Senior Clerk Typist-Spanish Speaking

Modified: February 26, 2019 3:13pm

COUNTY OF ERIE - DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL
invites applications for the position of:

Senior Clerk Typist-Spanish Speaking

#42-223 - Open Competitive (open to the public)

Salary: $30,609 - $37,111 annually
Opening Date: February 26, 2019
Closing Date: March 20, 2019
Application fee: $15.00

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 currently one vacancy in the Department of Mental Health. The salary range for Erie County Departments is $30,609 - $37,111 annually. 

*This eligible list will NOT be certified to the Erie County Medical Center.


Examples of Duties:

Senior Clerk Typist-Spanish Speaking types accounting and financial statements, payrolls, statistical tabulations and data, for letters, memoranda, vouchers, reports, requisitions and other material;

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 LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT:  Successful candidates must demonstrate ability to converse fluently in Spanish as spoken in the Buffalo Metropolitan area. 

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 stenography and 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.

Examination date:

April 27, 2019

Applications Must Be Postmarked or Hand Delivered By:

March 20, 2019

A copy of a Guide To Taking The Examination For The Senior Stenographer/Senior Typist Series may be viewed and/or downloaded at the New York State Civil Service web site located at http://www.cs.state.ny.us/testing/localtestguides.cfm. If you do not have Internet access, 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, New York 14202 or by picking one up in person at Room 604.

Subjects of Examination:

SUBJECTS OF EXAMINATION: This examination includes: 1. A weighted multiple-choice written test; and 2. A qualifying Spanish Language Oral Proficiency Test.

 The written test is designed to evaluate knowledge,skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

  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.

THE SPANISH LANGUAGE ORAL PROFICIENCY TEST is designed to evaluate the candidate's proficiency in the Spanish language, at the level appropriate for the title being filled. A Level 2 proficiency in the above language is required to pass this qualifying test for this title. This is equivalent to having a working oral language proficiency with understandable, smooth expression at a conversational level of communication. Based on the ranking on the written test, only a sufficient number of candidates needed to fill the present vacancies will be called to take part in the qualifying language oral proficiency test. As additional vacancies occur, other candidates who were successful on the written test portion of the examination will be invited to take the qualifying language oral proficiency test. The language oral proficiency test will be rated on a pass-fail basis.Candidates must pass both the written test and the qualifying foreign language oral proficiency test in order to be eligible for appointment.

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.