Residence Requirements:

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE BEEN LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE WRITTEN TEST AND MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT. There is one present vacancy at the Erie County Department of Senior Services. 

Examples of Duties:

A Case Manager-Senior Services (Spanish Speaking) is responsible for guiding elderly people and their families through the service system; 

Provides information and referral on services to the elderly, their families and other service providers on the telephone, in person and through community forums;

Screens calls at the point of intake to determine the need for case management services;

Assesses elderly clients in their homes and develops case plan to meet needs;

Implements case plan and revises it as necessary;

Advocates on behalf of clients with formal and informal support systems;

Attends meetings and case conferences with other agencies relating to the provision of services to the elderly; Assesses clients for home health care services and monitors appropriateness of care;

Maintains daily activity sheets, case records, and other documentation, submitting written reports as required; Consults with supervision on difficult cases;

May enter various courts to represent the client, thereby protecting his/her person and/or property;

May be involved in the planning and implementation of formal or informal financial management for the elderly; Intervenes in crisis situations, including medical, environmental, mental health and utility emergencies;

Maintains client database and responds to correspondence using appropriate software. 

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test:

Graduation from a regionally accredited or N.Y. State four (4) year college or university with a Bachelor's degree.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

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.

Must be able to read, write and converse fluently in Spanish and English. 

Notes:

1. 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.

The New York State Department of Civil Service has not prepared a test guide for this examination. However, candidates may find information in the publication 'General Guide to Written Tests' helpful in preparing for this test. This publication is available on line at:https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm.

Subjects of Examination:

SUBJECTS OF EXAMINATION: This examination will consist of two parts: 1. A weighted written test; and  2. A qualifying Spanish language oral test.

THE WRITTEN TEST is designed to test for knowledge, skills, and/or abilities in such areas as:

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.

Principles and practices of social casework
These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices used to provide casework services to individuals and/or families of all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances. Questions will test for application of this knowledge in various settings and will include such topics as assessment, monitoring and evaluating services, counseling, referrals, and advocacy.

Working with individuals to promote mental health
These questions test for knowledge of characteristics, causes and treatment methods associated with working with individuals who may have mental, developmental, physical, social and substance abuse disorders and/or disabilities. Questions cover such topics as establishing, maintaining and terminating client relationships; recognizing, interpreting, and responding to individual and group behaviors, as well as crisis situations; and facilitating access to essential services such as financial, housing, medical, educational, legal, vocational, and recreational.

Interviewing
These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices employed in obtaining information from individuals through structured conversations. These questions require you to apply the principles, practices, and techniques of effective interviewing to hypothetical interviewing situations. Included are questions that present a problem arising from an interviewing situation, and you must choose the most appropriate course of action to take.

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.

THE QUALIFYING SPANISH LANGUAGE ORAL TEST is designed to evaluate the candidate's proficiency in the Spanish language, at the level appropriate for the position(s) being filled. Only a sufficient number of candidates needed to fill the present vacancy will be called to take part in this qualifying portion of the examination. As additional vacancies occur, other candidates who were successful on the written portion of the examination will be invited to take the qualifying oral test. Candidates must pass both parts of this examination in order to be eligible for appointment. A Level 3* proficiency in the above language is required to pass this qualifying oral test. This is equivalent to having a working oral language proficiency with understandable, smooth expression at a conversational level of communication.

*Oral Proficiency Level 3: Having an advanced oral language proficiency with good control of usage and grammar, a relatively large and diverse vocabulary, and accurate communication ability in a variety of professional and social contexts.

**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.