The San Diego County Sheriff's Office recognizes not only the importance of hiring talent, but also of retaining talent — by giving people a reason to stay and continue their life-long careers in the organization. Towards that goal, the Sheriff's Office creates a culture where employees can seek guidance and advice on topics related to career development, personal growth, and leadership skills training. We also offer programs meeting a variety of needs, like mentorship programs, tuition reimbursement, and more.

Sheriff's Mentorship Programs

The Sheriff's Office Mentorship Programs are available to all employees, both sworn and professional. Currently, the Sheriff's Office offers three types of mentorship opportunities, each developed to provide employees a mentoring experience. They are all voluntary, but highly encouraged.

Mentorship Opportunities

• Formal Mentoring Program is a voluntary leadership program designed for Sheriff's employees, both sworn and professional, seeking professional growth through advice, encouragement, new skills, and institutional knowledge to improve performance. Mentees should choose mentors they respect and trust, to help guide them towards successful, rewarding, and productive careers. An effective mentor generally outranks the mentee by at least one rank or more, so they can share experiences gleaned from assignments and/or ranks the mentee aspires to attain. This is an eight (8) month program. Sworn applicants must have successfully completed required training specific to their assignment prior to applying.
  
  
• Mentoring Mixer (Speed Mentoring) is a series of short, focused interactions between a mentee and a variety of mentors.  It's an opportunity for mentees to ask questions that range from practical advice related to specific needs to more philosophical questions about their career. This program is offered through an open invitation to all employees, based on availability.
  
  
• Mentorship Lottery is an opportunity for those seeking to promote into leadership positions of greater responsibility. This program is open to all staff with two (2) years of supervisory experience and applications are open in November and May. Upper command staff including the Sheriff, Undersheriff and select executives will serve as mentors.

Tuition Reimbursement

The tuition reimbursement program allows for tuition assistance or reimbursement for employees completing courses at accredited colleges and universities, where the coursework relates to the employee's current role or to a role where they may become eligible for promotion.

Additionally, because Sheriff employees are County of San Diego employees, they can also benefit from the various educational partnerships the County has with over ten colleges and universities, many of which offer tuition discounts to County employees between 10%-20%.

For instance, Sheriff/County employees can get the special benefit of saving thousands on an education acquired at the University of Phoenix — for every 5 courses that are completed, 1 course is free.

Already a County of San Diego employee? For more information on tuition reimbursement, click here.

Learning Management System

As County employees, Sheriff employees also have access to the many Professional Development programs offered by the County. Live webinars and online training are regularly offered in a variety of topics, from project management skills to work life balance, from writing labs to Adobe applications.

For instance, if you want to learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), you can sign up to attend a class.

Other Opportunities for Growth

Aside from the programs mentioned above, there are other ways a Sheriff employee can develop professionally. Sworn employees can speak with the Career Path Sergeant, and civilian employees can speak with their Departmental Human Resources Officer (DHRO), to find out how to achieve their dream role in the Department.

The Personnel department is happy to advise any employee motivated to do more.