Want to help children? State is hiring
Want a job in fields like public health or education with the state of New Mexico? Now is a good time to apply for work, without the long waits often associated with the complicated state personnel hiring process.
That’s because the state is hosting what it is calling rapid-hire events starting this week and running through April, promising to fill more than 1,000 positions through the job fairs at cities all over the state. Agencies will be interviewing on-site, with qualified applicants receiving information about a job offer either the same day or shortly after.
The idea is to fill jobs and put people to work. State agencies can’t operate at peak efficiency without bodies in place to do the tasks that make government work well.
Often, the process to get hired at the state can take weeks, even months. Potential employees fill out applications at the State Personnel Office website, where they are screened before a group of candidate names are sent to the agency or department. Interviews follow. Eventually, an offer can be made, and either rejected or accepted. Sometimes, the hiring can take several rounds of interviews, especially if the job needs to be reposted.
The process can be relatively cumbersome — rightly so to prevent the hiring of friends or relatives — for employees in classified positions. Those are the jobs where workers do not serve at the pleasure of the governor. Normally, when vacancies are rare, such delays might be acceptable. However, the start of a new administration is a bad time to be short workers.
For Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has promised an efficient, well-run state, filling vacant state jobs in areas dealing with child welfare and improving education is important to getting the bureaucracy operating smoothly. As she said in a release about the initiative: “After eight years of cutbacks, my team is firmly dedicated to transforming our education system, economy and health care system for all New Mexico families. State government can only meet that goal with vibrant agencies filled with workers who are excited about our vision of a thriving New Mexico.”
The greatest number of openings are in the departments of Health; Children, Youth and Families; Human Services; and Transportation. CYFD, for example, has about 400 vacancies, according to Nora Sackett in the Governor’s Office. Events started in Carlsbad on Tuesday, Roswell on Wednesday, with sessions in Farmington scheduled Friday and Santa Fe next week.
The rapid-hire event in Santa Fe will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at the Higher Education Center, 1950 Siringo Road. Job interviews will take place on the spot, so be prepared.
That’s fast action, exactly the kind of movement that Lujan Grisham has promised. If the state is going to work for its citizens, it needs to have enough employees to perform essential tasks. That’s no excuse to have so many workers there is not enough to do. But we need enough people so that taxpayer dollars are spent well — paying inspired workers ready and able to do the job for New Mexicans.