Erie County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to workplace diversity.

Residence Requirements:

***IMPORTANT CANDIDATE NOTICE***

Candidates who will take a Caseworker examination for a municipality other than Erie County after July 1, 2021 and before November 20, 2021 must submit a statement with the application clearly indicating where and when the examination will be taken. (Please see page 2 for further information.) 

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 Health. 

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.

Examples of Duties:

A Caseworker (Health) is responsibilities for performing casework activities in connection with health department clinical programs; 

Interviews clients/patients to determine the social determinates of health that may interfere with physical and mental health maintenance and/or continued care or participation in social programming;

Provides information, education and counseling regarding program service offered to clients/patients;

Assists clients/patients in coordinating an individual service action plan;

Maintains updated referral information and liaison relationships with other provider agencies, institutions and other community groups appropriate to program mission and purposes;

Makes referrals to appropriate agencies for needed services; coordinates services to assure client needs are appropriately met;

Assure follow up with referral agencies and client/patient;

Fosters and maintains good working relationships with co-workers, clients, patients and other community agencies;

Maintains case files and other documents and prepares reports as required;

Participates in appropriate continuing education programs and community coordination groups; Attends meetings, in-service programs and keeps informed on the latest developments in casework and related health department clinic issues.

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 college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree and one (1) year of casework experience and/or coordinating client care services; or

B.) Completion of 60 credit hours from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university and three (3) years of casework experience and/or coordinating client care services; 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’s License required at time of application, with possession of the license mandatory at the time of appointment and throughout period of employment. This position requires substantial travel, and candidates must demonstrate ability to meet the transportation demands of the job in carrying out their responsibilities in any location to which travel is required, including some locations not accessible by public transportation.

Notes:

1. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting the 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 copy of A Guide to the Written Test For The Caseworker Series may be viewed and/or downloaded at the New York State Civil Service web site located at https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.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:

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

1. ESTABLISHING & MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE HELPING RELATIONSHIPS IN A SOCIAL CASEWORK SETTING: These questions test for an understanding of the factors contributing to the development and maintenance of positive and productive clientworker relationships. You will be provided with descriptions of specific client-worker interactions and asked to select the appropriate responses. The questions cover such topics as confidentiality, time management, professional ethics and referral techniques.

2. INTERVIEWING (CASEWORKER): These questions test for an understanding of the principles and techniques of interviewing and their application to specific client-worker situations. You will be provided with a series of concrete interviewing situations for which you will be required to select an appropriate course of action based on an analysis of the situation, the application of the information provided and the ramifications of various interviewing principles and strategies. You will also be asked questions about the interviewing process and various interviewing techniques.

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.

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.

Candidates who file for Caseworker examinations with more than one civil service agency will be required to use the score received in this examination subject to the following terms and conditions:

• A candidate is permitted to take a Caseworker examination prepared by the New York State Department of Civil Service only once during each of the following defined periods: January 1 – June 30 and July 1 – December 31
• A candidate who applies and is approved for more than one Caseworker examination during the same six-month period (January 1 – June 30 or July 1 – December 31) is required to use the score resulting from a single test administration for all examinations held during the same six-month period.
• The candidate must inform the civil service agency if he/she has previously taken a Caseworker examination in any other civil service agency and provide the location and date the examination was taken.
• A candidate must pay application fees for each examination requiring such fees.
• A candidate's placement on resultant eligible list(s) and duration of eligibility for appointment will be determined by the civil service agency conducting the examination(s).

**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.