Trenches of Democracy

Excerpts from the second semi-annual report by Shakman Compliance Administrator (CA) Julia M. Nowicki:

For these reasons, the CA recommends the following steps be taken by Bureau of HR:

i. Conduct comprehensive job analysis and revision of job descriptions and communicate results. Written job descriptions are a critical part of the hiring process because they are the cornerstone for determining the minimum qualifications that a candidate must have and determining who is eligible and who is not. Job descriptions must be based on the work that is to be done, and not on the individual skills of the incumbent or the applicant. The accuracy of a job description is critical to the County’s hiring process because the job description is the primary document used to create job postings, and it is the document screeners rely on to determine whether applicants meet minimum qualifications for the jobs for which they have applied.

The Deputy Bureau Chief estimates that there are currently over 7,000 job descriptions on file at the Bureau of HR. This is an extraordinarily large number of descriptions, even for an organization the size of Cook County. The Deputy Bureau Chief and others in the Bureau of HR also confirm that they regularly create new job descriptions and revise existing descriptions based on the requests of various department heads who claim that current job descriptions are not adequate or that jobs have changed and existing job descriptions are obsolete. A review of select job descriptions provided by the Bureau of HR also reveals that there are inconsistencies in format and substance from one job description for the same job title to another. For example, one job description for a specific title listed a college degree as a “minimum qualification/’ while another listed a degree as a “necessary-skill” for the same job title.

This system causes duplication and inconsistency in the development of job of descriptions, and it creates a selection process that is ripe for confusion, if not abuse. More importantly, it provides the opportunity for the creation of positions that are designed to favor specific identified candidates, and the CA has found evidence that this inappropriate “tailoring” of a job description may have been attempted.

To be continued…

You can read the full Shakman report here.

Tags: Cook County, Nowicki, Patronage, Shakman, Stroger

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