On The Matter of A City of San Diego Employee ‘Changing’ a Hiring Announcement

By Dr. John E. Warren Publisher, The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint

The City of San Diego Personnel Department is now making serious changes to its policy of announcing job vacancies and new hiring opportunities. This is a good thing in terms of efforts at “inclusion”. But it appears that major harm can be done to this effort by placing inexperienced “trainee” personnel in the position of speaking with the public or job applicants during the application process without the proper training.

Such was the case outlined on the front page of this newspaper by Ms. Katrina Hamilton, an applicant for an announced job vacancy. As Ms. Hamilton points out in her statement to the newspaper, the person at the City of San Diego Personnel Department handling her inquiry took it upon herself to change the stated job requirements while talking to Ms. Hamilton, resulting in Ms. Hamilton being disqualified from the position she was seeking as a result of the “trainee” in the Personnel Department changing the qualifications for the announcement vacancy to the exclusion of Ms. Hamilton while she was on the telephone with that person.

Upon the changes in the job description, it was not reposted or re-advertised to show the new job requirements. This story would never reach a supervisor if it were not “posted” here. In the interest of fairness to Ms. Hamilton, and for the sake of the integrity of the City’s Personnel Department, it is hoped that this matter is investigated and that Ms. Hamilton has not been “blacklisted” with the City.