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​May 23, 2017

State of California Honors 22 with Governor's State Employee Medal of Valor Award

Award is the highest honor state bestows on its public servants

SACRAMENTO, CA – The State of California today honored 22 state employees with the Governor's State Employee Medal of Valor Award (Medal of Valor Award) for acts of heroism, during a ceremony at the California Highway Patrol Academy in West Sacramento. The Medal of Valor Award is the highest honor the state can give its employees.

Medals were presented to the 22 recipients, from seven state departments, on behalf of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. by Keely Bosler, the Governor's Cabinet Secretary. Other state officials participating in the ceremony include Richard Gillihan, Director, California Department of Human Resources (CalHR); Joseph A. Farrow, Commissioner, California Highway Patrol (CHP); John Laird, Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency; Brian P. Kelly, Secretary, California State Transportation Agency; Ralph Diaz, Undersecretary for Operations, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR);  Major Jonathan Shiroma, Deputy Director of State Personnel, California Military Department (Military).

"Today's recipients exemplify what it means to be a public servant, acting without regard for their own safety in order to help their fellow citizens," said Gillihan. "They make California a better place and the state is fortunate to have them."

The award comes in two distinctions, the Special Service Award (Silver) for an act of heroism by a state employee extending above and beyond the normal call of duty or service performed at personal risk to his or her safety to save human life or state property, and the Special Act Award (Gold) for an extraordinary act of heroism by a state employee extending far above and beyond the normal call of duty or service, performed at great risk to his or her own life in an effort to save human life.

Actions taken by this year's recipients include fending off and subduing an armed assailant, rescuing a woman from a burning vehicle, saving three individuals from drowning, and pulling a suicidal woman from a freeway overpass.

Recipients of today's awards, the level of their award, and their employing department are as follows:

  • Jaymi Appleberry, Gold, CDCR

  • Mike Johnson, Gold, CDCR

  • Steve Gallegos, Gold, California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (Cal Fire)

  • Steven Van Heertum, Gold, Cal Fire

  • Michael Dilts, Silver, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)

  • Chad Edwards, Silver, CDFW

  • James Anderson, Silver, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

  • Kenneth Myers, Silver, Caltrans

  • Rodney Walker, Silver, Caltrans

  • Dean Rouse, Silver, Caltrans

  • Kevin Maniord, Silver, CHP

  • Andrew Murrill, Silver, CHP

  • Kerry Comphel, Silver, CHP

  • Jason Hughes, Silver, CHP

  • Daryl Hansen, Silver, CHP

  • Timothy Montoya, Silver, CHP

  • David Robles, Gold, CHP

  • Christopher Swanberg, Silver, CHP

  • Christopher Connolly, Silver, California Department of Parks and Recreation

  • Jeff Ginther, Silver, Military

  • Jesse Hernandez, Gold, Military

  • Michael Long, Gold, Military

The Medal of Valor Award is sponsored by the California Department of Human Resources. Award nominations are made by the employee's department, reviewed by the statewide Merit Award Board, and selected by the Director of CalHR. Since the program began in 1959, 591 state employees have received Medals of Valor.

For more information about the Medal of Valor Award, visit www.medalofvalor.ca.gov. Details of each recipient's award will be posted to the website after the ceremony.

CalHR is responsible for all issues related to employee salaries and benefits, job classifications, civil rights, training, exams, recruitment and retention. For most employees, many of these matters are determined through the collective bargaining process managed by CalHR. CalHR was created on July 1, 2012, by Governor Brown's Reorganization Plan Number 1 of 2011.  The reorganization plan consolidated the State of California's two personnel departments, combining the Department of Personnel Administration with certain programs of the State Personnel Board. For more information about CalHR visit www.calhr.ca.gov.

April 5, 2017

California Department of Human Resources Launches New State Jobs Website

SACRAMENTO, CA  – The California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) today launched CalCareers.ca.gov (CalCareers), a new user-focused state jobs website aimed at making the search and application process more user friendly and streamlined, especially for those who are new to employment with the State of California.

“Building on CalHR’s strategic goals of providing excellent customer service and leveraging technology, CalCareers provides a substantial upgrade of the existing jobs website, and makes searching and applying for state jobs much easier,” said Richard Gillihan, CalHR Director. “Our state’s workforce will depend on the next generation of Californians heeding the call of public service. This site will help us recruit them by more effectively highlighting the diversity and importance of state careers, while simplifying the process to find and attain employment.”

In addition to an updated look and feel, and improved navigation, several key features have been improved or added. Among them are an audience-based site navigation; improved search functions that produce more relevant results, with more filtering options; and full compatibility with all tablets and smartphones. As with the existing jobs site, applicants will be able to build a personal profile and apply for jobs electronically.

Visitors to the site will now be able to find information geared to their needs with an audience-based navigation. Selecting one of the five icons – new to state service, state employees, veterans, persons with disabilities, or state retirees – will direct job seekers to specially selected information that is most relevant. The icons are displayed prominently on the homepage and at the top of each underlying page.

Job vacancies can be viewed based on area of expertise, career path, or interest. CalCareers also maps all state jobs to federal occupational groupings, so job seekers can more easily find the positions they are looking for, in the career field they want.

The job search function allows users to filter the results by department, job categories, location, salary range and more. Results can also be sorted by relevancy, date, salary or title. The improved geographical search page displays a map of California with the number of job postings in each county, and will display job details by clicking on a specific county.

CalCareers was built with a responsive design, meaning it is fully compatible with almost all mobile devices. Users can harness the full function of the site to search, find and apply for a state job from their tablet or smartphone.

The site also has a spotlight section that gives CalHR and individual state departments the ability to advertise important information, like hard to fill positions, on the homepage.

CalCareers replaces jobs.ca.gov, the current state jobs website. Existing account holders of jobs.ca.gov will see no interruption to their profiles. All account information, including application templates and contact information, will be retained on CalCareers, and accessed using the same User ID and password. 
CalHR is responsible for all issues related to employee salaries and benefits, job classifications, civil rights, training, exams, recruitment and retention. For most employees, many of these matters are determined through the collective bargaining process managed by CalHR. CalHR was created on July 1, 2012, by Governor Brown's Reorganization Plan Number 1 of 2011.  The reorganization plan consolidated the State of California's two personnel departments, combining the Department of Personnel Administration with certain programs of the State Personnel Board.

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