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County Offers Staffers New Pathway to IT Career

In this pilot program, two county employees who want to learn IT will be sent to school — tuition-free — and then be offered a chance at a full-time, entry-level technology position in government. It's a new solution to the ongoing recruitment problem faced by the public sector.

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San Joaquin County’s IT operation, challenged in recruitment by geography, economics and demographics, is taking a different tack in building its workforce: It’s looking within its own ranks for staffers in other fields who want to learn and work in government technology.

The county has created an Incumbent Worker Apprenticeship Program, which allows county employees who work in a department other than the Information Systems Division to apply to be chosen for training and, ultimately, a chance at an entry-level IT position with the county.

For this initial endeavor, two people will be chosen after a competitive process that includes screening and interviews, said county Chief Information Officer Chris Cruz, who took over as CIO in April after having served as the state’s deputy CIO and chief deputy director of the California Department of Technology (CDT).

The two chosen employees will be sent to San Joaquin Delta College (SJDC) for two years of training in technology and, upon completion, will be eligible for entry-level IT jobs with the county.

“I believe this will work out, and other programs within the county will adopt this as well once they see the value add,” Cruz told Techwire. “We’ve got to be able to give our older and more tenured employees an opportunity to rebrand themselves — and I think that’s a wonderful thing.”

He described it as “fast-tracking a way that we can retrain folks here in the county who want to be trained in technology positions where there’s an intrinsic need. It’s a great starting point. We’re always going to need technology-related positions.”

Cruz said he’s not aware of any other California counties that are recruiting from within to fill out the ranks of technologists.

Those chosen for the apprenticeship program would remain on the county payroll while attending college classes.

“That level of commitment, that the county is willing to re-invest back in its employees — that’s significant,” Cruz said. “If you’ve never gone to college, here’s a chance for you to go to college, and the county will help subsidize that, and it’s a great opportunity for you to move forward and to retrain yourself.”

Government in general struggles to compete for talent with the better-paying private sector, and that problem is especially acute in the Central Valley, far from Silicon Valley’s higher salaries and more upscale lifestyles, Cruz said. 

“It’s hard to compete (for trained IT workers) here in San Joaquin and Stockton,” Cruz said, “so we’ve got to retrain our own and look at ways that we can be creative in filling key government positions here. In the Central Valley, it’s hard to recruit. … Our response is to look at different ways that we can create a pipeline for people here to technologically related positions.”

Interest among staffers has been high, Cruz said. Applications were accepted from Sept. 20 through Oct. 4. Those chosen to advance took tests this week, and the results will be released Monday. Finalists will be interviewed Nov. 4-8, and offers will be made beginning Nov. 14. Enrollment at SJDC is Nov. 21, and classes begin Jan. 13.

In the first year of the three-year program, full-time employees will receive up to eight hours a week of paid time to attend class at their current salary. In the second year, the employees will work 20 hours a week in their regular job, 12 hours a week shadowing a journey-level or higher staff member in ISD, and up to eight hours attending class. In the third year of the program, the employees will work within ISD. 

San Joaquin Delta College is waiving all tuition costs, and employees can request county reimbursement for books and reference materials.

Cruz described that as a great public partnership between ISD, the county HR department and San Joaquin Delta College. He also cited the “progressive” outlooks of his bosses — County Administrator Monica Nino and Assistant County Administrator Jerry Becker, who is Cruz’s predecessor as San Joaquin CIO.

“Monica and Jerry are innovators and transformers,” Cruz added, “and that fits into my leadership style of progressiveness that I’m trying to push here in the county, so it’s a good marriage. I have the authority to get a lot done here, and we’re doing quite a bit.”

Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies including USA Today in Washington, D.C.