New positions approved by supervisors coupled with a large number of retirements in the past year has contributed to an influx of job vacancies with Santa Clara County.
The county said it has about 600 vacancies to fill, a vacancy rate that has more than doubled when compared to county figures from five years ago.
County officials said 608 employees retired last year. In addition, the Santa Clara County's Board of Supervisors recently approved 380 new positions.
Most of the job openings are at Valley Medical Center.
John Dam, Santa Clara County human resources director, said 30 percent of the 600 openings are for nurses.
The county also is looking to hire 206 sheriff's deputies. Dam said the county has received more than a thousand applications, but only 5 percent of them passed the physical test and background checks.
Officials also said 15 percent of the openings are in social services.
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Dam said the county offers competitive pay, but admits it may not be enough for high-tech applicants.
"We do have difficulty recruiting IT jobs because we are competing against Apple, Google and Yahoo," Dam said, adding that it's also a challenge to recruit people from out of state due to the high cost of living in the area.
While the county may not be able to compete strictly on salary, Dam said if you add in benefits and pensions the county is a great employer. He is hoping to welcome hundreds of new employees soon.
To view the job openings, visit SCCGOV.org.
