People seeking jobs during the current economic downturn may find new employment opportunities with Wake County. The county plans to hire about 235 temporary staff members over the next month to support its ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the positions will support the public health function of the COVID-19 response, including contact tracing, epidemiology and nursing, while other roles will support operations and logistics management for our efforts to fight the virus.
“We are now on day 112 of running our Emergency Operations Center – the longest response in Wake County’s history – and it’s not going to end any time soon,” said Wake County Manager David Ellis. “As we look at how we can start reopening our facilities and begin providing services to our residents again, we must temporarily expand our workforce, so we can continue leading the fight against COVID-19 in a sustainable way.”
The EOC typically relies on about 160 county employees every day to achieve its goals. Without these staff members, the EOC can’t function. But, the county’s departments can’t begin the reopening process unless these employees return to their regular positions. By hiring temporary workers, the county can effectively do both.
The county will use CARES Act funding to pay salaries and offer benefits to the temporary workers, which will enable the county to:
- Create a dedicated workforce to sustain the county’s COVID-19 response efforts;
- Shift Wake County staff who’ve been deployed to the EOC back to their regularly scheduled duties; and
- Continue to nimbly act in the community’s best interest as we learn more about the impacts of COVID-19 and adjust strategies and tactics as needed.
“While we learn more every day about this novel virus, there is still much we don’t know,” said Chris Kippes, Wake County Public Health Division Director. “Having a dedicated staff to support our response efforts will allow us to continue to share the latest information seamlessly, quickly and efficiently with an end goal of protecting the health of our community.”
Interviewing and hiring for the positions, which are benefits-eligible, are expected to begin in July and continue on a rolling basis. Additional positions will be added in the coming days and weeks. These jobs are temporary and expected to last through at least Nov. 30, 2020.
To view the positions and qualifications, candidates can visit wakegov.com/employment.
About Wake County’s Emergency Response to COVID-19
On March 5, Wake County opened its Emergency Operations Center to ramp up the county’s response efforts to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The EOC, which comprises multi-disciplinary staff from across the county, is responsible for creating strategies, managing resources, directing emergency operations, and coordinating efforts with municipalities, the state and other partners. EOC staff share a common goal: to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community and protect the public health.
Staying Updated
Wake County has made it easy for you to stay updated on the latest information about COVID-19.
You can visit our multilingual COVID-19 webpage, which has a set of frequently asked questions to educate residents, a list of COVID-19-related closures and service changes, as well as an email address and phone number that people can use to ask questions about COVID-19.
The county is also sharing important information on its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
