“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” 

In his inaugural address President Barack Obama called on all Americans to join him in the work of rebuilding our nation. “For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.”

Local governments and pubic programs will play a large role in responding to President Obama’s call to action, in which he challenges that we need, “the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together, …science [restored] to its rightful place, and … technology’s wonders” applied to health care.”

To paraphrase President Obama, let it be known that… Our County workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive; the public services we provide are no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity to serve the residents of Riverside County remains undiminished in the strength of our will.

As our nation struggles through a serious recession and the highest unemployment in decades, County political and administrative leaders are busy implementing the concepts which ring so loudly from the President’s words. 

One of the initial focuses of Riverside County as a government is finding ways to help the unemployed residents of our county.  This is being done by means of job assistance services provided at regional Workforce Development Centers.  The centers are administered by the County Economic Development Agency and the State Employment Development Department.  The main WDC here in the Desert is located in the building I work at in the City of Indio.  A small program is also operated in the Westfield Palm Desert Mall.

Riverside County as an employer will over the course of the next few months and likely the next few years, need from time to time key personnel who can make the commitment to public service that will be required of them. To respond in these economic times to a “new era of responsibility” to provide “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord…” in light of demands to do more with less.

In this other role of employer, as you must realize, the County will be unable to provide government jobs for even a small fraction of the thousands and thousands of workers who have recently lost their jobs in the private sector.  The County itself, being fiscally responsible, has imposed a cap on the number of positions it employs. 

My colleagues and I are experiencing an understandable urgency on the part of new applicants for County employment.  Specifically, concerning the availability of positions and the actual time it takes in the recruiting process to be interviewed and hired.  In the times that lie ahead, we in Human Resources, as I have said, simply will not have the ability to create new jobs to match the demands of the unemployed.  

But, from our area of expertise we can promise to look for broad solutions — for example, innovative ways to bring job-seekers and our employing departments together. 

I have taken the opportunity to go over some of the realities of the situation, because we do not want to give potential candidates a false sense of promise when they submit a resume to our Job Match system.  As much as we might like to be, it is simply not within the capacity of County government to be the safety net for unemployment. 

I can tell you that one indicator of the fiscal restraint our departments are now showing is reflected in the fact that we are no longer providing testing for Office Assistance and Accounting Assistant jobs.  Future testing for the most part will be tied to and conducted as part of a job recruitment process to fill a vacant position. 

However, right at this moment we are testing in Indio for Deputy Sheriff Trainee and Correctional Deputy.  There also may be some opportunity to hire Sheriff 911 Communication Operators in the desert, as well.  Other positions as they may come up will be listed on the “Now Hiring” section in the Desert Jobs pages.