Residence Requirements:

ANDIDATES 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 Law. 

Examples of Duties:

A Senior Special Investigator supervises and performs duties in the field of Social Services investigations;

Conducts training for lower level staff within the unit;

Conducts investigations to obtain information about client’s assets to obtain Liens of Assignments for the Department;

Performs independent investigations to process claims against clients assets, or estates;

Supervises staff in placing mortgages against client owned real property;

Contacts attorneys and other officials to process claims against client’s assets, as needed;

Follows agency regulations regarding reimbursement;

Prepares legal documents as required, or supervises preparation;

Supervises investigations and verification of Veteran's benefits due clients;

Supervises Social Services Investigators by assigning and reviewing work, and insuring quality and time limits are observed;

Reviews civil recovery and fraud cases, or other over grant packages;

Maintains statistical records, as needed;

Investigates and approves or denies application for County burial and maintains burial funds for clients;

Investigates allegations of fraudulent activity in Social Services, determines if fraud exists and documents the findings;

Makes field visits and interviews clients, relatives and business people regarding fraud allegations, or in other cases as needed;

Resolves allegations of fraud and provides written reports supporting conclusions, serves summonses and subpoenas; Conducts various internal or confidential investigations, as directed;

Prepares deeds, mortgages and assignments as needed;

May conduct investigations, as needed in estates or negligence claims;

Conducts field investigations as required;

May conduct presentations to members of the public or other Department of Social Services staff regarding the activities of the SID/Resource of Third Party Health Insurance Units, or related topics.

Qualifications:

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

A) Completion of two (2) years of study at a regionally accredited or New York State registered two (2) or four (4) year college or university and five (5) years of experience in a position involving the making of confidential inquiries and investigations in the field of insurance, financial resource, credit, license, tax or personal investigations or experience in interviewing and determining eligibility in public assistance programs; or:

B) Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and seven (7) years of experience as per (A) above; or:

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

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Eligibility for a New York State driver license at the time of application. Possession of the license and use of a private automobile required at time of appointment and throughout period of employment.

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:

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

2. Your degree and/or col1ege 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 Guide for the Written Test for Investigators 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.
 

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.

Advanced investigative techniques

These questions test for knowledge of the more complicated and technical aspects of field investigations. The questions will cover such areas as: interviewing principles and practices, investigative principles, sources of information and reporting methods commonly used in field investigations, securing statements, rules of evidence and evidence collection, preparing cases for court or legal hearings, and testifying in the courtroom or in hearings.

Many of the questions are situational in nature. The questions are generic rather than dealing with investigations in a particular field.

Evaluating information and evidence

These questions test the candidates' abilities to evaluate and draw conclusions from information and evidence. Each question consists of a set of facts and a conclusion based on the facts. The candidate must decide if a conclusion is warranted by the facts.

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.

**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.