Career Opportunity

Chief Clerk (1410) – Citywide – (C00209)

Recruitment: REF32011K

Published: October 02, 2023

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

THIS IS A CITYWIDE EXAM

San Francisco is a vibrant and dynamic city, on the forefront of economic growth & innovation, urban development, arts & entertainment, as well as social issues & change. This rich tapestry of culture and ideas is sustained by our City's commitment to heighten the quality of life for the diverse population of San Franciscans and residents of the greater Bay Area. Our employees play an important role not only in making our City what it is today, but also in shaping the future of San Francisco.

Specific information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

This job ad posting has been extended until at least October 6, 2023.

This job ad will be posted for at least 7 calendar days. 

Application Opening: September 25, 2023

Application Deadline: October 6, 2023

Application Deadline: Apply Immediately. Application filing will be open at least through October 6, 2023 and will close any time thereafter.

Role description

Departments Citywide are seeking Chief Clerks. Under direction, the 1410 Chief Clerk supervises employees engaged in a wide variety of office clerical work.

Distinguishing Features: Class 1410 Chief Clerk is distinguished from 1408 Principal Clerk in that the latter supervises a smaller unit of clerical staff, performs less independently and/or provides specialized information that is less complex in nature.

Supervision Exercised: Supervises a large group of employees involved in clerical work.

Essential Duties

• Plans, assigns, supervises and inspects the clerical and office work of subordinate employees; reviews such work for completeness and conformance to existing procedures and instructions.
• Performs difficult and specialized clerical work involving the exercise of considerable individual judgment and knowledge of appropriate laws, regulations and procedures of the department assigned.
• Interprets, oversees and provides the dissemination of specialized information to the public and/or departmental personnel regarding the policies and procedures of the department to which assigned, as well as the regulations enforced by that department.
• Interviews members of the public in order to obtain information and screens issues to determine appropriate referrals to professional and technical staff; responds to difficult client issues and deals personally with a wide range of problems requiring specialized knowledge of the policies, procedures and regulations of a department.
• Accesses specialized computer software in order to obtain and ensure the accuracy of information regarding specific departmental functions.
• Explains and interprets administrative decisions and policies as they apply to office operations of the department.
• Consults with and advises the general public, other departmental officials and others in regards to specific functions and responsibilities of assigned office.
• Supervises the receipt, processing, filing and general handling of a wide variety of documents and papers.
• Provides consultation in the development of new procedures and methods relative to office routines and clerical processes.

According to Civil Service Commission Rule 109, the duties specified above are representative of the range of duties assigned to this job and are not intended to be an inclusive list.

How to qualify

If you are interested in a job like this, we are looking for people that have the following:

Four (4) years of highly responsible and diversified clerical experience, including preparing and processing complex work impacting an entire department or section; responding to and resolving difficult day-to-day problems and/or complaints encountered by staff, the public, other individuals, etc. on office operations and procedures; and explaining and interpreting information to departments, staff, the public and/or others; including two (2) years of experience in a supervisory capacity over a clerical/function unit, which included evaluating subordinate employees.

Substitution:
Any one of the following may substitute for six (6) months of the required experience:

Completion of a clerical training program (240 hours); OR

15 semester units (or equivalent quarter units) of coursework from an accredited college or university;

OR

Completion of an approved City and County of San Francisco Clerical Administrative training program.

Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted. 

Verification of Education and Experience
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at http://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Please review our articles on Employment Application and Minimum Qualifications and Verification of Experience and/or Education for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 

Selection Procedures
After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following:

Supplemental Questionnaire (Qualifying):
Applicants are required to complete a supplemental questionnaire as part of the application process. The purpose of the supplemental questionnaire is to obtain specific information regarding an applicant’s education, experience and training in relation to the Minimum Qualifications for this position. It is essential that an applicant provide complete information in identifying their education, experience and training. The supplemental questionnaire will be used to evaluate if an applicant meets the minimum qualifications.

Clerical Examination (Weight 70%) - Candidates deemed eligible will be invited to a multiple-choice exam presented in either written format or on a computer to determine their relative knowledge, skill and ability level in one or more of the following job related areas as appropriate. These areas may include, but not be limited to; Ability to establish and maintain effective and cooperative working relationships and to effectively work with others; Ability to communicate effectively, professionally and courteously with others in a clear, concise, and understandable manner; Ability to enter data accurately into systems; Ability to prepare, organize and maintain records (e.g. clerical, office); Ability to read and review information such as forms, documents, and/or reports for completeness, accuracy, grammar, punctuation, and spelling; Ability to utilize various computer software programs (e.g., word processing, Excel PowerPoint, ) for the development of reports, spreadsheets, presentation and/or other purposes; Ability to understand information to assist in following directions; Ability to organize time and materials accordingly in order to work more efficiently; Knowledge of principles, practices, policies and procedures in office operations; Ability to exercise good judgment when making a decision such as considering risks and alternative prior to making a decision; and Ability to use mathematical formulas (e.g., subtraction, addition, multiplication) to perform calculations and analysis.

Clerical Supervisory Written Exam (Weighted 30%):
Candidates will be administered a multiple choice exam presented in either written format or on a computer to determine their relative knowledge, skill and ability level in one or more of the following job related areas as appropriate. These areas may include, but not be limited to: Knowledge of methods used to develop office policies and procedures; Ability to supervise the work of clerical and other staff; Ability to plan and coordinate staff assignments; and Ability to develop performance evaluations.

Candidates must achieve a passing score on both the Clerical Exam and Clerical Supervisory Written Exam in order to be placed/ranked on the eligible list.

These are standardized multiple-choice examinations and in accordance with Civil Service Rule 111.11.4, inspection privileges do not apply to the questions and answers in these examinations.

The scores you achieve on these examinations shall be valid and ‘banked’ for three years, starting from the date of the examination. This means that, during this three-year time period, you will not be required to take these tests again should you apply and be found eligible for a future announcement for which these particular tests are used. If the test for this future announcement is held within one year of the date of this examination, your score will be automatically applied to that announcement. However, after one year, you have the option to either (a) apply your test score to the other announcement or (b) re-take the test. Re-testing is permitted no sooner than one year from the date of examination and only in association with your eligibility for another announcement for which this test is used. Please note that, should you re-test, your re-test score would become your official score since it is the most recent.

The hiring department may administer additional positions-specific selection procedures to make final hiring decisions.

Qualified applicants will be notified by email of the exact time, date and location of the examinations. If you also apply and meet the minimum qualifications for the 1402 Junior Clerk, 1404 Clerk, 1406 Senior Clerk and/or 1410 Chief Clerk recruitments, you will only be scheduled once for the Clerical Exam. Requests for an alternate test date may be considered in limited circumstances and must be submitted to the analyst listed in this announcement within five (5) calendar days of the announcement of the test date.

Candidate scores on these examinations may also be applied to other announcements involving other job titles, when directed by the Human Resources Director.

Eligible List/Score Report
A confidential eligible list of applicant names that have passed the civil service examination process will be created, and used for certification purposes only. An examination score report will be established, so applicants can view the ranks, final scores and number of eligible candidates. Applicant information, including names of applicants on the eligible list, shall not be made public unless required by law. However, an eligible list shall be made available for public inspection, upon request, once the eligible list is exhausted or expired and referrals resolved. The eligible list/score report resulting from this civil service examination process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., as a result of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission.

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be of 24 months, and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director.

Terms of Announcement and Appeal Rights
Applicants must be guided solely by the provisions of this announcement, including requirements, time periods and other particulars, except when superseded by federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations.  [Note: The correction of clerical errors in an announcement may be posted on the Department of Human Resources website at https://careers.sf.gov/.] The terms of this announcement may be appealed under Civil Service Rule 110.4. Such appeals must be submitted in writing to the Department of Human Resources, 1 S Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-5413 by close of business on the 5th business day following the issuance date of this examination announcement.  Information concerning other Civil Service Commission Rules involving announcements, applications and examination policies, including applicant appeal rights, can be found on the Civil Service Commission website at https://sf.gov/departments/civil-service-commission.

What else should I know?

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Seniority Credit in Promotional Exams
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

How to Apply
Submit your application through this job ad. If needed, computers are available for the public (from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) to file online applications in the lobby of the Dept. of Human Resources at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco.

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from notification@careers.sf.gov that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.