Program Specialist

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION. The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Applications will only be accepted on-line.

Supplemental Questionnaire: A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application. Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Applications will only be accepted on-line. Failure to submit the Application or Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification.

THE COUNTY

Alameda County, located on the east side of San Francisco Bay, is California's seventh-largest county.  The County employs 9,080 full-time employees and operates on an annual budget of $2.39 billion.  Oakland, the County seat, is California's eighth largest city.  One and a half million people call Alameda County home and live in a variety of incorporated cities, unincorporated communities and rural areas.  As a major urban county, Alameda provides a full range of services to its citizens.  The County is a blend of culturally and ethnically diverse communities, and its mixture of cosmopolitan and suburban areas provides the perfect environment for families and their active lifestyles.  The County offers extensive cultural resources, countless recreational opportunities and an array of fine public and private colleges and universities

THE POSITION

Under direction, to provide program planning, technical assistance, review and evaluation functions to direct client service delivery programs where such services are provided by community-based organizations (CBO's), contract service providers and/or County staff in a wide variety of service areas; to act as County liaison with service providers and funding sources and ensure that program regulations and procedures are followed; and to do related work as required.

EXISTING VACANCIES
This general recruitment will establish a general eligible list which will be used to fill general vacant positions throughout Alameda County. The current vacant positions are located in the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, Behavioral Health Care Services Agency, and the Social Services Agency.  The immediate vacancies for this position are described in more detail below; however, the eligible list resulting from this recruitment may be used to fill future vacancies in other county departments/agencies.

      ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARMENT

This position will be responsible for building, implementing, and monitoring a Food Recovery program that will provide employment opportunities to reentering clients in warehouse  and delivery services and  provide inexpensive food to homeless shelters, senior centers, and other locations throughout Alameda County. This position will engage in program design and implementation, and work with warehouse staff, drivers, and work with others who may be hired to perform necessary functions as the program develops.

                  

                                                                BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES AGENCY                                             

Contract Management- Provide a lead role in developing and negotiating programmatic requirements within contacts in collaboration with community based organizations and other partners. Conduct program monitoring and analysis, and provide technical assistance and follow-up around programmatic issues at both the provider-specific and system levels.

Quality Improvement- Quality Improvement manages initatives across the system to improve client and system outcomes in a variety of areas, Currently, Quality Improvement is hiring someone to lead projects for BHCS Reentry Services.

Substance Use Disorder(SUD)- Serves as the operational lead for specific levels of care in the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System. Engages with contracted SUD providers as a liaison for the SUD System of Care; operationalizes state and federal standards for effective and efficient service delivery.  Provides oversight, administration and technical assistance to providers as needed.  Serves as program lead in various program quality monitoring and continuous quality initatives.

                                                                    SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY    

Program Specialists in the Social Services Agency provide program planning, technical assistance, review and evaluation functions for SSA administered public assistance programs and services.

IDEAL CANDIDATE 
In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications stated below, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated a track record of success in the following areas:

• Programmatic knowledge and experience conducting needs assessments for program planning and evaluation purposes.
• Demonstrated expertise as a self-directed problem solver with level of responsibility for program implementation ensuring commitment to collaborative problem-solving, accountability and public service.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral, and the ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences and in a variety of contexts.
• Ability to develop performance measures and/or monitoring systems that are easy to use and that provide timely and pertinent information.
• Ability to identify and understand complex problems and concepts, to gather and analyze relevant information, and exercise good judgment and decision-making based on available data.
• Ability to formulate, implement and monitor action plans in collaboration with key partners to resolve identified issues and/or start-up a new program or initative.
• Ability to maintain effectiveness even when experiencing changes in work responsibilities, priorities and deadlines and to take prompt action to accomplish objectives.
• Proven ability to independently prioritize tasks, and provide status updates on short notice using exceptional organizational skills.

Education:

The equivalent to graduation from an accredited four year college or university (180 quarter units or 120 semester units) with major coursework in business or public administration, a social science or a field related to the program area to which assigned.

(Additional experience as outlined below may be substituted for the education on a year-for-year basis.)

AND

Experience:

The equivalent to three years of full-time professional-level or supervisory work in the direct delivery of services to clients or the oversight of such services in the program area to which assigned, one year of which must have included program planning and evaluation, or in program administration, contract negotiations, grants management and similar financial services.

Substitution:

(Possession of a Master’s degree in business, public administration, social science or a related field to the program area to which assigned from an accredited college or university, may be substituted for two years of the required experience.)

Licenses:
Specified positions may require possession of a valid California driver's license. Specified positions may also require licensure or certification in the programmatic area to which assigned.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

NOTE: The level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the "Examples of Duties" section of this specification.

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:

· Principles, practices, funding sources and administrative requirements in the program area to which assigned.
· Principles and practices of program planning and evaluation.
· Principles and practices of direct client service delivery.
· Practices and techniques of programmatic analysis and report preparation.
· Applicable federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations.
· Computer applications related to the work.
· Office administrative practices and procedures, including records management and the operation of standard office equipment.
· Basic budgetary and financial record-keeping techniques.

Ability to:

· Plan, monitor and evaluate program and service delivery effectiveness in the programmatic area to which assigned.
· Identify programmatic and operational problems, investigate and evaluate alternatives and implement effective solutions.
· Interpret, explain and apply complex regulations, policies and procedures.
· Prepare clear, accurate and effective reports, correspondence, policies, informational brochures and other written materials.
· Represent the department and the County in meetings with others and make effective presentations to diverse groups.
· Organize and prioritize work and meet critical deadlines.
· Maintain accurate records and files.
· Exercise sound independent judgment within established policies and guidelines.
· Establish and maintain effective working relationships with those contacted in the course of the work.

THE EXAMINATION WILL CONSIST OF the following steps: 1) A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process. 2) A review of candidates’ Supplemental Questionnaires to select the best qualified applicants to continue in the process. 3) An oral interview which will be weighted as 80 % of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises which will be weighted as 20% of the candidates final score. 

CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION. 

We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

 

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit.  Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position.  Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position.  Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.  The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency

 

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN 

 

Deadline for Filing:	5:00 p.m., Friday, December 7, 2018
Review of Minimum Qualifications:	TBD
Review of Supplemental Questionnaire for the Best Qualified:	Friday, January 18, 2019
Oral Interviews*:	Febrauary 19,20, 21,2019

*The combined oral examination/hiring interview, in addition to establishing an eligibility list, may serve as the final selection interview for vacancies in this classification.

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statutes.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing.   Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Well-Being

• Medical – HMO & PPO Plans
• Dental – HMO & PPO Plans
• Vision or Vision Reimbursement
• Share the Savings
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage for eligible employees)
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance 
• County Allowance Credit
• Flexible Spending Accounts - Health FSA, Dependent Care and Adoption Assistance
• Short-Term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Voluntary Benefits - Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity and Legal Services
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Retirement Plan - (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan or Roth Plan)

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Floating Holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Catastrophic Sick Leave
• Employee Mortgage Loan Program
• Group Auto/Home Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to ensure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

 

Debra Robinson-Harris, Human Resources Analyst III

Human Resource Services, County of Alameda

510-272-6437

 

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer