Senior Social Welfare Examiner PROMOTIONAL

Modified: April 28, 2020 2:00pm

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

Senior Social Welfare Examiner PROMOTIONAL

#74-120 - Promotional (for current employees only)

Salary: $37,648 - $47,572 Annually
Opening Date: April 28, 2020
Closing Date: May 20, 2020
Application fee: None

**********************Application Fee Waiver**********************

Employees of Erie County CSEA collective bargaining unit shall have all fees associated with County provided promotional civil service examinations waived.

Residence Requirements:

THIS EXAMINATION IS OPEN TO ALL QUALIFIED EMPLOYEES OF THE ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES. At present there are eight anticipated vacancies at the Erie County Department of Social Services.

The eligible list resulting from this examination will not supersede currently existing promotional eligible lists for this title, if any. The duration of all promotional eligible lists is four years from date of establishment unless otherwise indicated.

Examples of Duties:

Senior Social Welfare Examiner is responsible for supervision of a group of employees determining financial eligibility of applicants in various programs administered by the local social services district;

Reviews documents available in the agency's files to verify eligibility and/or to determine the additional action necessary to verify eligibility;

Contacts cooperating agencies to verify client's eligibility;

Makes field visits, when necessary, to verify information relevant to the validation process; obtains corroborative written or recorded documentation in cases of possible ineligibility;

Appears at Administrative or Judicial proceedings when required to interpret decision on applications;

Interviews applicants and recipients, and as needed, collateral contacts redocumentation of eligibility for public assistance;

Prepares and computes budget for the applicant;

Reports findings of investigation; makes recommendations for proper disposition of cases reviewed; i.e. - reduce grant, close case, release grant, refer to law enforcement;

Advises applicant of the eligibility determination, the amount of assistance and any documentation or additional information which is necessary for final program classification;

Prepares required statistical reporting appropriate to action;

Makes re-determination of financial eligibility;

Explains validation process to applicants;

Informs applicants about the range of assistance offered by the agency;

Refers clients to appropriate sections or specialists within the Social Welfare Department as required;

Makes referrals for full field investigations when presumption of fraud is indicated;

Approves referral of clients to Social Services section for service;

Serves as working supervisor over a group of Social Welfare Examiners; or supervises a unit or section;

Reviews Social Welfare Examiner's recommendation and approves or disapproves it;

Assists in the formulation of policies and procedures and interprets Federal, State and local policies and programs;

Establishes necessary controls for determining staff performance and makes necessary performance evaluations; 

Audits work of Social Welfare Examiners and fellow Senior Social Welfare Examiners for compliance with NYS Regulations, ECDSS procedures and for accuracy and preciseness of work under supervision of a higher ranking employee;

May serve as a resource specialist in a program area for such specialties but not limited to budgeting, authorization process, income tax, college policy, client training, employment sanctions, fair hearings, work registration, etc.;

May be required to assist in training staff on job functions, agency policy and procedures, job organization, work controls and other related work;

May be assigned work which involves employment interviewing, placement or counseling;

May be required to deal with Spanish speaking clients/cases if originally appointed from the Social Welfare Examiner Spanish Speaking.

Qualifications:

QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE FOR TAKING THE TEST: Candidates must be permanently employed in the competitive class and must be serving and have served continuously on a permanent or contingent permanent basis in the competitive class for 12 months immediately preceding the date of the written test in the position of Social Welfare Examiner or Social Welfare Examiner-Spanish Speaking.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants for designated positions in the Department of Social Services that may have access to federal tax information to perform his/her job duties shall be subject to a suitability background check investigation, including FBI fingerprinting, local law enforcement check, and verification check of citizenship/residency. A criminal record does not necessarily disqualify applicants from employment, rather an individualized determination will be made. The cost of the background check will be assumed by the Department of Social Services.

Notes:

None.

Examination date:

June 27, 2020

Applications Must Be Postmarked or Hand Delivered By:

May 20, 2020

A Guide for the Written Test for Social Welfare Examiner is available at the New York State website:https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm. Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

Subjects of Examination:

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

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.

Interpreting and applying written Social Welfare program materials, and using basic arithmetic in determining eligibility for assistance

You will be presented with written passages related to Social Services policies and procedures and be asked to interpret their meaning and/or apply this material to hypothetical case situations. Secondly, you will be given sets of written instructions and regulations regarding such Social Services programs as cash assistance, medical assistance, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

You must read and understand the instructions given, including schedules of arithmetic figures, and apply these instructions to hypothetical case problems. Some questions require using arithmetic to compute the correct amount of assistance.

Previous knowledge of Social Services programs or the eligibility process is not required.

Interviewing

You must apply principles and techniques of interviewing to such problems as asking and answering questions, explaining requirements and helping the client understand his or her responsibilities, helping the client feel at ease, structuring and controlling the interview, reacting appropriately to inconsistencies, dealing with a variety of feelings of clients, maintaining confidentiality, and identifying the need for and making appropriate referrals. In addition, some questions may deal with contacting or interacting with other community organizations and agencies to benefit the client or the general public.

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.

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.

INFORMATION FOR PROMOTION CANDIDATES

Unless otherwise indicated, the eligible list resulting from this examination will have a duration of four years and will not supersede existing promotional lists, if any.

RATINGS REQUIRED:  Test is rated on a scale of 100 with a passing mark at 70.  Test instructions may further divide the tests into parts and set minimum standards for each part.

Points will be added to scores of candidates who achieve a passing mark as follows: Seniority:  For each year of service in the classified service:

Less than 1 year……………………..................…0 points

1 year up to 6 years…………….…........................1 point

Over 6 years up to 11 years.....………......….........2 points

Over 11 years up to 16 years….…........….........…3 points

Over 16 years up to 21 years………..................…4 points

Over 21 years………………………..................…5 points

VETERANS:  Disabled and non-disabled veterans as defined in Section 85, New York State Civil Service Law, will have 5 and 2.5 points, respectively added to their earned scores if successful in the PROMOTIONAL examination.  You must claim these credits when you file application but you have an option to waive them any time prior to appointment.  If you have already used these credits for a permanent position in NYS, you may not claim them again.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A None 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.