Job Description

The Department of Public Health prioritizes equitable and inclusive access to quality healthcare for its community and values the importance of diversity in its workforce. All employees at the Department of Public Health work to advance equity, inclusion, and diversity with a specific lens and focus on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexuality, disability, and immigration status. 

• Application Opening –  Friday, January 9, 2026
• Application Deadline : Application filing will close on or after Friday, January 16, 2026
• Salary : $68,588-$83,304Annually
• Appointment Type :  Permanent Civil Service
• Recruitment ID : CBT-2736- H00185

The Mission of the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) is to protect and promote the health of all San Franciscans. SFDPH strives to achieve its mission through the work of multiple divisions - the San Francisco Health Network, Population Health, Behavioral Health Services, and Administration. The San Francisco Health Network is the City’s only complete system of care and has locations throughout the City, including Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, and over 15 primary care health centers. The Population Health Division (PHD) provides core public health services for the City and County of San Francisco: health protection, health promotion, disease and injury prevention, and disaster preparedness and response. Behavioral Health Services operates in conjunction with SFHN and provides a range of mental health and substance use treatment services.

Job Description

The 2736 Porter  performs a variety of routine manual tasks, including cleaning floors, hallways, stairs, walls, furniture, and equipment in a large institution; transporting food, utensils, equipment, and supplies between locations; and performing related duties as required.

Essential Duties:

• Sweeps and wet-mops the floors in halls, wards, laboratories, treatment rooms, stairways and other areas throughout an institution.
• Scrubs and waxes floors with the aid of electric scrubbing and buffing equipment.
• Empties waste baskets into larger trash cans and takes same to incinerator; takes wet garbage to garbage room.
• Washes and cleans face bowls, commodes, bath tubs and other bathroom fixtures and replenishes paper towels, toilet tissue, soap, light bulbs, etc., as needed.
• Dusts, cleans and washes all furniture, equipment, walls and woodwork throughout an institution.
• Gathers soiled linen on the various assigned wards and loads into the laundry chute; sterilizes mattresses, pillows, bed linens, etc.
• Transports food and utensils by pushing a food cart from the kitchen to the various wards and return to kitchen;
• Moves furniture, equipment and other items about an institution as required and may carry ice to various wards; assists in loading and unloading trucks; uncrates and assembles furniture and equipment.
• Upon the discharge of a patient, may be assigned to the complete discharge cleaning function which includes but is not limited to the dusting and cleaning of patient rooms, floors, walls, bathrooms, furniture and light fixtures, and the changing of the patients bed.
• May occasionally have very limited responsibility for the checking and storing of a small variety of supplies, such as dirty and clean linen, office supplies, printed forms, etc.
• May occasionally wash and clean window glass and electric fixtures from ladders or scaffolds from ground level or interior heights.
• As directed, may occasionally perform the duties of Porter Assistant Supervisor.
• Perform other duties as assigned. 

Qualifications

MINIMUM

QUALIFICATIONS

( Required ):

• Six (6) months (1040 hours) verifiable paid full-time custodial or janitorial experience at a commercial building (such as an office building, warehouse, retail or wholesale store), or non-profit agency or a commercial facility (such as a university, hospital stadium, auditorium, hotel/motel, etc.);

OR 

• Verification of completed or current enrollment in a custodial training course equivalent to the City College of San Francisco Custodial Training program at the time of application.*

  • * Candidates who are enrolled in a custodial training course at the time of application must submit verification of having completed the course (e.g., a copy of their certificate), prior to appointment. Candidates will remain under waiver until such time that verification is provided.

Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirement by the final filing date unless otherwise noted. 

One-year fulltime employment is equivalent to 2,000 hours (2,000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week).

Important Note:  Please make sure it is absolutely clear in your application exactly how you meet the minimum

qualifications

. Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. Please be aware that any misrepresentation of this information may disqualify you from this recruitment or future job opportunities. 

Additional Information

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

Multiple-Choice Examination (Weight: 100%)

Candidates that meet the minimum

qualifications

will be invited to participate in a multiple-choice examination designed to measure knowledge, skills and/or abilities in job related areas which may include but is not limited to the following: modern cleaning methods and materials; cleaning tools and equipment; their uses and upkeep; following oral and written instructions; and interpersonal ability .

Candidate Handbook : The Custodian and Porter Candidate Handbook provides information to help candidates prepare for the examination. Click  here to view the handbook.

Candidates must achieve a passing score on the written multiple-choice exam in order to continue in the selection process and will be placed on the confidential eligible list in rank order according to their final score. 

This is a standardized examination and, therefore, test questions and test answers are not available for public inspection or review.

Your written exam score will be "banked" for three years. During this three-year time period, you will not be required to re-take this test for another 2708 Custodian or 2736 Porter announcement. If another announcement is held within twelve months of the date of this examination, and it requires this written test, your score will be automatically applied to that announcement. However, after twelve months, you will have the option to either (a) apply your test score to the other announcement OR (b) re-take the test. Retesting is permitted no sooner than twelve months from the date of the examination and only in association with your eligibility for another announcement for which this test is used.

Please note that, should you re-test, your re-test score would become your official score since it is the most recent.

Additional selection processes may be conducted by the hiring department prior to making final hiring decisions.

Certification
The certification rule for the eligible list resulting from this examination will be the  Rule of the List Scores.

Eligible List/Score Report :
Once you pass the exam, you will be placed onto an eligible list and given a score and a rank. For more information, visit 

The duration of the eligible list resulting from this examination process will be 12 months and may be extended with the approval of the Human Resources Director.

How to apply:

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted online at  careers.sf.gov .

Our e-mail communications may come from more than one department so please make sure your email is set to accept messages from all of us at this  link .

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment. Please consider using a personal email address that you check regularly rather than a work or school account.

Applicants will receive a confirmation email 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.

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  .] 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  .

Additional information

regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco: 

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the analyst,  Elaine Adams at  elaine.adams@sfdph.org or (628) 271-6974 . 

We may use text messaging to communicate with you on the phone number provided in your application. The first message will ask you to opt in to text messaging.

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.

Job Tags

Permanent employment, Full time, Work experience placement, Work at office, Local area,

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