Frequently Asked Questions - Job Search Tips

Some positions on the UC Berkeley campus are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Employees in positions that are covered may be required to pay an Agency Fee to their exclusive representative union. Agency fees vary from union to union. For more information about this, please visit the Labor Relations website.

• Career Appointments are considered “regular” employment. They are defined as 50% or more of full-time for 1 year or longer.

• Contract Appointments are considered “temporary” assignments. They have a definite time period, i.e. 6-month or 1-year contract. Terms and conditions are specified in a written employment contract.

• Limited Appointments are considered “temporary” assignments. Individuals in this appointment are expected to be on pay status for less than 1,000 hours in a 12-month period.

• Partial Year Career Appointments are considered “regular” employment. Individuals in this appointment have regularly scheduled periods not to exceed 3 months per year, i.e. furlough.

Depending on the job, there will be different eligibility for benefits. Please visit the University of California ‘UCnet’ website to view information about health and welfare benefits.

All offers of employment to new employees are contingent upon the presentation of documents demonstrating the appointee's identity and work authorization consistent with the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act.

The majority of the positions on campus require a two week posting period before applications can be reviewed. In most cases the review process takes several weeks. After the department begins reviewing applications, they will contact applicants of interest directly for an interview process. Please refer to our Job Applicant FAQs for more information.

Most applicants are initially contacted via telephone or e-mail. Make sure to have up-to-date contact information on your applicant profile as well as resume. Please check your spam box in your email just in case.

After you have submitted your application you should receive an email notification acknowledging receipt of your application. If you do not receive this email, your application may not have been successfully submitted. The application should also appear on your list of applications within your Careers home page. Please refer to our Job Applicant FAQs for more information.

Required qualifications are the basic knowledge, skills, education, and experience necessary for the position as defined in the specific job classification.

Use the advanced search option to search by various criteria such as (keywords or job codes). You can also save your search and set it up to notify you via email when new jobs matching your interests are posted. You can create up to five searches corresponding to various keywords, departments, or job codes that will generate emails. You can save more searches, but only five can be emailed to you with notifications. 

Yes. You may save your application and finalize it at a later date, provided the job is still posted. Your application will not be considered for the job posting until it is submitted.

While your information will remain stored in the applicant system, you will not be considered for future vacancies unless you have formally applied to the position.

You must fill out a new application for each position you would like to be considered for.

Your employment application is considered a legal document and will be used as a tool to determine whether you qualify for a specific position. Please make sure to include employment history, educational background, skills, and licensures in your application and/or resume/cover letter.

For a variety of reasons, including privacy protection, we are not able to provide that information. If you would like to address your cover letter, you can address it to “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear Hiring Committee.”

There is a login help link. You may enter your username and get a new password sent to you via email or you may enter your email address and your username will be sent to you via email. Please make a note of the email address you used to register, your user name and password. Please refer to our Job Applicant FAQs for more information.

Government regulations require that UC Berkeley track application activity. For this reason, all persons seeking employment as regular staff must apply via our website at http://jobs.berkeley.edu. Once you have applied for the job, your application is directly forwarded to the hiring department.

Yes. Thank you for providing us with the most complete information about your employment background. You may use the same resume, and update or revise your information as needed on subsequent applications, thus speeding up the process.

We are only able to consider applicants who apply online. Therefore, you must apply at http://jobs.berkeley.edu.

No, just fully complete the application. If you do have a resume you can upload it or cut and paste it. If you do not have a formal resume, please type in or copy/paste your Work Experience information into the “Copy & Paste Resume” text box on the 2nd page of the application.

We do not accept resumes at Human Resources.  All applications, including past employment information, must be submitted through the Careers website at http://jobs.berkeley.edu.

Until you receive information from the hiring department, you are “under consideration” for the position. Please refer to our Job Applicant FAQs for more information.

Applications can be submitted online any day of the week, at any time (24/7.)

To search for job openings at UC Berkeley, visit the Careers website at http://jobs.berkeley.edu.

If you are able to locate a job on the Careers website (http://jobs.berkeley.edu), then the position is still open and the system is still accepting applications for that specific job. Please note that the job posting duration is up to each hiring department and is variable. Due to the volume we receive, we are unable to confirm posting durations or end dates.

You must apply online at http://jobs.berkeley.edu. There you can create a profile and submit your resume and cover letter. Step-by-step job aids are available. Please refer to our Job Applicant FAQs for more information.