Residence Requirements:

RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS: CANDIDATES MUST HAVE BEEN LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY OR AN ERIE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT* FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE WRITTEN TEST AND MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY OR AN ERIE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT* AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT. Preference may be given to successful candidates who have been residents of the municipality in which the appointment is to be made for one month preceding the date of the certification of the eligible list and who are residents of the municipality at the time of appointment. Non-residents may be required to become a resident of the appointing municipality if local law so states. * Candidates who reside in a school district which, for civil service purposes is administered by the Erie County Personnel Commissioner, but who are not legal residents of Erie County may apply for examination. However they will be certified for appointment only in the school district in which they are legal residents.

A promotion examination will be held at the same time as this examination. The list resulting from the promotion examination will be used first but appointments from this open competitive examination are anticipated. Use of the list may be suspended after it is one year old for any position which it is practical to fill through a new promotion examination.

The eligible list resulting from this examination will supersede Eligible List #41-349, held on August 30, 2014.

The eligible list resulting from this examination will also be used to fill present and future vacancies in Erie County Departments, Towns, Villages, School Districts and Special Districts. In each case, certification may be limited to legal residents of the jurisdiction in which the vacancy exists. The salary range for Erie County Departments is $26,749 - $32,983 annually. Salaries vary among the other jurisdictions.

Examples of Duties:

A Senior Clerk Typist types accounting and financial statements, payrolls, statistical tabulations and data, form letters, memoranda, vouchers, reports, requisitions and other materials;

Reviews accounts, reports and other documents for completeness, accuracy and conformity with established procedures;
Indexes and files documents and correspondence;
Searches, locates, and records papers and documents;
Assembles a variety of data from office records for incorporation into various reports;
Prepares payrolls and maintains time cards;
Composes and types routine correspondence;
Assists in proofreading prepared documents;
Answers telephone, email or written correspondences, gives routine information to the public and makes appointments for superior;
Operates an adding machine, calculator or other office machines;
Ability to prepare and revise excel spreadsheets;
General database processing and data entry;
Prepare mail merges, coordinate e-mail blasts and e-newsletters to send out;
Transcribes material from Dictaphone cylinders and belts;
Collects and maintains records of fees collected by department;
Operates an alpha-numeric keyboard to transcribe data directly to a computer;
Maintains records of petty cash fund;
Utilizes enhanced computer systems and equipment in the completion of assigned clerical tasks.

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Candidates must meet the following requirements on or before the date of the written test: Graduation from a standard senior high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma, including or supplemented by a course in typing, and one year of office clerical experience.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: Under current New York State Law, candidates seeking employment with school districts in New York State will be required to undergo fingerprinting and a criminal history background check prior to appointment. A processing fee may be required.

Notes:

NOTES: 1. Completion of a post high school secretarial course, which included typing and had a duration of at least one school year, may be substituted for the required experience. Additional office clerical experience which included typing, may be substituted for the required experience. Additional office clerical experience which included typing, beyond the one year requirement, may be substituted for high school on a year for year basis; 2. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting the experience requirements.

The New York State Department of Civil Service is making a copy of A Guide to the Written Test for the Senior Stenographer/Senior Typist Series available on its web site at www.cs.state.ny.us/testing/localtestguides.cfm.  In addition, a copy of this test guide can also be obtained at our local civil service office.  You may obtain a copy by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope (size required to accommodate the guide – manila 10” x 13”) to the Erie County Personnel Department, 95 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY  14202 or by picking one up in person at Room 604.

Subjects of Examination:

SUBJECT OF EXAMINATION:  The written test is designed to test for knowledge, skills, and/or abilities in such areas as:

1.        SPELLING – These questions test for the ability to spell words that are used in written business communications.

2.        GRAMMAR, USAGE, PUNCTUATION – The grammar and usage questions test for the ability to apply the basic rules of grammar and usage.  The punctuation questions test for a knowledge of the correct placement of punctuation marks in sentences.

3.        KEYBOARDING PRACTICES – These questions test for a knowledge of preferred practices in such areas as letter format, capitalization, hyphenation, plurals, possessives, word division, word and figure style for numbers, and common proofreading marks.  In addition, you will be given a passage to proofread and asked questions about how to correct the errors in the passage.

4.        OFFICE RECORD KEEPING – These questions evaluate your ability to perform common office record keeping tasks.  The test consists of two or more “sets” of questions, each set concerning a different problem.  Typical record keeping problems might involve the organization or collation of data from several sources; scheduling; maintaining a record system using running balances; or completion of a table summarizing data using totals, subtotals, averages and percents.

5.        OFFICE PRACTICES – These questions test for a knowledge of generally agreed-upon practices governing the handling of situations which stenographers, typists, and secretaries encounter in their work, as well as a knowledge of efficient and effective methods used to accomplish office tasks.  The questions will cover such topics as planning work flow; setting priorities; dealing effectively with staff, visitors, and callers; filing and retrieving information; safeguarding confidentiality; using office equipment; and making procedural decisions and recommendations which contribute to a well-managed office.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES:  Unless otherwise noted, candidates are permitted to use quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculators. Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", “Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited.  You may not bring books or other reference materials.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $15.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.