Assessor-Recorder Office Assistant - Office of the Assessor-Recorder (4213) - (158925)

This is a Citywide Exam posting. Your application to this posting is an application to take a citywide exam.

If you pass the exam, you will be emailed your score and ranking on the eligible candidate list. When a department has an open position with this job classification, they will use this eligible list to hire for that position. Departments will contact candidates from this list to gauge interest in their specific roles. Learn more about the City’s hiring process here: https://careers.sf.gov/knowledge/process/

Specific information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

• Application Opening: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
• Application Deadline: 11:59 pm PST, Friday, September 12, 2025
• Compensation Range: $69,368 - $84,292 Annually 
• Recruitment ID: CBT-4213-158925

San Francisco is a vibrant and dynamic city, on the forefront of economic growth & innovation, urban development, arts & entertainment, as well as social issues & change. This rich tapestry of culture and ideas is sustained by our City's commitment to heighten the quality of life for the diverse population of San Franciscans and residents of the greater Bay Area. Our employees play an important role not only in making our City what it is today, but also in shaping the future of San Francisco.

Our Office

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder is responsible for fairly and accurately executing property assessment functions in accordance with the State Constitution and State and local laws. Our core responsibilities include identifying all taxable property in the City and County of San Francisco, establishing a taxable value, and applying all legal exemptions. Property broadly includes real property as well as personal property owned by businesses.

The Office is also responsible for recording documents and securing public records. We ensure each document meets recording requirements and make them accessible to the public. We record over 400 different types of documents annually, including deeds of trust, reconveyances, liens, maps, and public marriage certificates.

Additionally, the Office is responsible for collecting any transfer tax due upon a change in property ownership and performing audits to ensure the correct property value basis for taxation.

In all that we do we seek to advance the values of fairness, care, equity, and excellence in service to our diverse constituents and communities.

What We Do

Each year we prepare an assessment roll that reflects the taxable values of land, improvements, and personal property. The assessment roll is the basis for San Francisco’s property tax revenue. We enroll property tax value by discovering new construction or changes in ownership. The work of our Office in enrolling property valued at approximately $352 billion generates an estimated $4.1 billion in property tax revenue for the City and County of San Francisco. Property tax revenue represents over one-third of the City's General Fund which pays for crucial services ranging from public safety, affordable housing, and education to neighborhood improvements and health and family support services.

Our success is grounded by our Office's investment in our four strategic pillars: people, systems, services, and engagement. We prioritize a climate and culture where belonging and inclusion are advanced, staff can be their authentic selves and pursue pathways for career growth, and diverse constituencies are equitably supported with a meaningful and seamless experience through care in customer service and efficient technology systems. In line with these values, we are taking significant steps to modernize our operations, including leading a cross-departmental effort to replace the legacy property assessment system currently used to manage the City’s hundreds of billions of dollars in assessed property value. This modernization work will provide for increased security and service as well as greater integration with other City systems utilized by the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector and the City Controller’s Office.

We are committed to developing an organization that works to address the pervasive and persistent inequities resulting from systemic racism in our society. This extends to our external engagements where our Office seeks to increase access to resources across multiple constituencies by hosting presentations, workshops, attending events, tabling at resource fairs, and more to ensure that all San Franciscans know what our office can do for them.

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder currently has a full-time vacancy in class 4213 Office Assistant. This is the entry-level class of the Assessor-Recorder support series. Incumbents initially work under immediate supervision to perform routine office support and customer service duties while learning the specialized office policies and procedures that are unique to the Assessor-Recorder's Office. Duties emphasize routine customer service activities pertaining to appraisal services, document processing and various support services. As experience is gained, incumbents learn to perform duties with greater independence within established guidelines.      

Other essential duties may include, but are not limited to:

1. Performs a limited range of routine but specialized office support and customer service duties in the Assessor-Recorder’s Office; learns to receive, files and processes deeds, reconveyances, releases of liens, judgments, marriage certificates and various legal and other documents; performs basic screening and review of documents for accuracy and completeness; refers customers to other Office staff and/or outside agencies as required.
2. Learns to provide factual and procedural information regarding assessment and recording laws, regulations, policies and procedures in person, by mail or over the phone to a wide range of individuals including attorneys, government agencies and the public; provides basic instructions to customers regarding the use of specialized equipment to search for records and documents.
3. Assists professional appraisal staff by compiling, organizing and distributing assessment and/or appraisal-related documents and information; tabulates data and information; maintains statistical reports.
4. Operates personal computers, computer terminals and other equipment to research databases, documents and records and locate requested information; provides and/or sends copies of requested documents according to Office policies and procedures.
5. Computes and receives payments for routine service fees; issues receipts.
6. Performs routine data entry to correct, verify, update, and maintain databases, including the tax assessment roll; enters data into fields, corrects minor errors and researches/retrieves data and statistics.
7. Types and prepares various items such as letters and forms; proofreads and checks typed materials for accuracy, completeness and compliance with well-defined policies and procedures.
8. Receives, opens, stamps and distributes mail; tabulates, records and processes fees received.
9. Researches, retrieves, updates and tracks information in automated systems; checks for duplicate accounts and other data errors.
10. Establishes, maintains and purges files and records according to well defined parameters; may assist with microfilming, micro-imaging, duplicating and reproducing records; maintains tickle files and follows up on matters as needed.
11. Performs other general office administrative duties; attends meetings and trainings; may serve on committees and task forces.
12. May include additional duties as assigned.

These minimum qualifications establish the education, training, experience, special skills and/or license(s) which are required for employment in the classification. Please note, additional qualifications (i.e., special conditions) may apply to a particular position and will be stated on the exam/job announcement.

Experience:

Two (2) years of progressively responsible office support experience that required the use of data management systems, researching documents, and extensive contact with the public. At least one (1) year of the experience should have been at a level comparable to the class of Clerk in the City/County of San Francisco.

Substitution:

1) Completion of coursework from an accredited college or university may substitute for the above-required experience on a year-for-year basis, where thirty (30) semester or forty-five

(45) quarter units is equivalent to one (1) year; OR 2) Completion of a clerical training program (at least two-hundred forty (240) hours) may substitute for six (6) months of the above-required experience.

Desirable Qualifications:

The stated desirable qualifications may be considered at the end of the selection process when candidates are referred for hiring.

• Ability to maintain strong attention to detail
• Experience in handling sales transactions

Verification of Education and Experience:

Every application is reviewed to ensure that you meet the minimum qualifications as listed in the job ad. Review SF Careers Employment Applications for considerations taken when reviewing applications. 

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://careers.sf.gov/knowledge/experience-education/.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

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 or disqualification.

Selection Procedures:
After application submission, candidates deemed qualified must complete all subsequent steps to advance in this selection process, which includes the following:

• Written Multiple-Choice Examination - (Weight: 100%)

Candidates who meet minimum qualifications will be invited to participate in a written, multiple-choice examination, designed to measure their relative knowledge, skills and abilities in job-related areas.

The multiple-choice examination content may include but not be limited to:

Ability to learn and adapt to changing rules, regulations, policies, and procedures including office-specific software; Skill to perform detailed and accurate office work as a member of a team and independently with moderate supervision; Ability to provide courteous and effective customer service to a wide variety of people; Ability to organize work and perform multiple activities to complete assignments on time; Ability to explain and apply policies, procedures, forms, and concepts; Skill of basic arithmetic computation; Ability to follow written and oral instructions; Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships; Skill to operate standard office equipment; Skill of basic to intermediate level Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and/or PowerPoint; Knowledge of correct English usage including grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and, Ability to communicate effectively in person, on the phone, or in writing.

This computer-administered test can be taken at home or at a time and location of one’s convenience, but only within the time period specified on the test notification. Candidates must have access to a computer and reliable internet connection to participate in this exam. The hiring department may administer additional position-specific selection procedures to make final hiring decisions.

Candidate scores on this exam may also be applied to other announcements involving other job titles, when directed by the Human Resources Director.

Date(s) of Examination: Those applicants meeting the minimum qualifications will be notified of the exact date, time, and the location to report to the examination.

Note: A passing score on the Written Multiple-Choice Examination must be achieved in order to be placed on the Eligible List.

Additional Information

Eligible List/Score Report:

A confidential eligible list of applicant names that have passed the civil service examination process will be created, and used for certification purposes only. An examination score report will be established, so applicants can view the ranks, final scores and number of eligible candidates. Applicant information, including names of applicants on the eligible list, shall not be made public unless required by law. However, an eligible list shall be made available for public inspection, upon request, once the eligible list is exhausted or expired and referrals resolved. The eligible list/score report resulting from this civil service examination process is subject to change after adoption (e.g., as a result of appeals), as directed by the Human Resources Director or the Civil Service Commission.

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be of six (6) months, and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director.

To find Departments which use this classification, please see the city’s Position Counts by Job Codes and Departments.

Certification: The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be Rule of Three (3) (currently pending union’s approval on rule expansion). The hiring department may administer additional position-specific selection procedures prior to making final hiring decisions.

Terms of Announcement and Appeal Rights

Applicants must be guided solely by the provisions of this announcement, including requirements, time periods and other particulars, except when superseded by federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations. [Note: The correction of clerical errors in an announcement may be posted on the Department of Human Resources website at https://careers.sf.gov/.]

The terms of this announcement may be appealed under Civil Service Rule 110.4.  Such appeals must be submitted in writing to the Department of Human Resources, 1 S Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94103-5413 by close of business on the 5th business day following the issuance date of this examination announcement. Information concerning other Civil Service Commission Rules involving announcements, applications and examination policies, including applicant appeal rights, can be found on the Civil Service Commission website at https://sf.gov/departments/civil-service-commission.

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

Where to Apply

All job applications for the City and County of San Francisco must be submitted through our online portal. Please visit https://careers.sf.gov/ to begin your application process.  

Computers are available for the public (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday) to file online applications in the lobby of the Dept. of Human Resources at 1 South Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor and at the City Career Center at City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 110. 

Ensure your application information is accurate, as changes may not be possible after submission. Your first and last name must match your legal ID for verification, and preferred names can be included in parentheses. Use your personal email address, not a shared or work email, to avoid unfixable issues. 

Applicants will receive a confirmation email from [email protected] 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 recruitment analyst, Stella Choi at [email protected]. Recruitment ID: 158925

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

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.