Anyone on the Dis work for the Dept. of Human Services?

[donald&daisy]

Thank you Barkley and everyone else for all the advice!

 

[dmslush]

I'm sparx's mom and didn't see this thread until today. I'm assuming you already had your interview? How did it go?

As for credentials that someone mentioned, in my state you are certified by on the job training. You have to have a certain level of education, but for the job itself, that is learned once you are hired.


If you have any questions, let me know. I love my job, it is hard, and it is not the job for everyone, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

 

[donald&daisy]

Thanks, the interview went fine although they asked questions straight off a worksheet which I hate, especially when they are formulaic and its obvious from my resume that I have no prior experience in social services. Anyways, I was able to answer everything just fine and then I filled out a sheaf of paperwork and they said it would be a little while before I heard anything. If I get a call back I will definitely post for some more help!

 

[gm]

They do take their good old time to get back to you. It was 2 months before they got back to me to let me know I got the job.

 

[barkley]

Thanks, the interview went fine although they asked questions straight off a worksheet which I hate, especially when they are formulaic and its obvious from my resume that I have no prior experience in social services. Anyways, I was able to answer everything just fine and then I filled out a sheaf of paperwork and they said it would be a little while before I heard anything. If I get a call back I will definitely post for some more help!

welcome to civil service interviewing.

just as a heads up-form questions are required by some gov. agencies because each candidate has to be asked the EXACT same questions (where i worked it had to be word for word and interviews were recorded to ensure it). if we extended a 'follow up question' (to elicit more information) to one candidate we better have done it to everyone.

the interview panel might not have even seen your resume or application, and h/r analyst usualy checks to see that you meet the minimum qualifications and then forwards your name/contact info. we rarely saw one unless it was the final hiring interview-and then we could'nt give any weight to what it contained. all the candidates had to have a level playing field so we could only base our scoring on what they actualy said to us.

timeline for us to hire varied depending on how soon we needed to fill, when a spot in the training unit was available and how long it took our manager, h/r to give the approval. we made the decision who we wanted to hire but had to get a stamp of approval from our manager-then it went to h/r and our affirmative action co-ordinator to get their approval (why they did'nt screen to see if a candidate had a disqualification from being employed by the county in the first place made no sense). that could take a couple of weeks-then we could call and offer the job conditionaly on their passing the fingerprint/background check and providing tb test, driver's license.

when i originaly got hired i interviewed in late september/early october but a training unit was'nt slated to start till 2 weeks before christmas so i did'nt get notified until right after thanksgiving.

 

[barkley]

I'm sparx's mom and didn't see this thread until today. I'm assuming you already had your interview? How did it go?

As for credentials that someone mentioned, in my state you are certified by on the job training. You have to have a certain level of education, but for the job itself, that is learned once you are hired.


If you have any questions, let me know. I love my job, it is hard, and it is not the job for everyone, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

dmslush-you have some realy nice people in your dss and h/r departments-at least the ones i talked to a few years back were.

dh and i were considering re-locating back there so i called up to see what kind of opportunities were available. someone in one of the dss offices was nice enough to spend some time on the phone with me and explain how your different divisions are set up and how you operate-then they transferred me to a realy nice personnel analyst who told me about where the different offices were and what kind of opportunities were available. realy helpful and kind.

 

[CapeMayMommy]

I burned out after 7 years and have absolutely no desire to ever go back to direct client services. I saw the absolute worst of mankind, and to be honest most of my clients were big fat liars!! The few that actually needed and wanted help did make a difference, but they were few and far in between. The only advice I can genuinely give you is to take advantage of all employee training that will help you keep your emotions under control. It is hard to do when a clients cockroaches are crawling all over you!! at the end of the day I would go home and say to myself that "I DID THE BEST FOR MY CLIENTS WHO ASKED FOR MY HELP!" and that is really all you can do! I am now a corporate trainer specializing in business english and I do use my former profession/career to highlight various situations, etc. One more thing, besides the lying clients, I also had to deal with a revolving door of moronic management!! What was I thinking when I choose Social Work as a major!!

You know that you've been in the social work profession too long when you see complaining, better-paid school teachers and want to yell in their faces: "you have no clue, and no clue of where to buy a clue about how good you've got it."

Child welfare Social work is the lowest paid, most underappreciated profession---by far, bar none.