The Senate today launched its recruitment campaign for the 77th Regular Session. This is the culmination of several months of planning, as we have rewritten many of the job descriptions and restructured the Senate to modernize job titles and update qualifications. Director of Senate Staffing Shelle Grim-Brooks deserves a great deal of credit, as she has worked quite hard to get us to this point. You can apply for Senate jobs here.
One of our goals for our 2013 recruitment is to achieve a higher standard of diversity for the Senate workforce. For example, the Senate needs to hire more Spanish-speaking personnel in order to meet the needs of our Spanish-speaking constituents. Besides language, we hope to recruit a diverse workforce in terms of age, race, and ethnicity too. While we have a relatively small workforce -- just under 100 employees -- our workforce in the Senate should reflect the rich diversity of our state.
Geographic diversity has also been a challenge. While I'm a Northern Nevada boy at heart (having grown up in Reno, with much of my family and many good friends still there) I do live in Southern Nevada, along with nearly two-thirds of the population of the state. While it is difficult to pick up and move to Carson City for a six-month period during a Legislative Session, it is not impossible! We had a handful of staff do this in 2011, and I'd like to see even more do this in 2013. Some Senate staff from outside the Carson City area crashed with friends or relatives, while others shared apartments with friends and coworkers. It can be a great adventure and an eye-opening experience.
Working for the Nevada Legislature can be very fulfilling. The ability to get up to speed on the important issues confronting our state, along with the contacts you can build, makes employment with the Senate the kind of opportunity that can lead to bigger and better things. The time you spend on the staff of the Nevada Senate is an investment in your future. Whether you are reading this from Las Vegas, Henderson, Elko, Reno, Carson City or points in between, I strongly encourage you to consider embarking on a unique chapter of your career. Click here to learn more.
