California’s Employment Development Department needs help in a hurry.

It’s hiring more than 1,800 people to manage the surge in unemployment benefit claims that followed the coronavirus outbreak.

These new workers will assist in call centers, analyze wage documents and handle the over 5.1 million claims that the EDD has already processed since the pandemic began.

The department plans to fill the spots quickly, expediting a civil service hiring process that usually takes months.

This time, the state intends to fill the jobs in take two weeks, Andrew LaMar, a spokesperson for CalHR, which is helping the EDD with hiring, said.

“To me, that’s amazing that we can do that,” LaMar said. “We fully expect to have all of them hired within two weeks and probably sooner.”

The department is under pressure from lawmakers to provide better service and more information to unemployed residents. Unemployed Californians have reported being unable to reach EDD employees to answer questions, heightening their worries about their finances.

“You can hear the desperation, the frustration, it’s extreme,” Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, said at a May 21 legislative hearing. “One of the biggest frustrations I’m having repeated over and over are hangups, for Pete’s sake.”

Previously, hundreds of state workers who normally perform other jobs had volunteered to help the unemployment department mange the flood of claims. Gov. Gavin Newom in April also expanded hours at a call center.

“This urgent hiring effort will further enhance the Department’s ability to process an unprecedented surge of benefit claims, while offering an opportunity for employment to Californians during this difficult time,” EDD director Sharon Hilliard said in a press release.

Positions range from phone operators to accountants, and employees could earn up to $6,207 per month.

But unlike other state government hiring sprees, where mass-hiring events were held at in-person job fairs, prospective workers must apply online.

LaMar said that employees could start working as early as a week after a successful interview.

For skilled positions, however, hiring could take longer. Interviews are scored “immediately,” but it takes time to perform background checks, he said.

“They’re literally working around the clock on this, on weekends, and hiring people as quickly as they can,” LaMar added.

The department’s job openings are available at https://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/.

This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Need a job? California’s unemployment agency has 1,800 of them. You can start right away."