Additional Employment Resources
STATE EXAMINATIONS & ELIGIBILITY LISTS
Call the CDFA Job Line (916-654-0441) for Recorded Information Updated Weekly.
The State of California is an affirmative action employer offering equal opportunity to all regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, age or sexual orientation.
It is an objective of the State of California to achieve a drug-free state workplace. Any applicant for state employment will be expected to behave in accordance with this objective because the use of illegal drugs is inconsistent with the law of the State, the rules governing civil service, and the special trust placed in public servants.
General Qualifications: Candidates must possess essential personal qualifications including integrity, initiative, dependability, good judgment, and ability to work cooperatively with others; and a state of health consistent with the ability to perform the assigned duties of the class. A medical examination may be required. In open examinations, investigation may be made of employment records and personal history, and fingerprinting may be required.
If you meet the requirements on an examination bulletin, you may take the examination, which is competitive. Possession of the entrance requirements does not assure a place on the eligible list. Your performance in the required examination will be compared with the performance of the others who take this test, and all candidates who pass will be ranked according to their scores.
A testing department reserves the right to revise the examination plan to better meet the needs of the service if the circumstances under which this examination was planned change. Such revision will be in accordance with civil service law and rules and all competitors will be notified.
Examination Locations: Examinations will be given in such places in California as the number of candidates and conditions warrant.
If a candidate's notice of oral interview or performance test fails to reach him/her prior to the day of the interview due to a verified postal error, he/she will be rescheduled upon written request.
Eligible Lists: Eligible lists established by competitive examination, regardless of date, must be used in the following order:
- subdivisional promotional,
- departmental promotional,
- multidepartmental promotional,
- servicewide promotional,
- departmental open,
- open.
When there are two lists of the same kind, the older must be used first. Eligible lists will expire in from one to four years unless otherwise stated on this bulletin.
Promotional Examinations Only: Competition is limited to employees who have a permanent civil service appointment. Under certain circumstances other employees may be allowed to compete under provisions of Rules 234, 235, and 235.2. State Personnel Board Rules 233, 234, 235, 235.2, and 237 contain provisions regarding civil service status and eligibility for promotional examinations. These rules may be reviewed at departmental personnel offices or in the Service Center at the State Personnel Board office in Sacramento.
Veterans Preference: California law limits the granting of veterans preference credits to entrance examinations. When credit is granted in an Open Examination it is as follows: 10 points for veterans, widows or widowers of veterans, and spouses of 100% disabled veterans; and 15 points for disabled veterans. When credit is granted in an Open Nonpromotional Examination it is as follows: 10 points for disabled veterans and 5 points for other veterans. Directions for applying for veterans preference and definitions for Veteran and Disabled Veteran are available on the Application for Veterans Preference form which is available from the State Personnel Board office or written test proctors.
- High School Equivalence: Equivalence to completion of the 12th grade may be demonstrated in any one of the following ways: passing the General Educational Development (GED) Test;
- completion of 12 semester units of college-level work;
- certification from the State Department of Education, a local school board, or high school authorities that the candidate is considered to have education equivalent to graduation from high school; or
- for clerical and accounting classes, substitution of business college work in place of high school on a year-for-year basis.
Career Credits: In open, nonpromotional examinations, career credits are granted to:
- State employees with permanent civil service status,
- full-time employees of the State who are exempt from State civil service pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 of Article VII of the California Constitution, and who meet all qualification requirements specified by the Board and have 12 consecutive months of service in an exempt position, and
- individuals who have served one full year in, or are graduates of, the California Conservation Corps (eligibility shall expire 24 months after graduation from the California Conservation Corps).
Three points are added to the final test score of those candidates who meet the above criteria, and who are successful in the examination. Such examinations cannot be for managerial positions described in Government Code Section 3513. Competitors not currently employed in State civil service who have mandatory reinstatement rights may also be eligible for career credits, but they must explain their civil service status in the appropriate section of the application form 100-678. (Section 4 of Article VII of the California Constitution is posted at the State Personnel Board, 801 Capitol Mall, Sacramento.)