How to Hire 500,000 Census Workers

Oct 1, 2019

Census

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Case Study: Field Staff Recruiter Pilot

In Partnership with: California Adult Education Program

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The US Census Bureau needs to hire 500,000 people to support efforts during the 2020 Census, but the application process is opaque, long and not easy to navigate. In CA alone, over 55,000 jobs will need to be filled, ideally with individuals who represent and speak the languages (Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc.) of the communities they live in.

CCL partnered with the California Adult Education Program (CAEP) to pilot the Field Staff Recruiter to address these issues and to activate a great-fit constituency to apply for Census jobs.

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Program Goal

Drive awareness of and applications to Census jobs and help limit dropoff through the application process with CommunityConnect Labs’ Field Staff Recruiter texting program.

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Program Details

CAEP schools advertised and promoted the existence of the Field Staff Recruiter Pilot in English & Spanish from May to August 2019. Respondents then texted in, were screened for eligibility and received support through the application process:

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Tutorials, Videos, Links to Job Site

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Check-ins when next steps were revealed

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Nudges & Reminders to complete application

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Follow-up for results

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Key Takeaways

CAEP Schools that advertised with flyers, emailed students, made computer labs accessible and promoted the pilot as they talked about workforce readiness saw the most success. The more they heard about it, the more likely they were to apply.
CAEP is a great fit for this program: low-income, bilingual students from hard-to-count communities who are eager for job opportunities paired with a supportive Adult Education organization.
Final results won’t be known until hiring has completed in 2020, but early results are very promising, and plans are being made to expand the pilot further.

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