Human Resource Services
Alameda Skyline

Animal Control Aide

Recruitment #14-8163-01

Introduction

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION.  The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.  Applications will only be accepted on-line.

DESCRIPTION

ABOUT THE ALAMEDA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office is a full-service law enforcement agency accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) and the American Correctional Association (ACA). Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office inmate health care provider, Corizon, has extensive experience working with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), the National Sheriffs Association, the American Jail Association, the National Patient Safety Foundation and multiple local and state organizations. Additionally, the Sheriff's Office Crime Lab is nationally accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD).  The Sheriff's Office Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit has also been awarded national accreditation through the Bomb Squad Commanders Advisory Board.

The Sheriff's Office has a current adjusted net budget of approximately $185.7 million and has over 1500 authorized positions, including in excess of 1000 sworn personnel. The agency's Chief Executive Officer is Sheriff Gregory J. Ahern, who is assisted in the operation of the agency by Undersheriff Richard T. Lucia, Assistant Sheriffs Brett Keteles and Casey Nice.

The Sheriff of Alameda County is responsible for a vast array of tasks and duties, including the following:

  • Providing security to the Consolidated Superior Courts
  • Operating the Coroner's Bureau
  • Operating a full service criminalistics laboratory
  • Performing Civil Process
  • Operating a County Jail (Santa Rita)
  • Operating the County Office of Emergency Services
  • Providing patrol and investigative services to the unincorporated areas of Alameda County
  • Pursuant to contractual agreements, providing patrol and investigative services to the City of Dublin, Peralta Community College District, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex, Oakland International Airport, Highland County Hospital, Social Services, and to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
  • Conducting a basic academy pursuant to Police Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) requirements.
  • Providing Fish and Game enforcement
  • Project Director of the Narcotics Task Force
  • Serving as the Executive Director of the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force
  • Operating a Marine Patrol Unit in the San Francisco Bay waters.

For additional information, you may visit the Sheriff's Office website at:  http://www.alamedacountysheriff.org/

 

THE POSITION

Under general supervision, Animal Control Aides assist in the maintenance of County animal shelters; perform basic tasks to assist in the implementation of the animal control functions; and do related work as required.

Animal Control Aides work in the Sheriff's Office Animal Control Unit. This position assists in the maintenance, care and control of animals housed within the County animal shelters. An Animal Control Aide is distinguished from the next higher class, Sheriff’s Technicians assigned to Animal Control, in that the Technicians are responsible for animal control investigations and fieldwork.

 

EXAMPLE OF DUTIES

The following is a sample of duties and is not intended to be all inclusive.

1. Vaccinate animals on intake.
2. Cleans and feeds animals.
3. Maintains overall cleanliness of shelter.
4. Answers office telephones and walk-in inquiries from the public.
5. Assists public with adoptions, animal licenses, redemption, surrenders, euthanasia requests and documents these functions.
6. Processes internal documents including money receipts, lost/found animal reports, vector control bite reports and medical documents involving sick or injured animals.
7. Is responsible for tracking of all incoming and outgoing animals. Other duties include animal identification, weighing animals, cage/kennel assignment, cage/kennel card, housing in observation, isolation, quarantine and general population depending upon circumstances.
8. Delivers animals to contracted veterinarians for mandatory spay/neuter and completes necessary paperwork; assists shelter veterinarians as required.
9. Transports sick/injured animals to a veterinarian as necessary.
10. Decapitates animals for laboratory testing for rabies, stores remains and completes necessary paperwork.
11. Euthanizes animals and stores remains as necessary.
12. May direct activities of community service workers and volunteers.

 

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications listed below, the ideal candidate will possess the following attributes:

  • Experience caring for animals, including cleaning, feeding and transporting them; maintaining the overall cleanliness of a shelter.
  • Ability to handle the emotional aspect of working in an animal shelter environment including the responsibility of the humane euthanasia of animals.
  • Experience providing exceptional customer service to diverse populations.
  • Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively with colleagues, veterinarians, volunteers and the general population.
  • Proficient general office/clerical skills including documenting various animal control functions, processing paperwork, answering phones, data input, etc.
  • Leadership abilities capable of providing proper direction to volunteers and community service workers. 

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

In order to participate in the examination process, qualified candidates must meet the following criteria:

The equivalent of six months of full-time professional experience in caring for and handling of animals, which included performing clerical duties and maintenance/housekeeping work in a public and/or private institution related to the care or handling of animals.

License:

Possession of a valid California Motor Vehicle Operator's license.

Special Requirement:

In accordance with the California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Section 2039, all persons appointed to this class are required to attend and pass Sodium Pentobarbital/Euthanasia Training within 6 months of their hire date. Continued employment in this class is contingent upon successful completion of this training.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

NOTE: The level and scope of the following abilities are related to duties listed under the "Examples of Duties" section of this specification.

Ability to:

· Work with and care for animals in a professional setting.
· Learn rules and regulations governing animal control.
· Learn and recognize the symptoms of rabies and other animal diseases.
· Learn to complete routine paperwork and clerical procedures using basic computer knowledge.
· Communicate well with the public.
· Follow written and oral instructions.
· Handle monetary transactions.
· Prepare written reports.
· Decapitate animals and store remains.
· Euthanize animals and store remains.
· Maintain cleanliness of shelters and cages/kennels.

EXAMINATION COMPONENTS

The examination will consist of the following steps:

  • A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements.
  • Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the position will move onto the next step of the process which is a written examination.
  • Those candidates that pass the written examination will be invited to the final test component which is an oral interview that will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score.

CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION.

We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit.  Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position.  Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position.  Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Selection Plan

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.  The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

 

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN:

Deadline for Filing:

Review of Minimum Qualifications:

Written Exam:

Interview Exam:

Departmental Interview: 

 

*Type of Exam: New Open Assembled Exam

**Updated as of 9/5/14 

5:00 pm, Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Friday, September 26, 2014

Friday, October 17, 2014

**Scheduled for November 18 & 19, 2014

To be determined


Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statues.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs

BENEFITS

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Welfare Benefits

  • Medical – HMO & PPO Insurance
  • Dental – PPO & DHMO Insurance  
  • Vision
  • Basic Life Insurance 
  • Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage) 
  • County Allowance
  • Health Flexible Spending Account
  • Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
  • Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity
  • Long Term Care Insurance
  • Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

  • Short-term Disability Insurance
  • Long-Term Disability Insurance
  • Retirement Plan – (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
  • Deferred Compensation Plan

For your Work/Life Balance

  • 11 paid holidays
  • Vacation and sick leave accrual
  • Vacation purchase program
  • Management Paid Leave**
  • Group Auto/Home
  • Commuter Benefits Program
  • Guaranteed Ride Home
  • Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
  • Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
  • Child Care Resources
  • 1st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

Conclusion

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Michi Yoshii,  Human Resources Analyst

Human Resource Services, County of Alameda

(510) 272-6463

michi.yoshii@acgov.org

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer