Benefits of being a WA state employee? (Seattle, Bellingham: real estate, credit)

[Tac-Sea]

Is it easier to land jobs within the agency or other state agencies?

Are there legal protections for state employees, that make it harder to be terminated?

Any other benefits (free tuition at state schools, etc) you are aware of?

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Tac-Sea

Is it easier to land jobs within the agency or other state agencies?

Are there legal protections for state employees, that make it harder to be terminated?

Any other benefits (free tuition at state schools, etc) you are aware of?

State jobs do have "tenure", of a sort. Employees are a little harder to fire. And there's a union backing them. AFAIK, you only get free tuition if you're a state university employee, and even then, you only get a max. of 6 credits per semester/trimester.

Other benefits, hmm... They let you off work for jury duty, and hold your job for you, big whoop. Benefits get downgraded over the years. The retirement benefit is less now than it was in the 90's.

[amaiunmei]

Originally Posted by Tac-Sea

Is it easier to land jobs within the agency or other state agencies?

Are there legal protections for state employees, that make it harder to be terminated?

Any other benefits (free tuition at state schools, etc) you are aware of?

A) If you haven't pissed people off during your employment, it CAN be easier ... but not necessarily easy.

B) State employees have a union; my personal opinion is they tend towards uselessness, but can be helpful on occasion.

C) No free tuition, sorry.

[Tac-Sea]

Originally Posted by amaiunmei

A) If you haven't pissed people off during your employment, it CAN be easier ... but not necessarily easy.

B) State employees have a union; my personal opinion is they tend towards uselessness, but can be helpful on occasion.

C) No free tuition, sorry.

You sure about the free tuition? I have read, just as the other poster posted, that state employees get free tuition (space available) at UW, WSU, and community colleges. It's a tuition waiver.

What about the school district? Seattle public schools specifically? They are apparently state employees. How stable is that place?

[Ruth4Truth]

State employees do get free tuition, but it's limited to 6 credits AFAIK. I know people who have financed entire grad school educations that way, though, all the way through PhD. 6 credits can mean either two 3-credit classes, or one 5-credit class per academic quarter or semester. I don't think school district employees get that tuition exemption.

Your best bet, OP, if you're looking for full-time work, is to work at one of the state universities. Because that's the only way you'd be able to schedule a class during your work hours--squeezing it into your lunch hour. Unless there's a class you're interested in that's an evening class. Otherwise, your travel to and from the school would take up too much time to make it feasible. Evergreen State College and Western Washington University are options, too (Olympia, Bellingham).

http://www.washington.edu/students/r...on_exempt.html

[amaiunmei]

Originally Posted by Tac-Sea

You sure about the free tuition? I have read, just as the other poster posted, that state employees get free tuition (space available) at UW, WSU, and community colleges. It's a tuition waiver.

What about the school district? Seattle public schools specifically? They are apparently state employees. How stable is that place?

That space is contingent on the class having room for you once registration is done. It also can only be used for 1 class at a time (unless you work for UW or another state college, and only within that college).

Working in the school itself is not so bad. However, you will find in public service administration is a whole other beast.

I've worked on three different levels of public service: for a city agency, for a state agency, and for a federal agency. No matter who your employer is, BE NICE and remember that it's all politics. There will be politics. If you have the stomach for it, it's not a bad gig.

[eidas]

Originally Posted by Tac-Sea

Is it easier to land jobs within the agency or other state agencies?

Are there legal protections for state employees, that make it harder to be terminated?

Any other benefits (free tuition at state schools, etc) you are aware of?

there have been changes since I retired (lost great Union Contract), but transferring/promoting between agencies had been available ---- I'm sure this still exists

Some union locals are stronger than others (some agencies are closed shop & require membership). At last agency, you'd really have to mess up horribly to be fired.

I never knew anyone to get free tuition (but never worked in Education agency). You do get medical/dental.

[Ira500]

If you work for a school district, you're not a state employee. But most school district employees are in one of the state pension plans, as are many city and county employees.

[Tac-Sea]

Originally Posted by Ira500

If you work for a school district, you're not a state employee. But most school district employees are in one of the state pension plans, as are many city and county employees.

The school districts web site itself states that the employees are Washington State employees. They are in SERS rather than PERS, but it's pretty much the same plan (plan 2 or plan 3, depending on which you pick).

[Hemlock140]

In our school district the teachers are TRS or SERS, but other employees are in PERS. If you are looking for good benefits and better job security than the state, you are better off at a public agency that does not depend on tax dollars for funding. That includes utility districts, housing authorities, port and airport management jobs. They will also have a huge range of jobs, from management to IT, engineering, clerical, accounting and finance, real estate plus most if not all trades. Not all of them are union, mostly the trades are, but office staff may not be. I would not consider them easy to get into, with a lot of experience required, and some jobs having written or performance tests.