Salary: $52,399.00 – $66,217.00 Annually
Location : Buffalo, NY
Job Type: Full Time
Job Number: 60-337
Department: DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
Opening Date: 08/21/2023
Closing Date: 9/13/2023 11:59 PM Eastern
Exam fee: $20.00
Description
Erie County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to workplace diversity.
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. The eligible list resulting from this examination will be used to fill future vacancies at the Erie County Department of Social Services.
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 Employment Counselor (Spanish Speaking) involves counseling Social Services applicants and recipients regarding their employability and placing them in private employment, training programs, or work relief projects;
Counsels client concerning educational background, skills, physical capacities and attitudes for the determining of employment possibilities and the need for educational or vocational training;
Ascertains qualifications of applicants and compares with requirements of available positions; referring clients having the necessary qualifications to prospective employers;
Refers clients to appropriate training programs and serves as liaison to training providers;
Counsels clients to obtain and continue in suitable employment by discussing with them the correction of personal habits and attitudes that may affect their work and goal setting;
Counsels client in overcoming barriers to employment;
Determines specific areas for concentration of effects to develop placement possibilities, personally engaging in interview with prospective employers;
Establishes and maintains contact with major industrial employers for the purpose of developing placement sources;
Advises caseworker of persons who have not complied with placement procedures and works with caseworker regarding a specific adjustment problem which client may have;
Conducts correspondence and prepares reports;
Serves as department consultant on employment;
Maintains placement files;
Evaluates training programs and client’s progress;
Evaluates non-compliance sanctions relating to employability;
Verifies eligibility to participate in various employment programs;
May facilitate classroom training of work seeking clients in all aspects related to a job search and subsequent retention of that newly found employment.
Minimum Qualifications
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test:
Possession of a Bachelor’s degree, and one year of satisfactory full time paid experience in either educational or vocational guidance or employment interviewing, employment counseling or employment placement work; and either:
A) One (1) additional year of satisfactory experience as described above; or:
B) Satisfactory completion of 30 graduate semester hours with specialization in guidance or counseling; or:
C) An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A) and (B).
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
1) Possession of a New York State Driver’s License at time of appointment.
2) Successful candidates must demonstrate ability to speak and understand Spanish as spoken in the Buffalo metropolitan area.
Notes:
1. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting the experience requirements.
2. Applicants for designated positions in the Department of Social Services that may have regular and substantial unsupervised or unrestricted contact with children shall be subject to background checks according to the New York State Justice Center’s Staff Exclusion List (SEL) and New York State Office of Children and Family Services Statewide Central Register of Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR). Inquiries on current employees shall be made annually and prior to promotion but no more often than once in any six month period (N.Y. Social Services Law 424-A.) Candidates/applicants with conditional offers of employment may be required to submit the necessary fee(s) for background screening and inquiries shall be completed prior to employment hiring/start date. Refusal to sign the necessary clearance forms, submit the required associated fees and/or participate in the review process shall be cause for an automatic non-selection. In addition, inquiry responses are subject to evaluation and may result in disqualification pursuant to Section 50 of the New York State Civil Service Law
3. Your degree must have been awarded by a college or university accredited by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education/U.S. Secretary of Education. If your degree was awarded by an educational institution outside the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. A list of acceptable companies who provide this service can be found on the Internet at http://www.cs.ny.gov/jobseeker/degrees.cfm. 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.
Supplemental Information
A medical examination may be required before appointment.
VETERANS: PROOF OF SERVICE MUST BE SUBMITTED BEFORE LIST IS ESTABLISHED TO RECEIVE ADDITIONAL POINTS. (See application for more information.)
NOTICES TO APPEAR FOR THE EXAMINATION ARE MAILED APPROXIMATELY ONE WEEK PRIOR TO THE EXAMINATION DATE
NO CELL PHONES ARE PERMITTED AT THE EXAM SITE.
Examination date: October 21, 2023
Applications Must Be Postmarked or Hand Delivered By: September 13, 2023
The New York State Department of Civil Service has NOT prepared a test guide for this examination
Test guide:
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:
SUBJECTS OF EXAMINATION: This examination will consist of two parts: 1. A weighted written test; and 2. A qualifying Spanish language oral test.
THE QUALIFYING Spanish language oral test is designed to evaluate the candidate’s proficiency in the Spanish language, at the level appropriate for the position(s) being filled.
A Level 2 proficiency in the above language is required to pass this qualifying oral test. This is equivalent to having a working oral language proficiency with understandable, smooth expression at a conversational level of communication. Only a sufficient number of candidates needed to fill the present vacancy will be called to take part in this qualifying language oral proficiency test. As additional vacancies occur, other candidates who were successful on the written test portion of the examination will be invited to take the qualifying language oral proficiency test. Candidates must pass both the written test and the qualifying foreign language oral proficiency test in order to be eligible for appointment.
The written 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.
Principles and practices of employment counseling
These questions test for knowledge and understanding of the principles, practices, and techniques of employment counseling. Questions may include such topics as counseling individuals and/or groups on employment-related issues; providing support, advocacy, and accountability; and developing job opportunities throughout the community.
Interviewing
These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices employed in obtaining information from individuals through structured conversations. These questions require you to apply the principles, practices, and techniques of effective interviewing to hypothetical interviewing situations. Included are questions that present a problem arising from an interviewing situation, and you must choose the most appropriate course of action to take.
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.
NOTICE TO CANDIDATES WHO ARE ALSO TAKING ANOTHER CIVIL SERVICE EXAM(S) ON THIS DATE (See Below)
(IF YOU ARE TAKING 2 OR MORE ERIE COUNTY EXAMS ON THIS DATE IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO CALL)
INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES
APPLICATION FORMS: You may obtain these forms in person at the Erie County Personnel Department, Rath County Office Building, 95 Franklin St., Buffalo. Forms are also available in the libraries and at Town, Village and School District administrative offices.
Mail your application form when completed to the Erie County Department of Personnel, 95 Franklin St., Buffalo, NY 14202.
Candidates who submit incomplete applications and documentation may be disqualified. The Erie County Department of Personnel reserves the right to reject for lateness or to accept applications filed after the advertised filing period.
MILITARY STATUS: Active duty military personnel may file an application for this exam. A special military make-up examination will be conducted for any member of the armed forces of the United States who has duly filed a timely application but who was deprived of the opportunity to compete in the scheduled exam due to active military duty. Special conditions apply to these requests and may be reviewed at the Erie County Department of Personnel.
VETERANS: Disabled and non-disabled veterans as defined in Section 85, New York State Civil Service Law, will have 10 and 5 points, respectively added to their earned scores if successful in the OPEN 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.
In conformance with section 85-a of the Civil Service Law, CHILDREN OF FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY shall be entitled to receive an additional ten points in a competitive examination for original appointment in the same municipality in which his or her parent has served. If you are qualified to participate in this examination and are a child of a firefighter or police officer killed in the line of duty in this municipality, please inform this office of this matter when you submit your application for examination. A candidate claiming such credit has a minimum of two months from the application deadline to provide the necessary documentation to verify additional credit eligibility. However, no credit may be added after the eligible list has been established.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS: Applicants whose religious beliefs prevent their taking examinations before sundown on Saturday and physically handicapped candidates who require special examination facilities should so inform the Erie County Department of Personnel, by a separately mailed letter at the earliest possible date before the test.
MORE THAN ONE EXAM ON THE SAME DAY: If you have applied for more than one exam on the same day you MUST make arrangements to take ALL of the examinations at ONE examination test site. If you have applied for both STATE and LOCAL government examinations taking place on the same day, you must take all of your examinations at the STATE examination center. If you have applied for both COUNTY and CITY government examinations taking place on the same day, you must take all of your examinations at the COUNTY examination center. You are responsible to notify EACH Civil Service Agency no later than TWO WEEKS before the examination date on which you are taking multiple examinations by submitting a Cross-Filer form; EACH Civil Service Agency has their own Cross-Filer form. Thecan be found at If you are taking multiple exams on the same date with Erie County only, you do not have to file a Cross-Filer form.
Candidates taking more than one exam in DIFFERENT exam series will be allowed the specified length of time for each exam, up to a maximum of eight hours. Example: If you are taking one exam which allows six hours and another exam in a different series which allows four hours, you must complete both tests in eight hours, but no more time can be spent on each exam than the time allotted for that exam. Candidates taking more than one exam in the SAME exam series will be allowed up to the specified length of time for each exam. Example: If you are taking two exams in the same series with a maximum time of five hours for each exam, you can spend no more than five hours to complete both exams.
ADMISSION TO EXAMINATION: Notice to appear for the test will be conditional as review of application for minimum requirements may not be made until after the written test. Call or write this Department if you have not received your notice 3 days before the date of the test. You may not be admitted to the examination room without official notice.
RATINGS REQUIRED: Tests are rated on a scale of 100 with a passing mark at 70. Unless the announcement states otherwise, you must pass the written test and the oral test, if any. Test instructions may further divide the tests into parts and set minimum standards for each part.
TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE: If a subject of the examination, training and experience may not be rated if all passing candidates are expected to be immediately reachable for appointment. If rated, training and experience will be based on the statements in your application subject to verification. If this examination includes a qualifying written test, candidates admitted to the test will have conditional approval only. Final decision regarding the qualifications of candidates rests with the New York State Department of Civil Service.
MEDICAL EXAMINATION: You may be required to take a medical examination to determine if you are medically and physically capable of performing the duties of the position. In accordance with State Law, Governor’s Executive Order 6, and Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended the County of Erie does not discriminate against handicapped persons in access to employment, during employment, or in any of its programs and activities.
VERIFICATION OF QUALIFICATIONS: Candidates may be investigated or called for an interview to verify information contained on the application. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience may be pro-rated toward meeting full-time experience requirements.
ELIGIBLE LIST: The eligible list resulting from an examination may also be used for appointment to the same title or to any other title deemed to be similar and appropriate. Eligible lists are active for a minimum of one year and a maximum of four years from the date established.
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION (*including psychological evaluation when required by position): Candidates may be subject to a thorough background investigation or psychological evaluation when required to determine eligibility for appointment. Applicants may be required to authorize access to educational, employment, criminal history and other records check as part of such investigation or participate in related tests or interviews. Criminal convictions or other offense are subject to evaluation and may result in disqualification pursuant to Section 50 of the New York State Civil Service Law. Applicant will be required to submit the necessary fees for the fingerprint processing, where required. (*If a psychological evaluation is required, it shall be specified in the minimum qualifications or special requirements for the position.)
**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.
APPLICATION FEE WAIVER: A waiver of application fee will be allowed if you are unemployed and primarily responsible for the support of a household. In addition, a waiver of application fee will be allowed if you are determined eligible for Medicaid, or receiving Supplemental Security Income payments, or Public Assistance (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families/Family Assistance or Safety Net Assistance) or are certified Job Training Partnership Act/Workforce Investment Act eligible through a State or local social service agency.
All claims for application fee waiver are subject to verification. If you can verify eligibility for application fee waiver, complete a “Request for Application Fee Waiver and Certification: form and submit it with your application by the close of business on the Application Deadline as listed on the Examination Announcement. The form is available at the Erie County Personnel Department, 95 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY (Room 604) or can be downloaded from the County’s website at Click on “County Departments and Agencies”, then “Erie County Civil Service.”
This examination is prepared and rated by the New York State Department of Civil Service,
and held in compliance with the New York State Civil Service Law
and the rules and regulations of the New York State Department of Civil Service.
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