Salary:	$32,616 - $41,900 Annually
Opening Date:	March 16, 2017
Closing Date:	April 12, 2017
Application fee:	$20.00

*****AMENDMENT Issued March 22, 2017*****
Please see changes below under the following sections: EXAMPLES OF DUTIES and QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE FOR TAKING THE TEST.

Residence Requirements:

THIS EXAMINATION IS OPEN TO ALL QUALIFIED EMPLOYEES OF THE ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES. There are three anticipated vacancies at the Erie County Department of Social Services. The eligible list resulting from this examination will not supersede currently existing promotional eligible lists for this title, if any. The duration of all promotional eligible lists is four years from date of establishment unless otherwise indicated.

Examples of Duties:

An Assistant Special Investigator assists in the field of Social Services investigation;

Reviews cases for falsification and investigates to verify written documents and determines if there is overpayment of funds;

Prepares and computes budgets of cases to determine if there is overpayment of funds;

Helps locate clients that have left the area and obtains agreements of repayments in fraud cases;

May interview and assist clients in mortgaging their real property, filing for Veteran's benefits and life insurance;

May investigate and determine assets and resources available to clients;

May maintain cases of clients who need Social Services to pay their bills from Social Security, S.S.I., or other programs;

May identify and apply for benefits of children in custody of department;

May interview relatives and investigate into available assets of individuals who apply for County burial and coordinate process with vendor;

Establishes accounts and arranges repayment schedules, monitors and receives payments;

Assists in preparing civil recovery and fraud packages for collection or prosecution;

Serves summonses and subpoenas, conducts Fire Investigations and lost/stolen check investigations;

Searches indexes and files of the Clerks and Courts to determine and verify existence of property holdings and encumbrances;

Prepares deeds, mortgages and assignments as needed;

Conducts continuous investigations of resources for clients to detect any financial changes in status, as needed in estates or negligence claims, prepares assignment, as needed;

Contacts mortgagors to secure and verify mortgage data;

Performs investigations as required for all areas of Social Services;

May conduct field investigations as required;

ADD per AMENDMENT Issued March 22, 2017:

*****May investigate and resolve interstate and incarceration matches of public benefit programs;

*****Prepares written reports of fraud findings. 

Qualifications:

*****AMENDMENT Issued March 22, 2017*****

QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE FOR TAKING THE TEST: Candidates must be permanently employed in the competitive class and must be serving and have served continuously on a permanent or contingent permanent basis in the competitive class for 12 months immediately preceding the date of the written test in the position of Job Group VI and in addition must meet one of the following plus the special requirement:

A.) Completion of [DELETE: two (2) years of study] *60 semester credit hours at a regionally accredited or New York State registered two (2) or four (4) year college or university and [DELETE: two (2) years] *one (1) year of experience in a position involving the making of confidential inquiries and investigations in the field of insurance, financial resource, credit, public assistance eligibility, license tax, or personal investigations, or experience in interviewing and determining eligibility in public assistance programs; or:

B.) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and [DELETE: four (4)] *two (2) years of experience in a position involving the making of confidential inquiries and investigations in the field of insurance, financial resource, credit, public assistance eligibility, license tax, or personal investigations, or experience in interviewing and determining eligibility in public assistance programs; or:

C.) An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A) and (B).

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:
Eligibility for a New York State driver license at the time of application. Possession of the license and use of a private automobile required at time of appointment and throughout period of employment.

Notes:

NOTES: 1. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements. 2. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices. A grade of "D" or better is necessary for a course to be credited as successfully completed. If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

Notice to Candidates: Transcripts will now be accepted by the Department of Personnel ONLY at time of application.

All subsequent transcripts must be submitted at time of interview.

A Guide for the Written Test for Investigators is available at the New York State website:www.cs.ny.gov/testing/localtestguides.cfm . Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

Subjects of Examination:

Subjects of examination: A written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

1. Evaluating information and evidence

These questions test for the ability to evaluate and draw conclusions from information and evidence. Each question consists of a set of facts and a conclusion based on the facts. The candidate must decide if the conclusion is warranted by the facts.

2. Preparing written material

These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.

3. Understanding and interpreting written material

These questions test for the ability to understand and interpret written material. You will be presented with brief reading passages and will be asked questions about the passages. You should base your answers to the questions only on what is presented in the passages and not on what you may happen to know about the topic.

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.

INFORMATION FOR PROMOTION CANDIDATES

Unless otherwise indicated, the eligible list resulting from this examination will have a duration of four years and will not supersede existing promotional lists, if any.

RATINGS REQUIRED: Test is rated on a scale of 100 with a passing mark at 70. Test instructions may further divide the tests into parts and set minimum standards for each part.

Points will be added to scores of candidates who achieve a passing mark as follows: Seniority: For each year of service in the classified service:

Less than 1 year……………………..................…0 points

1 year up to 6 years…………….…........................1 point

Over 6 years up to 11 years.....………......….........2 points

Over 11 years up to 16 years….…........….........…3 points

Over 16 years up to 21 years………..................…4 points

Over 21 years………………………..................…5 points

VETERANS: Disabled and non-disabled veterans as defined in Section 85, New York State Civil Service Law, will have 5 and 2.5 points, respectively added to their earned scores if successful in the examination. You must claim these credits when you file application but you have an option to waive them any time prior to appointment. If you have already used these credits for a permanent position in NYS, you may not claim them again.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 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.