test, you may be asked to complete a secondary assessment before the recruitment in finalized. If a secondary assessment is scheduled, it will occur in late November or the first week of December. If a secondary assessment is not scheduled, department hiring interviews will occur during this time frame.

Candidates who pass each stage in the process will be placed on an eligible list. Some candidates may receive extra points, for example, if you are a Veteran with an honorable discharge, or if you are a current City of Oakland resident. If you’re applying to a “restricted” posting and you are eligible as a current City employee, you may also receive additional points for your City service. Extra points are only applied to passing scores, so if you do not pass every element of the testing process, you cannot use extra points to pass.

What’s in it for you?

• Work/Life Balance: 37.5 hour work weeks, and a flexible/hybrid remote schedule
• 15 paid holidays
• Negotiated salary increases of 2.5% in July 2023 and January 2024, and 2% in July 2024 and March 2025
• Vacation – 2 weeks per year minimum with the ability to accrue more depending on public sector years of service
• Retirement – CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) with a pension formula of 2.5% @ 55 (for Classic CalPERS members) and 2% @ 62 for new CalPERS members. Classic Employees contribute 8% of pre-tax wages. The City of Oakland does not participate in Social Security
• Health – The City of Oakland pays the full cost of employee and eligible dependent coverage at the Kaiser rate. Other plans include Anthem, Blue Shield, United Health Care, and other HMO and PPO plans
• Dental – Delta Dental full premium for employees and eligible dependents
• Vision – VSP full premium for employees and eligible dependents
• Sick leave – Employees accrue 12 days per year
• Deferred Compensation – 457(b) pre-tax plan and an after-tax ROTH 401(k)plan
• Other benefits include a Flexible Spending Account, Wellness Program, Employee Assistance Program, Tuition Reimbursement, Life Insurance up to $200k & Employee Training.