Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner and the town have begun a series of seminars designed to help people find and qualify for government jobs. Feiner’s action provides a sharp contrast with what’s happening at the federal level, where the Trump Administration has been sharply curtailing the number of jobs at the federal level through mass firings.
“(We) will invite current employees in different departments to participate in seminars talking about their experiences applying for and being selected for civil service jobs,” Feiner says. “They will also discuss the work they are currently doing and provide those seeking jobs with advice. Most government jobs in New York state require civil service tests.”
Feiner says that the intent is to include discussions of how to prepare for civil service tests as a feature of the seminars.
Greenburgh has already sponsored the first seminar in the planned series. During an event at the Greenburgh Library, Frank Celentano from Westchester County Department of Human Resources talked about job offerings posted by the country and procedures for applying to fill various openings.
Celentano said that Westchester County has about 30 specialized departments, with about 4,500 employees serving in about 3,000 distinct job titles. He said that the Department of Human Resources administers civil service exams for positions within county government and also holds exams to help fill jobs in 120 local agencies including villages, towns and school districts. He explained that the New York State Civil Service Commission is responsible for scoring all of the tests and it sometimes can take several months for people to find out whether or not they have passed. He also noted that not all government jobs require passing a civil service test.
“There are plenty of opportunities out there,” Celentano said. “What I preach is take the time to review. Take the time, do your due diligence, do your research on what positions you are looking to apply for before you just click the apply button.”
Celentano said that every job the county posts as available has certain qualification requirements as well as job responsibilities. He said that people need to make sure they meet the job requirements, which might include having a certain type of college degree or a specified minimum number of years experience in a particular field of endeavor.
A video recording of Celentano’s presentation can be viewed on the Greenburgh Library’s Vimeo site
“Being out of work is very stressful,” Feiner said. “Want you to have the best chance of finding employment.”
