Parks and recreation employment status: implications from a civil service perspective (original) (raw)

Current research on the credentialing process in parks, recreation and leisurt: services has focused primarily on accreditation and certification and has largely ignored the civil service exam as a credentialing toll or condition of employment in many state and municipal parks and recreation departments. It is the experience of the researchers of this study that a significant number of students are stunned when seeking many state and municipal parks and recreation jobs. This is so because they are usually confronted with the need to be tested and perform well on civil service examination as a condition of employment or a condition for retaining their position after provisional status has ended. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of public recreation employment and wages at the state and municipal levels and draw inferences as to the extent employees and potential employees are subject to the civil service examination process. The results indicated that: I) recreation employment at both the state and municipal levels is significant, 2) many prospective employees will inevitably be impacted by the need to take & successfully pass civil service examinations, since state & municipal departments are subject to this process, 3) although employment in terms of numbers & payroll amount is significant, public sector recreation employment is small compared to total public sector employment, 4) both within a region and among regions some inference can be drawn as to the recreation & leisure values held by elected officials and the population in general, and 5) Students will continue to acquire little knowledge of the civil service employment system because there are no current curriculum accreditation standards that require recreation programs to specifically address civil service employment issues.