What is the hiring process like at UCLA Health?

Hiring process was pretty quick, great benefits

The commute was the only downside

Good pay and benefits. Nice Campus. some very kind Co-workers. Great Staff Counseling Center.

my boss would gaslight me, question my degree and overall bully me into feeling unsafe, scapegoat me, insult me in front of other people. but sometimes be nice to me only to insult me the next day.... Also they would call me at 5 am just to yell at me. They would also just insult me about things unrelated to the job and clearly said stuff to me because I'm a young asian female and not a old white person. I started going to counseling about 1 month in (in retrospect some of the bullying started during the interview process) and the therapist said that my boss was toxic and that I was in an "unsafe work environment" but I had rent to pay and just signed a 1 year lease and so I stayed, hoping it would get better. It did not. After about 7ish months I felt such high burnout, that I feared going to work and started avoiding my job and eventually had to leave. I tried to explain this to HR (many times in multiple meetings and emails) and they did nothing.

Great benefits 24 hour schedule Great union

Did not value work / life balance Had to constantly fight with management to follow the law. The supervisors and managers would consistently break the law such as proper breaks and UCLA would adhere to the law but it is a lengthy process to complain about the issue before UCLA learns they are breaking certain laws / codes. You arent allowed to go home if the person reporting to work shows up late even if they are 5/6+ hours late. UCLA does not allow upward movement. If a department is having a hard time recruiting employees or they need you in that role it is highly discouraged to apply to another department and when you do other departments ask if the manager needs you and if they say yes then you will not be hired for the new role.

The pay for this type of operation is above average and there is union protection.

If you're considering joining the Security division think carefully. My experience as a full-time security dispatcher was, to put it mildly, awful. There are few redeeming qualities of an otherwise toxic and mismanaged workplace. The dispatch manager, let's call her "Smary", was one of the least competent leaders I’ve encountered in my professional career. Her solution to chronic understaffing and daily call-offs was to place the burden squarely the newest member of the team. Despite working 50-hour weeks to fill in gaps, I was told I wasn’t “pulling my weight.” This led me to increasing my hours to a grueling 70 hours per week for two months straight—at the expense of my health and well-being. Not once did management step in to address the root cause of the issue: employees exploiting the call-off system without accountability. The work environment was equally dismal. There was significant racial tension among staff that stemmed from a prior incident where a dispatcher used a racial slur in the presence of a Black coworker. The fallout was palpable, with strained relationships and awkward silences during shifts. Management was either oblivious or indifferent to these issues, as no steps were taken to mediate the situation. The operational dysfunction didn’t end there. There was no proper training program in place. New hires were left to learn on the fly from coworkers who often provided outdated or incorrect information. To make matters worse, the dispatch center lacked a clear structure for dividing tasks. Instead of separating phone and radio duties to ensure efficiency, every dispatcher handled calls and radios simultaneously. This chaotic approach led to duplicate efforts and unanswered transmissions, which could have had serious consequences. When I brought this up with "Smary", her response was dismissive: “We do things differently here.” Not “correctly”—just differently. For anyone with experience, skills, or even basic common sense, I strongly advise staying away from this poorly managed operation. The workplace culture is toxic, the management is incompetent, and the overall structure is dysfunctional. Unless significant changes are made—such as hiring qualified managers who can effectively lead a large operation and holding employees accountable for chronic call-offs—this workplace will continue to drag down anyone who steps through its doors. In short: if you value your sanity, look elsewhere.