Ulster County Personnel Department
Civil Service Examination Announcement
FILING FEE $20.00
#69707 CHILD SUPPORT SPECIALIST
OPEN-COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION
LAST DATE FOR FILING APPLICATIONS: September 3, 2010
EXAMINATION DATE: October 16, 2010
SALARY: The starting salary is currently listed at $17.72 per hour.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Candidates must meet the following requirement(s) on or before the date of the examination:
Either:
A. Graduation from a regionally accredited or NYS registered college or university with an Associate’s Degree and one year of full time paid, or it’s part-time equivalent experience in account keeping and interviewing involving public contact; OR
B. Completion of 30-semester credit hours from a regionally accredited or NYS registered college or university and two (2) years of full-time paid, or its’ part-time equivalent experience in account keeping and interviewing involving public contact; OR
C. Graduation from high school or possession of a high school equivalency diploma and three (3) years of full-time paid or its’ part-time equivalent experience in account keeping and interviewing involving public contact; OR
D. An equivalent combination of training and experience as indicated in A, B and C above.
Special Requirement: Certain assignments made to employees in this class will require access to transportation to meet field requirements in a timely and efficient manner.
Special Requirement for appointment to Ulster County positions: In accordance with Ulster County Legislative Local Law Number 14 of 2007 or by other State and Federal Statutes, candidates for employment to all Ulster County positions must obtain clearance for appointment from the Department of Criminal Justice Services or other mandated Federal and State regulatory authority based upon fingerprinting and a criminal history background check.
If this is an Ulster County position it will require a criminal background check and a candidate will be required to complete and sign a Criminal Background Investigation Release Form. Upon a conditional employment offer a candidate will be required to be fingerprinted accordingly.
WHERE COLLEGE IS A REQUIREMENT, YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO SUBMIT COLLEGE TRANSCRIPTS NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 1, 2010 OR YOU WILL BE UNCONDITIONALLY DISQUALIFIED. IF COLLEGE TRANSCRIPTS ARE ALREADY ON FILE WITH OUR OFFICE, INDICATE THIS ON YOUR APPLICATION. ONCE SUBMITTED, COLLEGE TRANSCRIPTS WILL BE HELD ON FILE IN OUR OFFICE FOR A PERIOD OF TEN YEARS. TRANSCRIPTS NEED NOT BE OFFICIAL COPIES; HOWEVER, THEY MUST CONTAIN ALL INFORMATION NECESSARY TO QUALIFY YOU FOR THIS POSITION.
NOTE: 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.
APPLICATION REVIEW TOLERANCE POLICY
For the purposes of this policy, "tolerance" shall mean the leeway given regarding work experience when reviewing an application. Applicants lacking a small amount of work experience when applying for promotional or open-competitive examinations may qualify under the following conditions:
1) Candidates will be given a maximum tolerance of one (1) month.
2)Tolerance will be given only when the minimum qualification requires one or more years of work experience.
3)Tolerance Policy does not apply to education or licensure/certification requirements. (See particular examination announcement for "Anticipated Eligibility" information).
4)Tolerance Policy does not apply where required work experience is set forth by law or rules.
5)Tolerance Policy does not apply to enable applicants to meet residence requirements.
For more information regarding Tolerance Policy, please contact our office at (845) 340-3550.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS: An incumbent in this class is responsible for conducting research and interviews in order to determine the location and financial status of individuals who are legally responsible for the support of their dependents, within the Ulster County Department of Social Services. This position is located in the Ulster County Department of Social Services. The work is performed by use of computer software exclusive to a child support enforcement program and involves locating absent parents, establishing paternity and support for children born out of wedlock, and enforcing and monitoring the payment of child and medical support ordered by the Family and Supreme Courts. The incumbent also assesses the possibility of obtaining reimbursement of social services funds paid for the support of dependents. This work is performed in accordance with Federal, State, and local laws including the Family Court Act and Civil Practice Law and Rules.The work is performed under the general supervision of a higher level employee with considerable leeway allowed for exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the details of the work. Supervision is not a function of this class. Does related work as required.
SUBJECT OF EXAMINATION: Written test will cover knowledge, skills, and/or abilities in such areas as:
1. Arithmetic reasoning related to child support
These questions test for the ability to solve an arithmetic problem presented in sentence or short paragraph form. To determine the correct answer, you must read the problem, understand the situation presented, decide what must be done to solve the problem, and then apply the appropriate arithmetic operation(s) in the appropriate order.
Knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is required. The questions may also involve the use of percents, decimals, and fractions.
2. 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.
3. Investigating and evaluating financial resources
These questions test for knowledge of the principles and practices used in determining the existence of various types of assets and other financial resources and determining the value and availability of assets.
4. 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.
5. Understanding written material based on Social Services law
These questions test for an ability to read, interpret and understand various provisions of the Social Services Law and its rules and regulations The candidate is provided with a reading selection based on or extracted from a passage of legal text. The candidate must read the selection and then answer one or more questions based upon it. All factual information needed to answer these questions is provided in the reading selection. No prior knowledge of the material is needed to answer these questions correctly.
CALCULATORS: "Unless specifically prohibited, 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’ and any similar devices are prohibited."
*FEES*: Send your check or money order for twenty dollars ($20.00) (made payable to COUNTY OF ULSTER) with your application. Please include the examination number, title, and applicant’s name on your check or money order. DO NOT SEND CASH. NO REFUNDS WILL BE ISSUED, therefore, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the qualifications for admission and apply only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.
EXCEPTION TO FEE REQUIREMENT: An exception to the processing fee will be made for persons receiving Supplemental Social Security payments or public assistance (Safety Net Assistance or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), provided Foster Care or certified Workforce Investment Act of 1998 eligible through a state or local social service agency, and for those who are currently unemployed. Individuals wishing to claim this waiver of fee on the basis of Supplemental Social Security, Safety Net Assistance or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, must certify on their application, under number 20 Remarks, that they are receiving public assistance and must indicate the type of assistance they are receiving, the agency providing the assistance and their case numbers. Persons claiming this waiver through Foster Care or Workforce Investment Act of 1998 Certification must specify the program and name of their contact agency. Persons claiming this waiver, who are currently unemployed must certify on their application, under number 20 Remarks, that they are currently unemployed and must provide documentation that they are receiving unemployment benefits or other unemployment documentation deemed appropriate by the Ulster County Personnel Officer.Such claims are subject to later verification and, if not supported by appropriate documentation, are grounds for barring appointment.
Applications may be obtained at the Ulster County Office Building, Personnel Department, 244 Fair Street ‑ 5th Floor, P.O. Box 1800, Kingston, NY 12402‑1800 OR by mail (INCLUDE A STAMPED SELF‑ADDRESSED, LEGAL‑ SIZE ENVELOPE) OR from our website at: http://ulstercountyny.gov/personnel/index.html. Applications must be received by the Ulster County Personnel Department or postmarked no later than the ‘LAST DATE FOR FILING APPLICATIONS’ stated on page one of this announcement.
For those applications submitted in person on the last file date, please submit no later than 4:30 PM. All applications must be in our office no later than 5:00 PM on the last file date. Applications postmarked by the last file date will also be accepted.
This examination is being prepared and rated by the New York State Department of Civil Service in accordance with Section 23‑2 of the Civil Service Law. The provisions of the New York State Civil Service Rules and Regulations dealing with the rating of examinations will apply to this test.
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION POLICY: In accordance with Ulster County Local Law Number 14 of 2007, a criminal background check (including fingerprinting) will be initiated by the Ulster County Personnel Department upon initial employment or re-hire to Ulster County positions, and conducted by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), the New York State Office of Court Administration, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Verification Information System (IMAGE Program), or any law enforcement agency.
SPECIAL NOTE: All public agencies are required by law to provide full and equal opportunities for minorities, women and to people with disabilities. All qualified candidates are encouraged to compete without regard to race, creed or national origin. Applicants requesting special testing arrangements as a Saturday Sabbath Observer, alternate test date candidate (in accordance with Alternate Test Date Policy), or an active member of the military away from the area on the scheduled test date must clearly indicate this fact on the application. All such requests must be supported by appropriate documentation.
VETERANS: Non-disabled and disabled veterans who wish to claim additional credits must request a Veterans Credits application from our office. This form must be completed and submitted along with a war service (DD214) form prior to the establishment of the resulting eligible list. Veterans credits may only be added to a passing score and may only be used for appointment once. Candidates currently in the armed forces may apply for and be conditionally granted veteran’s credits. Any candidate who applies for such credits must provide proof of military status to receive the conditional credits. You may not claim additional Veterans Credits after the eligible list has been established. It is the candidate’s responsibility to request the Veterans Credits application forms and submit these forms and any required supporting paperwork before the eligible list is established.
ADDITIONAL CREDITS FOR CHILDREN OF FIREFIGHTERS AND POLICE OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY: 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.
APPLYING FOR CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS IN MULTIPLE JURISDICTIONS WHEN EXAMINATIONS ARE SCHEDULED ON SAME DATE: If you have applied for any other Civil Service examinations for employment with New York State or any other local government jurisdiction, you must make arrangements to take all the examinations at one test site.
If you have applied for both State and Local government examinations, you must make arrangements to take all your examinations at the State examination center by calling (518) 457‑7022 no later than two weeks before the test date.
If you have applied for other local government examinations, call or write to each Civil Service Agency to make arrangements. You must make your request for these arrangements no later than two weeks before the date of the examinations. You must notify all local government civil service agencies with whom you have filed an application of the test site at which you wish to take your examination(s). For this examination call (845) 340‑ 3531 OR write to Ulster County Personnel Department, 244 Fair Street ‑ 5th Floor, P.O. Box 1800, Kingston, NY 12402‑1800.
*If candidates have not received notification of this examination within four (4) days of the examination, they should contact this office immediately.
#69707
ORIGINAL COPY: YELLOW
ISSUED: August 10, 2010
