Kern County Sheriff’s office hosts job fair for those interested in law enforcement and other careers
Host talk to attendees and amongst themselves during the Job Fair at the Sheriff’s Headquarters.
September 14, 2018
The Sheriff Office Headquarters hosted a job fair on Sept. 8, to provide information on 10 Kern County Departments that have on positions available.
Before the job fair officially started people were already at the booths.
The departments that were there were the Prohibition Department, Sheriff’s Office, Public Works, Veteran’s Service Department, SWAT and the Air Support Unit.
Administrative Coordinator Carmen Gonzalez has been working at the Sheriff’s Department since 2006. Gonzalez said there are 1300 positions within the Sheriff’s Office. Those positions include volunteer and civilian roles.
One volunteer position includes lost and rescue. When someone goes missing in the mountains or near the river it is mostly volunteers that go and help.
Civilian positions include, but are not limited to, computer forensics and public administration. Gonzalez said computer forensics is a “hybrid,” program as it requires skills in investigation and computers.
Ariel Dyer has worked for the Kern County Library system for two years. She applied on a whim. She said Beale Library holds events.
“You never know its a surprise at Beale,” Dyer said. She said people need to love people in order to work here.
One of the Veterans Service Department’s representatives was Eric Heinsen, who has been working for the department for two years.
Heinsen said they help veterans get in contact with the Department of Veteran Affairs. They also offer some employment and help veterans enroll in health care, including mental health, and housing.
One of the helicopters that were available for the public to look at during the job fair. The N197E is a better helicopter for patrols as it is faster.
A helicopter that was shown at the job fair. The tennis ball helicopter is preferred for search and rescue as it consumes less fuel so it can last longer in the air.
Jay Heisey, a SWAT officer for the past 13 years, was there greeting people. He said Bakersfield has no official team but has its members on a collateral assignment which means “everyone has a ‘real’ job.” Heisey’s ‘real job’ is being a sergeant at Lamont.
The sergeant said they train every other week and they assist the smaller cities. As for operations, Heicey said they average about once a week because they do about 35-50 operations a year.
Kevin Austin was there representing the air support unit. Austin has been in the air support for 13 years but has was in patrols for longer. He flies helicopters, not planes because “planes are boring,” he joked.
At the job fair, there were three helicopters out of the five helicopters for presentation. One of the helicopters was out in San Diego getting modifications. The other helicopter was out helping fight a fire in Ridgecrest. Also in the warehouse was one plane out of three.
The one plane that was on display has a powerful camera. Austin said, “you can practically read a license plate on a car.” Austin explained the differences between two of the helicopters on display. The N197E is better at patrol because it can move faster, while the one that had tennis balls near the tail is better for search and rescue missions because it consumes less gas meaning it can stay in the air longer.
While Austin is not sure if the county has had a job fair like this one before, he knows that they are held all throughout the state.
