Renewing our commitment to veterans
King County’s Vets 4 HIRE Program is an internship program for veterans with a purpose to support veterans in making a successful transition to civilian employment. It provides them with valuable hands-on practical experience to increase their competitiveness for King County and other civilian positions. It is available to veterans who reside in King County regardless if they are enrolled in college and places them in workplaces throughout the County. Hiring agencies receive up to $6,250 in wage reimbursement per veteran hired into a six month or longer experience.
The program began in 2012 in response to former President Obama announcing he would be downsizing the military. A motion was put forth in King County Council by Councilmember Reagan Dunn to explore the creation of a type of internship program for veterans to support them in their transition to civilian employment. Funding from the Veterans and Human Services Levy was used to help fund the program, and an 18-month pilot program was launched from 2012 to 2014 that placed 33 veterans in internship positions. Initially called the “HERO” Program, it was redesigned in 2015 and renamed the Vets 4 HIRE Program. Since then the program has placed an additional 48 veterans in internship roles.
“Under the Vets 4 HIRE Program, our performance goal has been to hire 16 veterans each year, and we have successfully met that goal each year,” said Vets 4 HIRE Program Manager Susan Navetski. “Between the HERO pilot program and our current Vets 4 HIRE Program, we have placed a total of 81 veterans at county work sites.”
Out of these 81 individuals, 90% have secured employment or returned to college, including 27 participants who were hired at King County, including Steve Stamper, a graduate of the initial HERO Pilot Program.
“I had never worked in local government; I didn’t know much about it but was interested in it,” he said. “I thought this would be a good opportunity to see what it was all about and see if it was a good fit for me.”
A former Field Artillery Officer with the U.S. Army, the program continued to help him in his transition from military to civilian life. After his initial internship, he was hired as a temporary employee before becoming a full time Performance and Strategy Analyst with the Executive’s Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget (PSB).
“I got used to how the office atmosphere is in the civilian world, how people communicate – it’s very different from the military way – and it was enough time to get exposure to that and do some networking and hopefully find another opportunity,” he adds.
With the recent approval of the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy, funding is now available in 2018 and beyond, to create 16 more internship positions each year, ensuring that the Vets 4 HIRE program will continue to provide experiences and opportunities for veterans to live productive and meaningful lives. If you are interested in creating a Vets 4 HIRE opportunity, please contact your agency’s HR staff or Program Manager Susan Navetski at 206-477-3271 or Susan.Navetski@kingcounty.gov.
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RALS launches Leadership Fellowship in lieu of traditional hiring
Organizations small and large are always on the lookout for top talent, and King County is no exception. Our organization employs some of the brightest, forward-thinking people in the nation who work every day to make King County a great to live, visit and work.
Not only does King County draw talent from our community and across the country, it is also developing in-house talent through the Investing in You strategy.
Recently, Records and Licensing Services Division launched a Leadership Fellowship pilot program in lieu of permanently filling their deputy director vacancy. The fellowship is a countermeasure to traditional recruitment to ensure that County employees are provided opportunities to grow into leadership careers.
RALS Director Norm Alberg chose to forego the traditional recruitment process, and instead implemented a tailored fellowship development plan for the two selected fellows, covering a “five bucket framework” of competencies in leadership, operations, human resources, finance and organizational development.
“I needed to change my expectation from doing a traditional hiring process that was looking for somebody to hit the ground running with all the tools in their toolkit, to creating a development opportunity where someone can gain some of the tools that they might not have, and develop them for future senior leadership positions,” Norm said. “I believe organizational leadership has the responsibility to establish more development opportunities for our employees, and utilizing our Deputy Director vacancy provided RALS with a great opportunity to try something new.”
Senior Human Resources Analyst Robert James led the executive level recruitment for the fellowship.
“The leadership program is tailored to their own development plan,” Robert said. “We expose them to the areas where they feel they need improvement.”
Out of 18 applicants, two County employees, Maria Laird and Robert Tovar, successfully completed the rigorous interview process and were selected as the two fellows for RALS Deputy Director.
Each fellow will have six months to act as a Senior Operations Manager. Maria Laird started her fellowship in September, and will be focusing on operations and human resources. Robert Tovar’s fellowship will start March 2018, as he looks to bolster his organizational development and financial acumen.
“This leadership fellowship is a prime example of Investing in You because we are responding to employee survey feedback,” Robert said. “Employees have expressed that they’re looking for promotional opportunities, especially in leadership positions.”
RALS leadership fellowship is a new, innovative approach for building the next bench of senior leaders, which will be monitored and tweaked for future fellowships to ensure that County departments are striving for continuous improvement.
Minor adjustments were addressed at the conclusion of the recruitment process: RALS anticipated more employee applications for the fellowship; and candidates needed a more flexible start date to ensure their department filled their vacancies with a special duty assignment.
Above all, fellowship candidates shared positive feedback regarding the recruitment process and the learning opportunity. Candidates also found it beneficial that Norm was actively involved in both rounds.
Outreach was supported through Department of Executive Services communications and the Employee News e-newsletter. The hiring committee identified leadership-ready and interested professionals, and also sees a window of opportunity for more involvement from countywide leadership to encourage their employees to apply.
“Much like the Bridge Fellowship and the other training and development plans that we’ve put together, this would certainly be an example of Investing in You and walking the talk,” Norm said.
Please join us in welcoming Maria and Robert, and supporting them in their new assignments.
Maria Laird, currently Operations Support Manager for the Department of Public Health
Maria has served King County for 16 years, demonstrating skills and growth in managing operations and continuous improvement. She is committed to employee engagement and workforce development. Maria’s journey began as a frontline supervisor, managing two Public Health dental clinics, then becoming the program manager responsible for budget and operations support for five clinics across King County. For the last four years, Maria has managed central operations for 10 Public Health Centers.
Robert Tovar, currently a Program Manager with DNRP’s Wastewater Treatment Division.
In his 18 years with King County, Robert has developed experience leading employees and stakeholders through strategic planning, policy development, and organizational development and employee engagement projects. Robert began his WTD career in the Director’s Office, leading a major reorganizational effort. Robert has also worked in Operations, Resource Recovery, and in WTD’s Human Resources section.
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Tails from the Community: RASKC appears on Zulily’s Facebook LIVE Broadcast
Crossposted from Tails from RASKC
Zulily, the Seattle based e-commerce company, has previously worked with RASKC to help raise awareness of our adoptable pets through in-studio photo shoots.
On Cyber Monday, Zulily hosted a 12-hour Facebook LIVE segment to showcase their products at discounted deals. Zulily also invited RASKC to stop by during the show with a few of our adoptable pets. The video was co-hosted by RASKC’s Community Engagement and Communications Administrator Lluvia Ellison-Morales and Zulily’s User Experience Designer Jennifer French, who is also an 11-year veteran volunteer at RASKC. During the show, they provided information about RASKC services, and French shared her personal volunteer stories.
Read more at Tails from RASKC
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Featured Job: EBS Security & Customer Service Analyst (Functional Analyst 2)
Closing Date/Time: Sun. 12/10/17 11:59 PM Pacific Time
Salary: $33.53 – $42.50 Hourly
Job Type: Special Duty Assignment
Location: Chinook Building – 401 5th Ave, Seattle, Washington
Department: Department of Executive Services – Business Resource Center
Description: The Business Resource Center (BRC) Shared Services team has an opportunity for a special duty EBS Security & Customer Service Analyst (Functional Analyst 2). This position will partner with two Shared Services analysts to provide tier 2 helpdesk support (for Oracle EBS and PeopleSoft systems), process EBS user security requests and provide training administration support. In 2018, this group will also be engaged in two projects. First, the BRC will be participating in a KCIT project to implement a new Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) tool which will replace the LanDesk helpdesk system. Second, the team will be working on a continuous improvement project to streamline EBS security processing including the “proxy user process” which is designed to facilitate EBS employee reimbursements through the EBS iExpense module.
This position is a great opportunity to learn more about the Business Resource Center and how we approach support for Oracle EBS, PeopleSoft and Oracle BI, our commitment to growing and maintaining a healthy organization, our commitment to ESJ, and our continual efforts to seek better value for our customers.
Contact: For more information contact Sharon Gadzik at 206-263-8694 or at Sharon.Gadzik@kingcounty.gov.
Learn more about this position, or view all available jobs.
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Social Media Spotlight: King County Parks Instagram
200 parks. 175 miles of trail. 28,000 acres of open space. Unlimited awesome. Visit www.kingcountyparks.org.
Follow the King County Parks on Instagram today!
Click here to view all King County social media pages.
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Tech Tip: OneDrive – How to set up the sync client
Follow these steps to start using the new OneDrive sync client. OneDrive for Business is more than just cloud storage. This guide brings tips and tricks that improve digital productivity and help create an all-digital culture within KCIT.
IMPORTANT:
- These instructions do not apply to DOT users. DOT has implemented OneDrive without the Sync utility. They only store data in the cloud.
- OneDrive is not currently approved for use in DPH or DCHS. This restriction is expected to be lifted in August 2017.
- Personal data should not be stored on county PCs or county OneDrive account.
- As of 6/8/2017 – All New PCs will have OneDrive installed and configured to sync a user’s My Documents folder the cloud (except DPH & DCHS).
Read more at the KCIT Customer Support Services website.
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Holiday Food Drive underway
Free image/jpeg, Resolution: 2565×1936, File size: 318Kb, Canned Food Drive N9
As many of us gather with family and friends to share a meal over the holidays, there are some people in our region who struggle every day to have enough to eat. You can help make this time of year a little brighter for them by giving to the annual King County Holiday Food Drive.
Place your donations of non-perishable, pre-packaged food in the marked bins located in many King County buildings. Staff from Facilities Management will gather the donations for delivery to Northwest Harvest. This year’s food drive runs through December 15.
Though their network of 375 providers, Northwest Harvest supplies two million meals every month to people with food insecurity. Northwest Harvest is the only nonprofit food bank distributor that works across the entire state of Washington. Through Northwest Harvest, you can rest assured that your donations go to people in need at no cost to local food banks or their patrons. Last year, King County employees gave nearly 3,500 pounds of food to Northwest Harvest during the Holiday Food Drive.
If you have questions about the Holiday Food Drive, or need full bins emptied, please contact FMD at CustomerCareServices.FMD@kingcounty.gov or 206-477-9400.
Thank you in advance for your support of this worthwhile project so that all of our friends and neighbors can enjoy this season of giving.
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Students get behind-the-scenes look at the Airport
Crossposted from The Centerline
One of the best parts of our job is helping young people discover the aviation industry.
Last month, we got the opportunity to introduce several students from Renton High School to our work as part of DiscoverU – when students across Seattle and South King County are encouraged to explore college and career options. Programs Manager Tricia Diamond helped coordinate the visit to King County International Airport/Boeing Field.
Throughout the day, students got an overview of the different jobs necessary to keep the Airport functioning on a 24/7 basis.
Read more at The Centerline
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Recruiting new employees from King County’s “Communities of Opportunity”
Crossposted from Inside Transportation
As part of the ongoing work to dismantle racial injustice that can persist in our policies and systems, KCDOT recently partnered with staff from the County’s Communities of Opportunity initiative and WorkSource to recruit new employees for entry-level and journey-level job openings.
More than 170 jobseekers received valuable information about jobs and tips for applying online, at the event held Nov. 16 at the YWCA Learning Center at Greenbridge in White Center. Staff worked with community-based partners and WorkSource providers to get the word out and increase access to jobs to more candidates from traditionally underserved and under-represented communities. Nearly three-fourths of the attendees were people of color, nearly a third were women, and 40 percent came from targeted Communities of Opportunity of Rainier Valley, White Center, SeaTac, and Tukwila.
Twenty KCDOT staff, including hiring managers and employees who are doing the work daily, shared what it’s really like on the job. Fulton Johnson told his story of working up from a journey-level position as a Maintenance Painter to his current special duty assignment as a Chief for Metro’s Facilities Maintenance. “I was able to speak with many excited individuals, most of whom were just unsure of the process,” he said. “They were put at ease, and many told me they now feel there is job opportunity for them at King County.”
Read more at Inside Transportation
Employee News 