Employment

EMPLOYMENT WITH THE OREGON JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT (OJD)

EXPECTATIONS:
1. A high level of personal ethics and work ethics:

1. Honesty is required.
2. A positive attitude is desired.
3. Being on-time and regular attendance is a must.

2. Although there is no written dress code, it is expected that one dresses in a professional, business-like fashion; especially if the job requires the person to visit the courtroom. (A good rule-of-thumb; dress the same for work as you would for the employment interview).

ENTRY LEVEL REQUIREMENTS
1.The person must be at least 18 years old and have at least a high-school or equivalent education.
2.In reality, because of the competition for a position with the court, unless the applicant has advanced training such as legal clerk/secretary, community college certificate connected with the legal or justice system, or a four-year college degree, the probability of securing a position with the court goes down accordingly.
3.A criminal history check is normally made before hiring.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
The overall career opportunities within the court system can range from the entry level as a Court Operations Specialist I (COS1) to the position of Trial Court Administrator (TCA). One of the prime needs for moving through the ranks is education. For instance, more and more of the competitors for a supervisory position will have at least a four-year college degree; most of the competitors for a TCA position will have at least a masters degree, and many will have law degrees or other PHD type degrees.

In the more normal course for advancement, the organization is very flat. There are a few COS1 position (entry level clerk) , many COS2 position (the bulk of the support/clerical staff), some COS3 positions (such as judicial assistant or lead worker), and few supervisors/managers.

Because of the competition, in most cases advancement above the COS3 level will require at least a four-year college degree and an advanced degree would be an advantage.

WAGES AND BENEFITS (for permanent employee)

Typically, an employee will move through the salary steps at one year intervals. Each step represents a 5% increase in salary.

RECRUITMENT

There are two basic methods of recruitment. Recruitment of a temporary employee and recruitment for a permanent employee.

Temporary employee:
Quite often, the Court will initially fill a position with a temporary employee. Among the advantages to this approach are:
The position can be filled faster in that we do not have to advertise or go through a formal recruitment process.
This approach provides an opportunity for the temporary employee to look at the job and decide if the job is “their thing”. At the same time, management can look at the employee’s performance and determine if the employee can perform the job to expectations.

Filling the position with a temporary employee reduces the personnel expense (in that, a temporary employee does not receive benefits).
Also, if there is an expectation of a reduction in personnel (such as a lay-off), the temporary employee is the first one to go.
A temporary position can be for up to one year and can be extended by showing “good cause” to OJD personnel.
BECAUSE A PERSON IS HIRED AS A TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE DOES NOT guarantee THAT PERSON WILL GET THE JOB IF/WHEN IT BECOMES A PERMANENT POSITION..

Permanent employee
An announcement of the position opening is sent to all court locations state-wide.
The announcement is listed with the State Employment Division
The Court may/may not advertise in the newspaper or other public media (optional decision by the local court administrator).
Applications are required to be submitted to the hiring authority (normally this is the local court.)
The hiring authority screens the applications and based on various criteria determines who will be interviewed.
The selected applicants are invited for a personal interview.
The applicants are interviewed by the hiring authority (the interview panel may consist of one or several individuals depending on the specific job and the time availability.)
An applicant is selected, the references are checked, a criminal check is completed, and an offer of employment is made to the applicant.
Each new employee goes through a twelve-month probation period.