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. Note that residency requirements are waived for positions at Erie County Medical Center.

There is one anticipated vacancy at the Erie County Medical Center Corporation.  There is also one anticipated vacancy at the Erie County Department of Personnel-Office for the Disabled with an annual salary range of $36,731 - $46,411.  **Salaries vary among the other jurisdictions.  The eligible list resulting from this examination will be used to fill this vacancy and other appropriate vacancies which may occur in municipalities or districts under the jurisdiction of Erie County Civil Service while this list is active.

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.

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:

An Administrative Clerk performing advanced and responsible sub-professional level administrative duties in either a large administrative unit, or small department of County Government; 

A) Any incumbent will be assigned all or most of the following activities:

Assists in departmental clerical workload including typing, word processing and filing;

Composes letters to outside agencies and other parties, compiles statistics of departmental activities;

Supervises and assists in departmental purchasing activities and supply requisitioning;

Posts receipts, disbursements and appropriate journals and/or files; records stock items and expedites emergency order;

Assists in preparation of departmental and agency budgets, financial reports, State applications; maintains records of agency budget and personnel change approvals and administers control records;

Confers with higher ranking employees, often at administrative levels, and participates in discussions about personnel, payroll, purchasing and administrative policies and matters;

Maintains liaison between the department or administrative unit and other departmental divisions, other County departments and/or units of government, vendors, contract representatives, etc;

Maintains departmental personnel records and coordinates position control with the Personnel Department;

Operates a personal computer for word processing, graphs and spreadsheet applications.

B) In addition, depending on organizational structure, an incumbent may be assigned the following and related activities:

Assists in departmental bookkeeping, financial and cost accounting functions;

Assigns and schedules secretarial, stenographic and clerical duties to provide necessary clerical support for professional, administrative and other staff, and performs follow-up activity to insure timely and satisfactory

completion of assignments made;

Assigns and supervises the typing of reports, lectures, examinations, and notices;

Assists, as needed, with accounts payable data entry and input;

Interviews applicants for employment, arranges physical examinations, fingerprinting and similar personnel duties;

Verifies the time cards and reports for employees;

Maintains files on current employees and vacancies to be filled;

Keep detailed grant summary report and assist in the implementation of grants within the College;

Track enrollment and work with Recruitment office to address recruitment issues;

Assist with College assessment reports; accreditation reports and compliance reviews, program reviews, and Operational Plan and Strategic Plan assessment;

Gather and disseminate information and/or reports to appropriate departments and offices;

Facilitate small-scale events and prepare print materials for those events;

Prepare agenda items for meetings of Board of Trustees.

Qualifications:

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

A) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered (2) year college or university with an Associate’s degree in Business, Accounting, Liberal Arts, Office Management, Secretarial Science or closely related field, and two (2) years of clerical experience, at least one (1) year of which must have included supervisory responsibilities; or:

B) Four (4) years of satisfactory business or office experience, at least two (2) years of which was in a clerical position and one (1) year of which must have included supervisory responsibilities; or:

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

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants must be eligible for appointment as a Notary Public at time of provisional appointment and must be a Notary Public at time of permanent appointment when assigned to the Erie County Department Of Environment And Planning.

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. Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four (4) year college or university with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Public Administration or other closely related field may be substituted for all of the generalized experience. However, no substitution for the required one (1) year of clerical experience which must include supervisory duties is permissible.

2. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting the experience requirements.

3. 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 "How to take a written test" 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 written test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas:

1. Office management

These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices of planning, organizing and controlling the activities of an office and directing those performing office activities so as to achieve predetermined objectives such as accomplishing office work within reasonable limits of time, effort and cost expenditure. Typical activities may include but will not be restricted to: simplifying and improving procedures, increasing office efficiency, improving the office work environment and controlling office supplies.

2. Office record keeping

These questions test 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. You should bring with you a hand-held battery- or solar-powered calculator for use on this test. You will not be permitted to use the calculator function of your cell phone.

3. 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.

4. Supervision

These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices employed in planning, organizing, and controlling the activities of a work unit toward predetermined objectives. The concepts covered, usually in a situational question format, include such topics as assigning and reviewing work; evaluating performance; maintaining work standards; motivating and developing subordinates; implementing procedural change; increasing efficiency; and dealing with problems of absenteeism, morale, and discipline.

5. 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:  It is recommended that candidates use a quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculator.  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.