Tips for using the City’s Career Center
Learn how to get around the new portal and how you can join the City of Boston's workforce.
Learn how to get around the new portal and how you can join Boston’s city workforce. Boston’s employees do everything, including:
- fixing streets and parks
- developing new uses for technology
- teaching our kids, and
- protecting the City.
The City’s Career Center has links to City of Boston jobs, as well as related agencies you might be interested in joining. Use the search function to narrow down your choices and read detailed job descriptions.
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Still have questions? Contact:
Human Resources
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1 City Hall Square
Room 612Boston, MA 02201-2017
Career Center details
After you find a job you’re interested in on the Career Center page, click on the job title to look at the details. Under the job title, you will find the specifics about the job, including:
The ID number given to the particular job advertisement. This is an important reference number to have if you need to contact the department about your application.
PositionFind out whether the job is regular or temporary, and whether it’s full or part-time. If a job is grant-funded for a specific time, it will tell you that too.
Salary Min and MaxYou’ll see the salary range for the position. If you want more details about the salary for the position, go to our salary page.
UnionYou will find the short-hand code for the collective bargaining unit that a job belongs to.
Posting DatesFind out when the job was posted, and when it’s expected to come down. Some jobs do not have an end date. These jobs are posted until they get filled, or are continuous openings.
CONTACT EMAIL
The email address of the department employee who is working with the job posting is listed at the top of the job description.
This section includes three parts:
- The Overview has information about the department or division’s functions and vision. It includes the essential functions of the job.
- Responsibilities identifies in more detail what the employee would do in the position.
- Minimum Entrance Qualifications lists the required knowledge, skills, and experience you need to be considered for the job. This section also provides detail on the salary plan, hours per week, and residency requirement.
City employees must be residents of the City on the first day of their employment. But, you DO NOT have to be a resident to apply for a Boston job.
Provisional appointmentThis term tells you that the job is not a Civil Service job. Those jobs require an exam, and we usually pull candidates from a state list. It’s still a permanent position, unless there is a note about grant funding or temporary status.
Across the City, there are more than 40 unions that represent employees. Each union negotiates a contract for salaries, work rules, and benefits. Our Career Center includes the minimum and maximum salary for each position posted. These are based on salary plans approved as part of bargaining agreements with the City.
What do you see when you look at the full salary scales?
- Salary Plan Code is the shorthand, one- to three-character code for the union.
- Grade is the level of expertise the position requires in relation to other jobs that do similar work within the City or department.
- Step is the amount of experience the individual has in doing the job.
New employees usually start at step 1, unless they have more than the required experience. You move to the next step in the salary plan each year on the anniversary of your hiring date. This stops after you reach the maximum step level in that grade.
After that, employees receive an annual increase each year in January based on the agreement between the union and the City.
Different unions negotiate different salary scales, policies, and benefits for their members. But, they continue to fall under all state and federal employment policies.
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Still have questions? Contact:
Human Resources
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1 City Hall Square
Room 612Boston, MA 02201-2017
