Exam Bulletin

Department of Parks & Recreation

Multiple Testing Departments. Please see list of Departments.

Exam Code: EX-3356

Examination Plans Included:

  • SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST - Open

Final Filing Date: Applications are accepted on a continuous basis.

Classification Details

SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST: $7,290.00 - $9,062.00 per Month

View the SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST classification specification.

Application Instructions

Upcoming Filing Cutoff Dates:

  • 11/30/2024
  • 5/30/2025
  • 11/30/2025
  • 5/30/2026
  • 11/30/2026

Examination/Employment Application (STD 678) must be received or postmarked by the filing date indicated above. Applications postmarked, personally delivered or received via interoffice mail after the filing date will be processed in the next group.

Who Should Apply:

The information below will help you determine which classification(s) is(are) appropriate for you. Applicants must meet the Minimum Qualifications as stated on this bulletin to compete in this examination.

Open and Open, Non-Promotional Examination(s):

  • SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST - Open

For all Classifications, once you have participated in any of the following examinations, you may not recompete for 9 months:

Exam Code(s):

    3356

For SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST, once you have participated in any of the following examinations, you may not recompete for 9 months:

Exam Code(s):

  • EX-03356

How To Apply:

Submit an Examination/Employment Application (STD 678) to apply for this examination.

Electronic applications can be submitted through your account at www.CalCareers.ca.gov.

You may apply by mail to:

  • Selections Unit - Jacquelyne Casteel
    Department of Parks and Recreation
    Selections Unit
    P.O. Box 942896
    Sacramento, CA 94296-0001

Indicate the Examination Code and Classification(s) on your Examination/Employment Application (STD 678).

You may drop off your application and any applicable or required documents at:

  • Department of Parks and Recreation
    Selections Unit - Jacquelyne Casteel
    715 P Street
    Sacramento, CA 95814
    8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
    Applications can be left at the 1st floor Security Desk.

Indicate the Examination Code and Classification(s) on your Examination/Employment Application (STD 678). All applicants must provide proof of identification. Accepted forms of identification are: 1) a photo identification card or 2) two forms of signed identification.

Special Testing Arrangements:

If you require assistance or alternative testing arrangements due to a disability, indicate on your application that you need reasonable accommodation. You will be contacted by a representative of the testing department to make the necessary arrangements. If you have not been contacted by the time you receive notification of testing, please contact the testing department listed in the Contact section of this bulletin.

If you are unable to submit your application or complete the test due to a disability, please contact the testing department listed in the Contact section of this bulletin.

Minimum Qualifications

All applicants must meet the education and/or experience requirements as stated on this exam bulletin to be accepted to the examination.

Unless otherwise stated in the Minimum Qualifications, qualifying experience may be combined on a proportionate basis if the requirements stated below include more than one pattern and are distinguished as "Either" 1, "or" 2, "or" 3, etc. For example, applicants possessing qualifying experience amounting to 50% of the required time of Pattern 1 and additional experience amounting to 50% of the required time of Pattern 2 may be accepted to an examination as meeting 100% of the overall experience requirement.

00102795 - SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST

Experience: Two years of experience performing the duties of an Associate State Archeologist.


OR II


Experience:
Five years of increasingly responsible professional experience in research, writing, or project supervision in cultural resource management and protection programs, at least two years of which must have been in administrative or lead capacity, working at a level equivalent in responsibility to an Associate State Archeologist in the California state service.


AND


Education:
Equivalent to graduation from college with major course work in archeology or anthropology. (A graduate degree in archeology or anthropology may be substituted for up to two years of the required experience.)

Position Description

00102795 - SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST

This is the first supervisory level of this series. In most settings, incumbents supervise and direct a major unit of professional or technical staff within a division or region; have full administrative responsibility; act upon most difficult technical decisions; formulate and implement cultural resource planning or management programs; make recommendations to cultural resource-related problems; and do other related work.

For information regarding position location(s), please refer to the Eligible List Information section.

Examination Information

This examination consists of the following component(s):

Component OrderComponent TypeComponent DuePercentage of Final Score
1Supplemental ReportAfter Acceptance100%

A final score of 70% must be attained to be placed on the eligible list.

In addition to evaluating the applicant's relative knowledge, skill and ability as demonstrated by quality and breadth of education/experience, emphasis in each test component will be on measuring competitively, relative to job demands, each applicant's:

Knowledge of:

1. Principles and practices of archeological resource management and preservation;

2. Techniques for the preservation of archeological collections;

3. The major aspects of American archeological field methods;

4. Laboratory and museum techniques, procedures, and operations;

5. Indians of Western North America;

6. Geology;

7. Paleontology;

8. Ecology;

9. Comparative osteology;

10. California history;

11. Basic techniques of surveying;

12. Archeological research methods;

13. Literature and publications dealing with archeological and ethnographical methods and techniques;

14. Private and public organizations concerned with anthropological research in California.

15. Principles of effective supervision and personnel management;

16. Major programs, policy development and administration;

17. Administrative principles and methods;

18. The Department's Equal Employment Opportunity Program objectives;

19. A manager's role in the Equal Employment Opportunity Program and the processes available to meet affirmative action objectives.


Ability to:

1. Prepare accurate drawings and take photographs of archeological remains, artifacts, and related materials for use in published reports;

2. Read and prepare maps;

3. Perform archeological field work;

4. Coordinate the efforts of small work teams;

5. Identify and record pertinent data revealed during excavations;

6. Evaluate environmental impacts upon various archeological resources and develop and recommend effective mitigation procedures;

7. Speak and write effectively;

8. Keep necessary records and prepare reports;

9. Analyze situations accurately and take effective action.

10. Evaluate complex archeological and ethnographic studies;

11. Develop innovative resource management programs for the protection, restoration and perpetuation of cultural resources;

12. Coordinate and lead the work of others;

13. Provide instruction in archeological excavation techniques;

14. Prepare clear, complete and technically accurate reports;

15. Plan, organize, and lead archeological field projects.

16. Initiate major concepts and develop innovative cultural resource management programs with regional or statewide impact;

17. Assume authority and responsibility for a major program;

18. Effectively administer major and complex programs in a regional area or headquarters;

19. Provide leadership to a multidisciplinary team of professionals in development of innovative solutions to the most difficult cultural resource management problems;

20. Develop alternatives in the solution of the management problems and select realistic courses of action;

21. Coordinate regional or statewide cultural resource programs of other governmental agencies;

22. Effectively contribute to the Department's Equal Employment Opportunity objectives.

Eligible List Information

A Servicewide Open eligible list for the SENIOR STATE ARCHEOLOGIST Classification will be established for:

  • State of California

The names of successful competitors will be merged onto the eligible list(s) in order of final score regardless of test date. Eligibility expires 12 months after it is established. Applicants must then retake the examination to reestablish eligibility.

Resulting Eligibility List(s) will be used to fill vacancies throughout the State of California.

Veterans' Preference will be granted for this examination. Veterans' Preference is an assistance program for veterans, veteran widows and widowers, and spouses of 100% disabled veterans who seek employment with the state. Veterans' Preference is also extended to currently serving military members nearing their retirement or separation date.

You are not eligible for Veteran's Preference if you are:

  • A veteran who has been dishonorably discharged or released.
  • A veteran, widow or widower of a veteran, or spouse of a 100 percent disabled veteran who currently has permanent civil service status. (Permanent civil service status is the status of an employee who is lawfully retained in his/her position after completion of the applicable probationary period. This does not include limited term).

Veterans' Preference is codified in Government Code Sections 18973 – 18979.

Veteran status is verified by the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR). Directions to apply for Veterans' Preference are on the Veterans' Preference Application (Std. Form 1093), which is available at www.CalCareers.ca.gov, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Career Credits are not granted for examination(s) administered on an Open basis or a Promotional basis.

Testing Departments

  • Department of Parks & Recreation
  • State of California

Contact Information

Questions regarding this examination should be directed to:

Department of Parks & Recreation
Jacquelyne Casteel, Selections Analyst
Department of Parks and Recreation
P.O. Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001
Phone: (916) 902-8708
jacquelyne.casteel@parks.ca.gov

California Relay Service: 1-800-735-2929 (TTY), 1-800-735-2922 (Voice). TTY is a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, and is reachable only from phones equipped with a TTY Device.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The State of California is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.

Drug Free Statement

It is an objective of the State of California to achieve a drug-free State work place. Any applicant for State employment will be expected to behave in accordance with this objective, because the use of illegal drugs is inconsistent with the law of the State, the rules governing civil service, and the special trust placed in public servants.

General Information

Examination and/or Employment Application (STD 678) forms are available at the California Department of Human Resources, local offices of the Employment Development Department, and through your CalCareer Account (www.CalCareers.ca.gov).

If you meet the requirements stated on this examination bulletin, you may take this examination, which is competitive. Possession of the entrance requirements does not assure a place on the eligible list. Your performance in the examination described in this bulletin will be rated against a predetermined job-related rating, and all applicants who pass will be ranked according to their scores.

Department of Parks & Recreation reserves the right to revise the examination plan to better meet the needs of the service, if the circumstances under which this examination was planned change. Such revision will be in accordance with civil service laws and rules and all applicants will be notified.

General Qualifications: Applicants must possess essential personal qualifications including integrity, initiative, dependability, good judgment, the ability to work cooperatively with others, and a state of health consistent with the ability to perform the assigned duties of the class. A medical examination may be required. In open examinations, investigation may be made of employment records and personal history and fingerprinting may be required.

Eligible Lists: Eligible lists established by competitive examination, regardless of date, must be used in the following order: 1) sub-divisional promotional, 2) departmental promotional, 3) multi-departmental promotional, 4) service-wide promotional, 5) departmental open, 6) open. When there are two lists of the same kind, the older must be used first. Eligible lists will expire in one to four years unless otherwise stated on the bulletin.

High School Equivalence: Equivalence to completion of the 12th grade may be demonstrated in any one of the following ways: 1) passing the General Education Development (GED) Test; 2) completion of 12 semester units of college-level work; 3) certification from the State Department of Education, a local school board, or high school authorities that the competitor is considered to have education equivalent to graduation from high school; or 4) for clerical and accounting classes, substitution of business college work in place of high school on a year-for-year basis.

Accepted applicants must provide proof of identification at each in-person test session. Acceptable identification consists of a photo identification card or two forms of signed identification.

Application Methods:
Electronic (Your CalCareer Account)
By Mail
In Person (see bulletin for details)
Alternate Application Process

While we recommend that you utilize your CalCareer Account to take advantage of all the tools available, you may choose to apply for this examination without using your account. In this case, print and complete the Exam Application Package Checklist and include it if you submit a hard copy application.

Exam Application Package Checklist

Blank Application Form (STD678)

Accommodation Request (STD679)