A Newsletter for the Neighbors of the University of California, Berkeley |
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Looking for a job on campus? it's a click away By D. Lyn Hunter Pursuing a job at UC Berkeley can be a tricky and confusing process for the more than 100,000 people who seek employment on campus every year. It’s also labor-intensive for those trying to fill positions in their departments. But a new online employment system hopes to reduce the frustrations associated with applying and hiring for jobs on campus. "Applicants told us it was difficult to sift through our listings to find the positions they were most qualified for. And after they sent in résumés, there was often little or no communication about the status of their application,” says Kimberly Miller, director of Workforce Development in the UC Berkeley Office of Human Resources. “External applicants felt like their applications were getting sucked into a black hole, because they rarely received any follow-up contact from the campus. It gave the impression that the university didn’t want them, or only hires from within its own ranks.” Now, outside applicants will use eRecruit <jobs.berkeley.edu> to apply for jobs online. They can search for jobs using a variety of criteria, including keywords, job category, or full-time or part-time positions. In the past, applicants had to send in separate résumés to apply for each position they were interested in; now they can apply for multiple jobs simultaneously, automatically sending their résumé to every job selected. (Those without a résumé can fill out an online form.) The new system also lets applicants track the status of any jobs they’ve applied for using a log-in and password. They can also modify their résumés as needed. Launched in mid-July, the first month of eRecruit was not without its glitches, as some 3,800 job applicants filed approximately 9,400 job applications. Browser issues and strains on the campus computing infrastructure due to fiscal-year-end activities frustrated users of the new system. Both issues have been addressed, say Human Resources officials, and user feedback resulted in some other immediate enhancements. The development team continues to work on improving performance and usability. The system will automatically generate e-mail to prospective candidates throughout the process: when the application is received; when selected or not for an interview; and when selected or not as a final candidate for the job. The new website gives step-by-step instructions on how to use the eRecruit system. UC Berkeley’s Employment Services also sponsors Job Seekers workshops to help prospective applicants with the application process, including how to apply online. Use eRecruit at jobs.berkeley.
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