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.   At present there are four vacancies in the Erie County Department of Social Services-Youth Services Division.  

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.

Examples of Duties:

A Juvenile Justice Counselor performing a range of casework functions for children/adolescents and families involved in the juvenile justice system;

Develop management plans for children while detained and upon discharge;

Continually engages residents in detention unit, monitoring their adjustment;

Guides Youth Detention Workers in their direct care of residents;

Provides appropriate guidance to residents and the residents’ family to promote rehabilitation and community reintegration;

Provide and coordinate information flow among Youth Services staff, relevant partners such as Court and service agencies, including Residential programs;

Keeps accurate, up to date, professional standard records;

Works with Juvenile Justice system clients in the community to develop and provide plans for monitoring and intervention;

Work closely with partner juvenile justice involved departments and agencies on individual cases and joint programs;

Works closely with forensic mental health staff, including child psychiatrist;

Coordinate potential out of home placement plans for residents.

Qualifications:

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

A) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four (4) year college or university with a Master’s Degree in relevant Human Services program and two (2) years of experience working with at risk youths in a public or private agency adhering to acceptable standards; or;

B) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four (4) year college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant Human Services program and four (4) years of experience working with at risk youths in a public or private agency adhering to acceptable standards; or;

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

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Section 424-a of the Social Services Law requires the local social services district to inquire whether the applicant is the subject of an indicated child abuse or maltreatment report on file with the State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment.

All potential employees for this position will be required to sign the necessary clearance form prior to being advised that they will be hired. Refusal to sign will be cause for an automatic non-selection.

Subject to background investigation and fingerprinting for appointment. (Applicant may be required to submit the necessary fees for the fingerprint processing.)

As required by law or statute, subject to medical examination including tuberculin (TB) test, at time of appointment and throughout period of employment when assigned to Youth Services.

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.

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: A test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas.

Advising and interacting with others
These questions test for the ability to interact with other people in order to gather and present information and to provide assistance and advice in a courteous and professional manner.

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.

Working with youth
These questions test for the principles and practices of providing counseling, supervision and other services to youth. Questions may cover such topics as adolescent development, counseling, crisis intervention, interviewing, supervising and guiding youth, and working with families and community service providers.

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 $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.