California Department of Mental Health

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Job Opportunities | Exam Information | Finding Employment | Licensing & Links to Associations

Job Opportunities

Click Here for an all inclusive search of available positions within Department of Mental Health, including Sacramento Headquarters, State Hospitals, and field offices. Available position information is updated daily.

The Department is looking for creative and talented individuals who enjoy working with and helping people and who are interested in joining a team dedicated to providing quality mental and medical health services to its patients and clients. If this sounds like you, send us your application and resume. For directions on completing an application, see "Job Applications".

Lists of Available DMH Vacancies

The Department of Mental Health (DMH) is committed in its efforts to mitigate layoffs and is providing the following VPOS links to DMH SROA/Surplus employees to offer first priority in applying for vacancies at the hospitals.  Please click on the name of the appropriate facility to review the most current vacancies at that facility:

Exam Information

Applications are now being accepted for the following examinations:

Please Note: Except for continuous exams (for which you may file applications at any time), applications are only accepted after exams are announced; therefore, it is important to read the bulletins before applying to obtain specific filing instructions.

Examination Bulletins are available at Department of Mental Health Headquarters and State Hospitals Personnel Offices, the State Personnel Board, Employment Development Department and Department of Rehabilitation.

Ten Most Common Application (Std. 678 form) Errors pdficon
Examination Questions - Where Do They Come From? pdficon
Examination Interview vs. Hiring Interview pdficon

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Finding Employment with the Department of Mental Health

The Department of Mental Health, headquartered in Sacramento, employs approximately 8000 full and part-time employees and operates four state hospitals, (Atascadero, Metropolitan, Napa and Patton) and an Acute Psychiatric Program at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville.

Headquarters, Hospitals and Field Office Locations

Headquarters, Hospitals, and Field Office Locations [Graphic]

The Department of Mental Health uses a variety of clinical, professional, technical, trades and other classifications.

These classifications include doctors, nurses, psychiatric technicians, physical and rehabilitation therapists, psychiatric social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists; and a variety of food service, janitorial, law enforcement, mechanical/electrical, carpentry, and other trades classifications. Most of these positions exist at our hospitals and the psychiatric program at Vacaville.

We also employ other classifications in areas such as information technology, human resources, accounting, clerical and a variety of analytical classifications. While some of these positions exist at each hospital, a majority of these positions are in our Sacramento headquarters location.

DMH classification list is a list of the classifications used by Department of Mental Health.

Most positions are covered by the California State civil service hiring process and are generally filled through competitive examinations.

Information on How to Get a Job with the Department of Mental Healthpdficon.

Information on the California State Civil Service Hiring Process.

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Licensing and Links to Professional Associations

California Examination and Licensing Requirements

Links to Professional Associations