Civil Service Success

Civil service jobs in New York provide tons of great benefits, including unmatched retirement packages, competitive salary packages, health insurance and several financial incentives. Needless to say, they’re highly coveted with hundreds of thousands of people applying for civil service positions every year. In order to select only the best of the best of the lot, the state requires the candidates to take a civil service exam that’s tailored for each position. Applicants who pass the exam are then called in for a physical test and finally an interview after which they’re finalized and appointed when a vacancy opens up in the relevant department. The interview is the final step in securing these prestigious positions, and it can be quite difficult. The candidate is asked a series of questions regarding their aspirations in life, how they would be an asset to the department and their expectations of the position. Since the NYC Sanitation Worker exam in anticipated for late 202...

You’ve made the list of qualified candidates and landed an interview for a civil service job. If you think that the most difficult part of the application process is over, think again. Recruiters rely heavily on these interviews to determine the best candidate. Civil service jobs offer perks that are hard to come by in the private sector—namely, great job security, a generous pension and portable benefits. Therefore, you can’t simply ‘wing it’. You need to take out the time to research the position and organization, anticipate the interview questions and prepare them beforehand. So how do you best prepare for your civil service interview? First, you need to realize that federal agencies typically conduct a behaviour-based interview, where the interview grades you depending on your responses to certain worded scenarios created by the interviewer. While these interviews can be stressful, preparation and practice can really pay off. Here are some tips on nailing your civil se...

New York State has one of the largest civil service systems in the country, employing over a million candidates. The NYS civil service exam, administered throughout the state, tests the skills and knowledge of the candidates for particular civil service titles . These exams are designed to be competitive and fair, with the objective of hiring only the best and brightest of the lot. Before applying for a civil service job of your liking, make sure you go through the official Notice of Examination (NOE) that describes the required qualifications, the duties of the job, the filing period, the test description and the expected exam date(s). Applicants who pass the civil service exam are placed on the civil service list, ranked from highest to lowest score. Then, when a city agency has vacancies, the finalized candidates are called in, interviewed and then evaluated for the job based on their test scores. These exam scores typically remain active for 4 years. The competitive exam...