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Posted: January 5, 2026 (9 days ago)

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EMPLOYMENT SERVICE SPECIALIST V - DOWNTOWN, OAHU

State of Hawaii

Labor & Industrial Relations

Recent

Location

Hawaii, 96813-2437

Salary

Not specified

Type

Closes

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Job Description

Summary

This job involves leading and managing a busy employment services office in Hawaii, where you'll oversee teams that help people find jobs, assess their skills, and match them to opportunities.

It could also include planning and evaluating large employment programs.

A good fit would be someone with experience in HR, counseling, or social work who enjoys directing teams and solving workforce challenges.

Key Requirements

  • Bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university
  • Three and one-half (3.5) years of progressively responsible professional experience in employment services, personnel administration, or social work
  • Experience in assessing applicant qualifications, determining job requirements, or referring candidates to jobs (Type A)
  • Or experience in counseling or guiding individuals with personal, social, or emotional issues (Type B)
  • Legal authorization to work in the United States as a citizen, national, or permanent resident alien
  • Ability to plan, organize, direct, and manage employment service activities with subordinate supervisors

Full Job Description


Recruitment Number 25-0382

The Department of Labor & Industrial Relations, Workforce Development Division has one (1) permanent full-time vacancy in Downtown.

Salary: $6,043 to $7,351 per month (SR-24, Step D to I)

Note: Hiring rates will be based on availability of funds, the applicant's qualifications, and other relevant factors.

This continuous recruitment may be closed at any time. The notice of the last day to file applications will be posted on the State of Hawaii's Civil Service Job Opportunities Listing page of our website.


Requirements

Plans, organizes, directs, manages and controls the employment service activities of an extensively organized office where the work is so intense as to require two levels of subordinate supervisors; or plans and supervises the development, evaluation and planning functions for a major employment service program requiring the assistance of lower-level journeyman program specialists; and performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications


To qualify, you must meet all of the following requirements:

Legal Authorization to Work:
The State of Hawaii requires all persons seeking employment with the government of the State shall be citizens, nationals, or permanent resident aliens of the United States, or eligible under federal law for unrestricted employment in the United States.

Basic Education: Graduation from an accredited four (4) year college or university with a bachelor's degree.

Specialized Experience: Three and one-half (3 1/2) years of progressively responsible professional work experience in one or a combination of Type A or Type B experience below:

Type A: Progressively responsible full-time experience in the field of employment service, personnel administration or related fields which involved one OR more of the following duties and responsibilities:

1) Obtaining applications for employment and assessing applicants' qualifications in terms of skills, knowledge, suitability for employment or employment training; OR
2) Determining job content and requirements; OR
3) Developing methods and techniques for the improvement of personnel or employment programs; and OR
4) Referring applicants to suitable jobs.

This experience must have provided applicants with knowledge of various kinds of occupations and occupational requirements, employment interviewing or counseling, or personnel management principles, practices, and techniques.

Examples of qualifying experience are work as an employment interviewer, employment counselor or personnel specialist in a public or private employment agency, vocational counseling or guidance work, or other pertinent personnel management work;
OR

Type B: Progressively responsible professional experience in the field of social work or related fields which involved assisting youths or adults with personal, social and emotional problems toward their resolution.

This experience must have involved counseling or guidance in situations where youths or adults had moderately difficult to difficult problems of grasping or understanding the nature of their problems, choosing between various courses of action possible, adjusting to environmental conditions and/or acquiring or sustaining proper motivation.

Examples of qualifying experience are work as a social caseworker or group worker in a public or private agency, parole-probation counselor, student counselor, or religious counselor.Non-Qualifying Experience: Work experience which is not primarily concerned with employment interviewing, counseling, or guidance, or personnel work is not qualifying for these positions.

For example, most work experience as an office manager or in a supervisory or managerial position includes responsibility for personnel functions.

However, if the paramount responsibility of the position is not concerned with employment services or personnel recruitment and placement work, or counseling or guidance, such experience is NOT considered qualifying.

Supervisory or Staff Specialist Experience: ONE (1) year of either staff specialist and/or supervisory experience as described in A or B below:

A. Experience in the field of employment services, personnel administration or related fields which included:
1.) planning, organizing, administration scheduling and directing the work of others;
2.) assigning and reviewing their work;
3.) advising them on difficult work problems;
4.) training and developing subordinates; and
5.) Evaluating their work performance.

B. Experience in the field of employment services, personnel administration, or related fields as a staff specialist which involved work such as conducting studies and making recommendations for the development or revisions of standards, policies, procedures and techniques pertaining to program or activity, giving technical advice and direction, gathering data to determine conformance with standards and requirements; conducting special studies; recommending staff improvements and developing training materials; or work experience which involved securing the cooperation and support of private and public agencies and community organizations to promote employment services goals; collecting and analyzing data on present and projected manpower needs and on employment training programs to meet manpower needs; and evaluating standards, policies, procedures and techniques pertaining to veterans' placemen activities.

Administrative Aptitude Experience: Applicants must possess administrative aptitude. Administrative aptitude will be considered to have been met when there is strong affirmative evidence of the necessary administrative aptitudes and abilities. Such evidence may be in the form of success in regular or special assignments or projects which involved administrative problems (e.g., in planning, organizing, promoting, and directing a program, including policy and budgetary considerations; and/or providing staff advice and assistance in such matters); interest in administration demonstrated by the performance of work assignments in a manner which clearly indicates awareness of administrative problems and the ability to solve them; completion of educational or training courses in the area of administration accompanied by the application of the principles, which were learned, to work assignments; management's observation and evaluation of the applicant's leadership and administrative capabilities; success in trial assignments to managerial and/or administrative tasks.

NOTE:
  • For Employment Service Specialist VI, applicants must have had ONE (1) year of experience comparable to the level immediately below the one for which they have applied or TWO (2) YEARS of experience comparable to the second lower level.

Substitutions Allowed: Relevant substitutions as described in the Minimum Qualification Requirements may apply.

The information provided above represents a summary of the Minimum Qualification Requirements. To view the Requirements in their entirety, please CLICK HERE.

03763:052112:23:CT


Additional Information


The State of Hawai'i complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodations in completing an application, any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection process, please call 808-587-0936 for assistance.

PUBLIC SERVICE LOAN FORGIVENESS (PSLF) PROGRAM
The PSLF Program is a federal program that is intended to encourage individuals to work in public service by forgiving the balance of their federal student loans. To qualify, the individual must have made 120 qualifying payments while employed by a qualifying employer. For more information, please click: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service

ELECTRONIC NOTIFICATION TO APPLICANTS
The Department of Human Resources Development (HRD) will use electronic mail (email) to notify applicants of important information relating to the status and processing of their applications as part of our ongoing efforts to increase operational efficiency, promote the conservation of green resources, and minimize delays and costs.

Please ensure that the email address and contact information you provide is current, secure, and readily accessible to you. We will not be responsible in any way if you do not receive our emails or fail to check your email-box in a timely manner.

In addition, please be aware that you may no longer receive notification about applications submitted if you choose to disable the Job Application Emails feature in your Account Settings.

TESTING INFORMATION
The examination for this recruitment will be conducted on an unassembled basis where the examination score is based on an evaluation and rating of your education and experience. It is therefore important that your employment application provide a clear and detailed description of the duties and responsibilities of each position you held.

In-person interviews and/or further testing in Hawaii may be required at the discretion of the hiring agency. If in-person interviews and/or further testing is a requirement, applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements and are referred to the vacancy must be available to participate in person and at their own expense in this required phase of the selection process.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications as soon as possible. In addition to employment availability and score, the referral of qualified applicants may be based upon other factors including date of receipt of application.

CLICK HERE for further information about Equal Employment Opportunity, the Merit Civil Service System, Citizenship and other requirements, Reasonable Accommodation, Veterans Preference, Examination Requirements, and the State Recruiting Office's Levels of Review.

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Posted on NEOGOV: 1/5/2026 | Added to FreshGovJobs: 1/6/2026

Source: NEOGOV | ID: neogov-hawaii-5093670