Video showcases careers in county government

When it comes to career options in county government, there is something for everyone.

As some counties look at freezing hiring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will still be some jobs that need to be filled now or in the future.

A recruitment video in Kitsap County, Wash. highlights the wide variety of careers available in county government by following Holly, the main character in the video, as she looks to find her perfect job. 

“I was looking for a job in Kitsap County and somehow I ended up here in jail,” she says in the beginning of the video. 

Viewers follow Holly as she tries over 29 jobs including roads supervisor, technology specialist, deputy sheriff, court clerk, assessor, deputy fire marshal and marine patrol, among others, as a parody song of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” plays in the background with the lyrics changed to “She’s Tried Every Job.” 

“She’s tried every job man, she’s tried every job/She didn’t know the county had so many different jobs man,” the lyrics read. 

Kitsap County Public Communications Manager Doug Bear said with an aging workforce preparing to retire, the county faces challenges recruiting and retaining quality applicants. 

Specifically, in the public works department, 50 percent of employees are eligible to retire in the next decade. 

“That got us thinking of how do we reach out to potential career employees for county services when they don’t even understand that any job you would do in the private sector, we have a comparable job in the public sector,” Bear said. 

In anticipation of losing knowledge and expertise from retired employees, the county conducted a survey at a local college’s job fair to see which students, specifically in the millennial and Generation Z demographic, have considered a career in government. 

Bear said the survey revealed most students had not considered a career in government and there is a misconception of local government work and the career options the county offers. 

“One of our goals was to figure out: ‘How do we let young people know that there are viable career opportunities in government service?’” Bear said. 

The video, a unique outlet beyond conventional ads and jobs fairs, aims to raise awareness of county job options, educate viewers on county career paths, support staffing needs and dispel the myth that government work is boring and stale. 

To increase employee engagement, current county employees are featured in the video, including an engineer in public works who played the guitar and sang the parody song. 

“While there were a little over 50 employees credited at the end of the film, it probably involved well over 100 county employees in putting it together,” Bear said. 

The county’s HR analyst, who served as the producer of the video, scheduled background checks to allow non-county employees into the jail, worked to get uniforms and props and oversaw logistics for the video. Bear wrote the lyrics for the parody song, directed the video and oversaw the post-production. 

“Even the employees involved in the production crew learned about things the county does that they have no idea,” Bear said. 

The videographer, an intern from a local community college, edited the video with an additional videographer and the actress who played Holly. 

The county’s “Love Where You Work” slogan is a tagline for recruiting efforts to show candidates the community they would serve working for Kitsap County. 

Bear said the county has a lot to offer with its proximity to Seattle (16 nautical miles), location across from the Puget Sound and rural environment. 

“We constantly have to compete against bigger cities to try to get the best talent we can for our county,” he said. 

For the premiere of the video, the county held a staff launch attended by over 90 employees. 

For the official launch, they streamed the video on Facebook Live. 

The video was also shared on the county’s LinkedIn page, YouTube page and website. County officials show the video at job fairs each year, and at local high schools and colleges. 

“I think one of the nicest things we saw through this is the pride that employees have in what they do,” Bear said. 

“By providing our employees with an opportunity to share that with perspective employees or with our community,” he said,  “I think helped them value their position and helped us to look at how what we do relate to the future career choices of the young people in our community.”

The video can be viewed here.