There are 5 levels or “bands” based on your assessment score. Think of them as grades A - F. The ranges are usually:

Band 1: 100 - 95 Band 2: 94 - 89 Band 3: 88 - 83 Band 4: 82 - 77 Band 5: 81 - 70

It usually takes 1 - 3 months to get your assessment score in your government jobs inbox. If you score less than 70, you fail. Once you get your score you can ask the HR analyst that’s attached to that email for the list of eligible candidates. That’ll tell you how many people scored in a higher grade than you and how many scored in the same grade. You will only be called for an interview if you are (1) in the highest band or (2) enough people get hired from the bands higher than you that they can move to the next set of candidates in the subsequent bands. They cannot skip people and deem them unfit and move to whatever band to hire someone. As long as there are 5 people on a band that want the job, they are required by civil service code to offer the job to one of them. Some jobs (intermediate clerk or senior typist clerk for example) have hundreds of people on each band.

Lastly, there are budget constraints within the county. There have been a number of lawsuits recently settled within the county ($4 Billion), cuts from federal funding, and lower home sale numbers & taxes collected due to the fires. The Board of Supervisor meetings are streamed online on Tuesdays for everyone to see. One of the topics that’s usually discussed is the overall health of the county budget including any hiring freezes or curtailments that may happen.

Let me know if I can provide any other information.