Residence Requirements:

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 are two anticipated vacancies at the Erie County Community College.

Examples of Duties:

A Chief Personnel Clerk supervises and participates in a variety of personnel and benefit administration duties; 

Processes or oversees the processing of benefit and/or personnel transactions within the department, such as insurance enrollment, appointments, promotions, transfers, reinstatement, leaves with and without pay, resignations, salary changes, increments and longevities, probation reports;

Prepares and maintains departmental employee records;

Supervises and trains lower level staff related to personnel and/or benefit matters;

Oversees the development and implementation of benefit communication materials, including legally required notices and informational employee presentations;

Analyzes operating problems related to personnel or benefit issues, assembles pertinent facts, develops alternative recommendations that aids in the final decision and presents these data in oral and/or written manner;

Works with Senior Staff in establishing and revising policies, practices and procedures related to personnel or benefit work;

Facilitates the planning and implementation of new initiatives and systems;

Assigns and reviews the work of subordinates for accuracy, effectiveness and correctness;

Works cooperatively with the County Personnel Office interpreting and applying personnel and New York State Civil Service Rules;

Acts as information clerk where a general knowledge of personnel and benefit questions are needed;

Processes Health Benefits transactions including COBRA;

Processes Worker's Compensation claims, and initiates safety recommendations to minimize Workers Compensation claims, which may include participation on PESH committee;

Processes reasonable accommodation and FMLA; May contact physician’s offices regarding medical documentation pertaining to assigned duties;

Processes unemployment benefits claims and may represent the employer at hearings;

Works cooperatively with other department personnel and other County Departments (including, but not limited to Labor Relations, Department of Law and Personnel Department) interpreting and applying rules and polices relating to the Health Benefits Worker’s Compensation Benefits, Unemployment Benefits, Safety and other Human Resources Programs;

Prepares Federal and State mandated reports related to personnel and/or benefit matters at scheduled periods throughout the year;

Prepares relevant data for collective bargaining negotiations; 

Attends meetings on HR topics as required;

Interprets Union contract provisions related to personnel/employee relations or benefit matters and prepares reports as required;

Supports promotion of employee wellness and EAP programs and assist in those areas as may be required;

Coordinates retiree outreach efforts, such as obtaining contact information, or sending newsletter updates;

May assist in RFP process for HR by recommending criteria for proposals as it pertains to responsible areas and researching venders;

Performs internal investigations as need may arise for employee relations matters, draft supporting documentation and make recommendations to management;

Administers administrative/rank advancement process per Union contracts;

Proactively updates existing employee information on an annual basis, which may include routine updates of annual policy sign-offs;

May participate in the budgetary process and administration;

Prepares and submits various departmental reports on a regular basis in a timely matter;

Carries out special assignments.

Qualifications:

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

A) Bachelor’s degree at a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university with coursework in Business, Human Resources, or a related field and three (3) years of office experience, including two (2) years of senior-level clerical or administrative experience in personnel, benefits, or general human resources experience; or

B) Completion of 60 semester credit hours at a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university with coursework in Business, Human Resources, or a related field, and five (5) years of office experience, including four (4) years of senior-level clerical or administrative experience in personnel, benefits, or general human resources experience; or

C) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and seven (7) years of office experience, including six (6) years of senior-level clerical or administrative experience in personnel, benefits, or general human resources experience.

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:

Scopes / 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.

Understanding and interpreting tabular material
These questions test your ability to understand, analyze, and use the internal logic of data presented in tabular form. You may be asked to perform tasks such as completing tables, drawing conclusions from them, analyzing data trends or interrelationships, and revising or combining data sets. The concepts of rate, ratio, and proportion are tested. Mathematical operations are simple, and computational speed is not a major factor in the test. 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.

Understanding and interpreting written material based on laws, policies, and procedures relating to health insurance, retirement and other benefits
These questions test for the ability to read, interpret, and apply relevant laws, policies, and procedures. You will be provided with brief reading selections based on or taken from legal text, each followed by one or more questions. All information needed to answer the questions is contained in the reading selections. No prior knowledge of the subject is required.

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.