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Q&A
Candidates on eligible lists and obstacles to hiring
1:09:11
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171 sec
Council Member Restler and Deputy Commissioner Porter discuss the number of candidates on eligible lists and obstacles to hiring them. They confirm there are nearly half a million candidates across 510 titles.
- Approximately 474,724 candidates on eligible lists confirmed
- Discussion of breakdown between current employees seeking promotion and new hires
- Obstacles to hiring include candidates not showing up for consideration and the unlikelihood of reaching all candidates on large lists
Lincoln Restler
1:09:11
Okay.
1:09:13
There are close to half a 1000000 candidates on eligible lists across 510 titles.
1:09:19
I believe the number we have is 474,724.
1:09:23
Are you able to confirm?
1:09:24
Is that accurate?
Katrina Porter
1:09:25
That sounds about right.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:26
Okay.
1:09:26
Do you know a breakdown?
1:09:28
I'm curious.
1:09:28
Between what percentage of those nearly half a 1000000 people are current city employees seeking a promotion and who are new hires?
Katrina Porter
1:09:35
That I do not have handy, but we can probably get back to you on that.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:39
Okay.
1:09:40
That would be great.
1:09:44
If we have let's you know, a substantial percentage of this half a 1000000 people who have were on eligible lists across across 500 titles, That's a lot.
1:09:57
A lot of them are new people trying to fill vacant positions.
1:10:01
Like, what is the biggest obstacle to getting these candidates eligible, half a 1000000 candidates, into vacant positions or promotions in city government?
Katrina Porter
1:10:10
So our process is governed, you know, by the the civil by civil service law.
1:10:14
And there are, you know, rules that that govern how we use civil service less.
1:10:20
And so pretty much the way it works, is that when an agency has a vacancy, they reach out to DCAS and then we send them a a a list of candidates, to be considered.
1:10:32
What we've noticed, most recently is that a large number of these candidates, they're not showing up for consideration.
1:10:41
So although they're they're on the list, they may not be, available for consideration.
1:10:47
So, you know, and and it's, you know, some anytime of, agency has a vacancy, it's the same list that they're using.
1:10:53
Folks, you know, may fall off the list, which allows them to reach candidates that are further down.
1:10:58
But when we look at, lists like sanitation worker, where there are, you know, 45,000 candidates on that list and, you know, sanitation would usually they may usually hire a couple of 1,000 people a year.
1:11:12
Right.
1:11:12
The likelihood that all 45,000 of those candidates will be reached for consideration No.
1:11:17
Is, you know, is
Lincoln Restler
1:11:18
is not likely.
1:11:19
I think it's more that, you know, if 80% of jobs in city government require civil service exam, we've got, according to Henry, 22,000 vacancies.
1:11:27
That means 17, 18000 jobs.
1:11:29
Their civil service exam jobs are vacant.
1:11:31
We have half a 1000000 people who have taken exams on eligible lists for 18,000 jobs.
1:11:37
Getting that number of half a 1000000 people into those vacant jobs shouldn't be rocket science.
1:11:44
And yet, here we are, 2 years into the Adams administration, and we haven't seen the hiring spree that the mayor promises, alleges, claims is happening, or that he's committed to.
1:11:56
So I just I kinda wanted to dig in on an agency and then just dig in on the process, and then I'll kick it over to colleagues.