Specific information regarding this recruitment process is listed below.
This recruitment may be used to fill positions in this or other divisions.
Application Opening: Friday, October 24th, 2025
Application Deadline: Apply immediately. Application filing will be open at least through Thursday, October 30th, 2025 and will close any time thereafter.
Compensation: $76,258-$92,716 annually (https://careers.sf.gov/classifications/?classCode=7514&setId=COMMN)
Appointment Type: Temporary Provisional (TPV): This is not a permanent appointment. A provisional appointee must participate and be successful in a Civil Service examination for this classification and be selected to be considered for permanent appointment. Provisional appointments may not exceed three (3) years.
San Francisco Public Works (https://www.sfpublicworks.org/) (Public Works) has a far-reaching portfolio with a $453 million annual operating budget, an active capital portfolio that exceeds $3 billion and a workforce of 1,700-plus employees. The department operates around the clock, touching every neighborhood in San Francisco. The staff designs and manages the construction of civic buildings and streets; cleans and greens the right of way; maintains civic buildings; manages multi-million-dollar bond programs; trains people for jobs; keeps the right of way free of hazards; paves the roads; repairs bridges and public stairways; expands accessibility; and works at the forefront addressing some of San Francisco's biggest challenges. With a mission to enhance the quality of life in San Francisco for residents, visitors and business owners, Public Works is committed to providing outstanding public service through an equity lens.
San Francisco Public Works currently has vacancies for the position of General Laborer (7514) to join our Operations Division.
Operations Division
The Operations Division delivers essential services around the clock with street cleaning, street and sewer repair and maintenance, and repair services for civic buildings and structures.
Operations staff also provide graffiti removal, sidewalk maintenance, and community partnerships to advance cleaning and greening initiatives, code enforcement, workforce development, and apprenticeship programs, urban forestry care and tree planting, and landscape services.
Under general supervision, you will perform a variety of manual labor tasks such as removing debris from construction, maintenance, wrecking, or repair work, loading and unloading materials, supplies, furniture, and equipment. You may also be assigned to join a work crew with other crafts, operating various @types of equipment and machinery, including pneumatic and hand tools associated with general construction.
MAJOR, IMPORTANT, AND ESSENTIAL DUTIES
As a general laborer, your duties may include but are not limited to the following:
Excavates trenches (using various pneumatic and hand tools, including 90-pound jackhammers) for water and sewer lines, underground utility repair, or electrical conduits; backfills and compacts excavations; and potholes transmission mains and service piping.
Clears culverts and stakes fabric to prevent erosion of work sites, cement, and rip-raps upstream and downstream of culverts.
Stabilizes embankments by building wet walls and dry walls alongside roadways and waterways.
Safely operates mowing equipment.
Serves as flag operator and sets up traffic barricades, lights, or other barriers around work sites (on streets or other locations).
Clears and chips vegetation, brush, and limbs; clears firebreaks, watershed roadways, v- ditches, jogging and footpaths, pipeline rights-of-way, around structures, buildings, risers, vaults, and valve lots; cuts access routes to watershed domestic utility lines and springs; removes small trees and grinds stumps.
Installs and maintains chain link, barbed wire, and hog wire fencing, cement watershed gate posts and chain link fence posts.
Loads and unloads materials, supplies, furniture, and/or equipment by hand or with booms,
Removes and cleans up debris resulting from construction, maintenance, wrecking, or repair work around grounds and building areas using hands, broom, shovel, wheelbarrow, etc.
You will work in confined spaces and assist in cleaning and flushing catch basins, septic tanks, or sewage treatment plants using shovels, hoses, and pumps to ensure proper sewer system drainage.
Operates and maintains pneumatic, electrical, mechanical, and hand tools, including air compressors, jackhammers, tie tampers, sandblasters, steam cleaners, hoists, drills, chainsaws, cement mixers, chipping guns, weed whackers, spaders, stump grinders, fence stretchers, aerial lift buckets, and other hand tools to assist craft workers.
Assists in the preparation and application of concrete and asphalt to repair roads and sidewalks.
Applies disinfectants, de-greasers, and herbicides to streets and sidewalks.
Cleaning streets, sidewalks, benches, poles and plazas with motorized sidewalk sweepers, brooms, or high-pressure water hoses.
Cleans up illegal dumping sites, spills on city streets, and sites of accidents.
Use radio communication systems or other communication devices.
Manages a tool room, distributing tools and tracking inventory.
Completes forms such as work orders, daily work or field reports, and/or accident report forms.
Safely operate a city vehicle to access work sites.
Prepare surfaces for painting, remove graffiti from public/private property using a computerized color matching program, soda blaster, and/or steam cleaner.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Experience:
Three (3) years (6000 hours) of journey level experience as a general laborer in the construction field.
AND
License and Certification:
Possession of a valid Class C California driver license (must be maintained during employment).
Substitution:
Completion of a California Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) or United States Department of Labor (DOL) approved apprentice construction laborer program may be substituted for the required experience.
Note:
One (1) year of full-time employment is considered equivalent to Two-Thousand (2000) hours. Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.
CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT
Valid Driver's License:?Applicants?must?possess a valid State of California?driver's license with?no restrictions?that would prohibit them from legally performing the essential functions and duties of the role.
Verification:
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education- requirements.
Note: Falsifying one's education, training, or work experience or attempting deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.
All work experience, education, training, and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.
Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.
Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.
Supplemental Questionnaire (SQ): Candidates may be required to complete a Supplemental Questionnaire (SQ) as part of the employment application. This SQ is designed to obtain specific information regarding an applicant's experience in relation to the Minimum Qualifications (MQ) for this position. The SQ will be used to evaluate if the applicant possesses the required minimum qualifications. Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement through all of the steps in the selection procedure.
Selection Procedures: The selection process will include an evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will move forward in the recruitment process.
Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:
Information About the Hiring Process (https://careers.sf.gov/knowledge/process/)
Conviction History
Employee Benefits Overview (https://careers.sf.gov/benefits/)
Equal Employment Opportunity (https://www.sf.gov/what-equal-employment-opportunity-and-how-file-claim)
Disaster Service Worker (https://sfdhr.org/disaster-service-workers)
ADA Accommodation
Right to Work (https://sfdhr.org/recruitment-details#identification)
Copies of Application Documents
Diversity Statement (https://sfdhr.org/recruitment-details#diversitystatement)
Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: At the City and County of San Francisco, we share a commitment to a diverse, inclusive and equitable community. Each member of our organization is responsible and accountable for what they say and do to make San Francisco an inclusive and equitable place to live and work by employing fair and just practices to and for all.
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.
Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.
If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the analyst for this recruitment by email at kathy.mei@sfdpw.org.
The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.
