clerk

attorney

administrative assistant

technician

assistant

Maricopa County

DO NOT APPLY HERE unless you enjoy being micromanaged, paid a very low salary, a toxic-negative-cut-throat work environment, no perks whatsoever i.e., flex schedules, comp-time for all the overtime everyone works for free, no training/travel unless you are in management or one of the favorites of management, evaluations are dismal if given at all and beware because you will never receive anything higher than a "meets job requirements" regardless of your efforts thus, hard work, dedication, and loyalty are not rewarded. 

There is extreme mistrust of ALL employees beginning with the "clocking-in" requirement for everyone except management, they on the other hand may come and go as they please, take long lunches, leave early, come in late etc., however, for those not in management you can expect to be reprimanded if you clock in one minute early or late, breaks are discouraged and it is written into policy "breaks are allowed at management's discretion" and if you do take one you are being watched and timed and can be reprimanded for taking a break due to "work constraints" which is always the case due to the chronic high turn over rate. 

This is not a family-friendly environment, they do not care if you need to take your sick child to the doctor or stay home with your sick child or other family member, they expect you to go to work regardless of circumstances however, management may take off as much time as they like and not just a day or two, they exercise special privileges and may take weeks off at a time while upper management turns a blind eye. The daily office environment is excruciatingly long, difficult, and painful due to the mountain of work employees are constantly underneath, you must work twice as hard on a constant basis due to the chronic under-staffing issue.  

Also, you will never be recognized, promoted or given a raise that will actually make a difference (it's never anything significant) and there are no bonuses for anyone (those funds are reserved for Team Management, who are rewarded privately/confidentially). Although this is a "government office" they can and often do fire people at will which explains their ridiculous probation policy.  If you find another position within the County and it's considered a "promotion" you must serve another 12 months of probation (this way it gives them another opportunity to fire you for ANY reason).  From all appearances, management seems to thrive on the witch hunt of finding reasons to terminate and it's not handled professionally.  There is no discretion exercised whatsoever, the employee is monitored closely and not allowed to take anything except their clothes/jacket, wallet/purse then the employee is escorted from the office in front of peers, colleagues, visitors and the public for all to see like a public spectacle.

I would advise anyone to run as fast and as far away as they can possibly get from this agency.  It's a big mistake to work here and one final word, if you are duped into accepting a job here and figure all of this out later, you can forget about using them for a reference, the supervisor's/manager's will say whatever they feel like saying about you (legally they aren't supposed to but they do anyway) as a last revenge tactic for the employee being smart enough or tired enough of the abuse to find employment elsewhere.  Find employment at a municipality or better yet with the federal government where there is livable salaries and equal pay regardless of gender or race, flexible schedules i.e., 4-10's etc., training/travel opportunities for all employees, higher evaluation ratings that include time-off awards and bonuses given to ALL employees!  These things do exist in other government agencies unfortunately however, they DO NOT exist at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office unless of course you are part of Team Management. 

Happy Federal Employee

DO NOT APPLY HERE unless you enjoy being micromanaged, low salary, a toxic-negative cut-throat work environment, no perks i.e., flex schedules, comp time earned, no training/travel unless you are in management or one of the favorites of management, evaluations are dismal if given at all and beware because you will never receive anything higher than a "meets job requirements" regardless of your efforts thus, hard work, dedication, and loyalty are not rewarded. There is extreme mistrust of ALL employees beginning with the "clocking-in" requirement for everyone except management, they on the other hand may come and go as they please, take long lunches, leave early, come in late etc., however, for those not in management you can expect to be reprimanded if you clock in one minute early or late, breaks are discouraged and it is written into policy "breaks are allowed at management's discretion" and if you do take one you are being watched and timed and can be reprimanded for taking a break due to "work constraints" which is always the case due to the chronic high turn over rate. 

This is not a family-friendly environment, they do not care if you need to take your sick child to the doctor or stay home with your sick child or other family member, they expect you to go to work regardless of circumstances however, management may take off as much time as they like and not just a day or two, they exercise special privileges and may take weeks off at a time while upper management turns a blind eye. The daily office environment is excruciatingly long, difficult, and painful due to the mountain of work employees are constantly underneath, you must work twice as hard on a constant basis due to the chronic under-staffing issue.   Also, you will never be recognized, promoted or given a raise that will actually make much of a difference (it's never anything significant) and there are no bonuses for anyone, those funds are reserved for Team Management, who are rewarded privately/confidentially.  Although this is a "government office" they can and often do fire people at will which explains their probation policy.  If you find another position within the County and it's considered a "promotion" you must serve another 12 months of probation.  From all appearances they seem to thrive on the witch hunt of finding reasons to terminate and it's rarely handled professionally, there is no discretion exercised whatsoever, the employee is monitored closely and not allowed to take anything except their clothes, wallet/purse then the employee is escorted from the office in front of peers, colleagues, visitors/the public etc. 

I would advise anyone to run the other way, find employment at a municipality or better yet with the federal government where there is much better and equal pay, flexible schedules, training/travel for all employees, higher evaluation ratings that include time-off awards and bonuses given to all employees for exceeding job requirements, these things do exist in other government agencies unfortunately, they DO NOT exist at the Maricopa County Attorney's Office unless of course you are part of Team Management. 

Happy Federal Employee

There is a director that oversees different locations and is a complete nightmare. She is the reason I will not return as I fear I would be reassigned into one of her areas. She took away perks that made the long commute tolerable. No more working remote, no more flexing schedules, no more 3 day weekends. Zero work/life balance. Expected to keep phone on you AND ANSWER 24/7. Even at 2am. Even on weekends. Even at the movies. Director is VERY out of touch with reality. Does not care about employees' happiness/well-being. Everyone assumes clients are the downside and they're not-it's all upper management and micro managing that ruins it for a lot of people. Supervisors are very hit or miss and so are co-workers. I had an amazing team unit and supervisor; however, the one director made it unbearable. Very high turnover rate at those locations.  

In training they say they will place you close to home, but for many, that is not the case so prepare for the furthest location and a long commute.  You do not find out your location until the last day of training. You will have to experience pepper spray during training. You will have to pass and complete defense tactics training. You will have to attend and pass state training. County training is about two months long and state training is two weeks long.  There is a test at state training. If you do not pass, you are allowed one test retake.

On the plus side, the work is VERY rewarding. You should only apply if you are truly serious and dedicated to helping and guiding others turn their lives around.  If you think criminals are scum, this is not the job for you. Salary is very high, excellent training department, and there is room for growth within the county. This is a very fast paced and chaotic work environment. There are also very high case loads (averaging 90 clients per officer when I left at the end of 2017).

"Typical" week (there are no typical weeks lol each day is different) as a PO is office day (normally the longest day of the week-about 10 hours) where clients come into the office to meet.  You should be spending 20-30 minutes with each client. You typically have 3 office days a month and one makeup day.  Another day of the week is for field work.  You and a partner go out and visit clients at home. This is also normally a longer day.  You need to see high risk clients one a month, regular clients once every 3 months, and low risk clients once every six months at home.  The other three days of the week are catching up on notes and reports.  It can be stressful managing everything because some weeks you are just hit with everything at once.  If clients are non-compliant=report. If a client is arrested for a new crime=report. If they're not paying restitution=report. If their probation is expiring=report. Every interaction needs to be dictated in a note in the computer system. Sometimes you will have to participate in house searches.

Safety is taken seriously, and if you ever feel unsafe, you have the right to leave the property. You have the choice if you want to be armed. You have partner backup and radio backup.  I never felt like I was truly in danger, but rare cases do happen.

This review is aimed specifically at the libraries.

Quite simply: Maricopa County is a lousy place to be a librarian.

1) You have zero creative control. Only upper-level management (who don't work at the actual libraries) order books. You don't get to create posters or advertisements for programming. Your input on policies is absolutely meaningless. You are a cog... and the machine is vast.

2) Management is horrendous. It is a massive bureaucracy bleeding the taxpayers of this wasteland they call greater Phoenix dry, and is utterly disconnected from the realities of library work "in the trenches." Leadership within the specific libraries is far more concerned with rigorous enforcement of ridiculous rules than they are actual customer service (or a common-sense approach to HR). Employees are required to set (and then meet) three "personal goals" for improvement per year. Closed-door sit-downs are common; much time is wasted on needless posturing by mid-level managers. Oh, and cliquish culture dominates - if you didn't like grousing, vapid clusters of whispering girls in middle school, this probably isn't your cup of tea.

On a macro scale, the director and assistant director of the libraries are rarely (if ever) seen - I know people who have been working in the system for over a year and have never met either. How can a person claim to be a "library director" if they don't even know the MLS librarians (let alone the library assistants) working under them?

3) Hours are bad. It's an 8-5 schedule (many libraries elsewhere work 9-5), and several locations are open 7 days a week. There are very few holidays (you get only a single day off for Christmas). Staff are expected to work one night and one weekend day per week. Prepare to kiss your social life goodbye.

4) The libraries don't use Dewey Decimal - they dropped it in favor of some screwy by-subject system that winds up doing stupid things to shelving (such as depositing biographies across the entire expanse of adult nonfiction). Moreover, for libraries that tend to serve very, VERY heavily post-retirement populations, most of whom only know Dewey (since they moved here from other places to die in this cauldron of fire), the choice is both bizarre and infuriating. You are CONSTANTLY having to go off-desk to re-educate people on how to find books. 

Do yourself a favor and find a job elsewhere. If you like Arizona, move to Flagstaff. If you're absolutely dead-set on the desert, try Tuscon or Prescott. Avoid this place like the plague.

I started as a Judicial Clerk Associate in the Justice Courts where I worked for a little over 2 years then moved on to Courtroom Clerk where I've been there for close to 3 yrs now. Lots of job security but I can't afford to move out of my parents' house.  Lots of paid time off granted, but no raises, no upward mobility. 

JUDICIAL CLERK (JUSTICE COURTS)
*High volume and busy from morning till end of the day; never boring; get to wear a lot of hats and see a lot of different case types
*Very low paying (usually start around $13 per hour)
*No raises / have to promote to get pay increase and there are no promotion offers regularly made - maybe 1 position once a year - maybe.
*Very good work/life balance - lots of vacation time offered and granted when asked to utilize it
*Family oriented environment / lots of pot-lucks and holiday parties
*Proud to do public service work
*Co-workers unsophisticated, uneducated and get pretty ridiculous if you talk about your plans for law school or the like; I wouldn't leak that information to anyone but the judges if I had to do that again
*Learn laws about traffic, small claims, evictions, and order of protection 

COURTROOM CLERK 
*Co-workers more sophisticated, many have degrees
*Little room for socialization so it gets lonely
*Good work-life balance; lots of vacation/time off always granted
*Very challenging in the beginning but is like second nature once you've been there about a year and starts to get pretty boring because you only type the minutes. That's it.
*Lots of self-management required here; little supervision
*Great job if going to school at night (after the first year)
*ZERO upward mobility; raises granted annually but are abysmally low so you barely see a difference

MARICOPA COUNTY (OVERALL)
Lots of jobs are always available within the county and they always encourage growth and exploring other types of positions within the county - just doesn't pay enough unless you're in a management position (or a special trade ie; psychologist, web developer) - and management usually takes around a decade to get into (from what I've seen at my office) because management is usually hired within and according to seniority so you'll likely be waiting in line for a while before its your turn to be the boss.

I had amazing coworkers but I would never work for Maricopa County again. This organization is extremely top heavy. Plenty of management making great money not enough workers. As a worker you don’t make much for the amount of work they expect from you. I worked during a time when they implemented a new system to use- poorly I might add- in addition to all the other systems we use. It was a major struggle to use a system that was not user friendly, didn’t work as it should, then have to put in a help ticket and wait for someone to respond just to help you figure out how to move forward. There was no in person training done, and there was never a person on site to troubleshoot or assist us. We were left with our regular job of case management of 60, entering all info into an existing system then struggling to find time to enter duplicate info into a new system that doesn’t work. Management for workforce development does not care about the little man at the bottom actually doing the work. No one asks for our input, nor do they take suggestions. They seem to only care about numbers and you getting things done to make them look good. My direct supervisor was amazing but he was treated equally as bad. Keep in mind, I have worked in this field for 10 years in another state. I’m not a newbie, I’m familiar with how well local government works and doesn’t work. I’m not a complainer and expect hiccups and issues to arise however, I will say in my almost 30 years of work experience in life, this is the worst place I have ever worked. Not because of the job itself but because of the upper level management, limited pay, unwillingness to make positive changes or take suggestions from the individuals doing the actual work, and because of how top heavy the organization is not only with the number of upper level management but their pay as well. It’s no wonder they can’t pay normal employees well, upper level management are the ones who make and take all the pay. So unless you plan to move up -which is difficult- don’t expect to make enough to even survive in the state of Arizona.

The finance manager has no kind of financial degree and a few years of financial experience. She does not have ANY managerial experience, but I guess that is what you get when you can't hire anyone that is qualified after posting the job 3 times. They expect the accountants to have a business degree as a minimum to qualify for an interview, but yet their supervisor does not need one? Not even the director over finance has any sort of business degree. The manager is insecure and takes no responsibility for anything and is always blaming everyone else for her mistakes. They allow her to continually disrespect staff and have yet to train her on how to communicate like an adult. People that have stayed are there due to retirement time left, for the most part finance cannot keep a solid crew for more than 1 year. The manager does not know how to handle the accountants position and can barely handle her own because she is too busy blaming people for things she did and assuming everyone does not know what they are doing, even though they may have been doing it longer than she has.
The finance manager only offered staff the ability to telecommute after the office was shut down for a day. Since no one was approved to telecommute, it was a free paid day off. She thought she could send us home with work, even though only 2 out of 5 staff members had laptops. We had asked many times before this to be allowed to telecommute, and she said only executive staff can do that, which was a lie. Now staff can get one day a month to telecommute.

My typical day of work consists of a routine schedule of stops that I need to make. In the summertime complaints come through our complaint department and are shuffled to the appropriate person. This adds some variation to my days.
I have learned from this job and past employment how to manage my time to complete the needed tasks that are assigned to me. I have learned to basically manage myself.
The management is a 'good ole boy' system that doesn't reward the lower levels of employment. They look out only for themselves and are willing to step on anyone to get what they want. There is a real feeling of a "me" attitude. 
I enjoy my co-workers. They are people that I can call more than just co-workers, but friends. 
The hardest part of my job is the fact that there doesn't seem to be any reward to those of us that work hard to represent the county in a good light. The county has gone almost 7 years without any form of compensation increase for the lower levels of employment, while some in upper management have seen annual increases in their pay of 20%.
The most enjoyable part of my job is the fact that I enjoy offering the public a sense of protection from certain diseases and nuisances. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when a citizen of the county tells me a simple, "Thank you." 
My overall review of Maricopa County is that they have a great benefits package and retirement plan. There is no real room for advancement where college education can be replaced by real world experience. 

The type of work itself is great. If you like a fast paced environment, working alongside court officials and assisting customers, this is a good opportunity, however the high turnovers should have been a red flag. Some Supervisors play favoritism and easily create a hostile environment within their departments. I noticed lack of leadership from Supervisors and retaliation when you speak up about your concerns. Overworked and understaffed. Responsibilities include doing multiple jobs for 1 paycheck. Met some really nice people to work around, but also met quite a few that you'd like to avoid if you were introduced to them outside of the workplace. They do not like to take responsibility for their own negativity and poor workmanship. Training needs help as it is very minimal. Don't be a advocate for change, as they appear to be pretty content on how things operate as is, even if it's not working for the better good. Lack of teamwork, turns it into a stressful work environment. No opportunity for growth and advancement unless you're someone's favorite, no matter how good of a worker you are. Overall, unfair treatment of some employees who work hard to get the job done.  Some days you leave work feeling unappreciated. The only plus is some of the benefits they offer that of course you pay into. I loved working for the County, the problems are some of the people they hire that don't really like doing their job effectively which effects us all in working in a productive environment. 

ZERO communication between departments even when it affects you. Leadership is so focused on how they can get the rest of the team in trouble vs fixing the real issue. Turn over is the highest I’ve ever seen at any job before- by the time I learn their names they quit. HR is a joke and will get you in trouble just for speaking up about what’s right. They also do not pay out ANY of your PTO if you are not employed for 12 months straight. They demand you perform at a certain level even when you are at 50% staffing, and discipline you if you get overtime. On top of being short staffed, they will add MORE to your daily responsibilities. If you were at AZ Humane and did not like the leadership there- NEWS FLASH! Those same leaders are the ones now in charge at Animal Control and running it to the ground. Long timers (I’m talking 10 plus years working at Animal Control) are leaving suddenly…. Wonder why! They advertise a large pay range but will ONLY pay you at the bottom, then take over 12% of each paycheck. Oh and if you have to work a holiday and the hours are adjusted guess what? You will be FORCED to use your PTO to make up the difference (so if you normally work four 10s but a holiday county adjusts your hours to work to 8, you have to use your own PTO for those 2 hours). It’s a joke. The worst place I have ever worked at in my life. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Clerk 64 salaries reported	$23.81 per hour
Attorney 41 salaries reported	$130,674 per year
Administrative assistant 6 salaries reported	$25.54 per hour
Technician 50 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Assistant 21 salaries reported	$21.61 per hour

Working at Maricopa County: Company Overview and Reviews

Maricopa County

Maricopa County Ratings

Popular jobs at Maricopa County

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected