| CAREER OPPORTUNITY |
| SARATOGA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES |
| PLEASE POST CONSPICUOUSLY |
| SARATOGA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES ANNOUNCES AN OPEN-COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR |
| CASEWORKER |
| Applications Accepted on a Continuous Basis |
| EXAMINATION#: 23JUN | |
| CASEWORKER, Saratoga County Department of Social Services. The results of this eligible list will be used to fill vacancies as they occur under the jurisdiction of the Saratoga County Human Resources Department. | |
| STARTING SALARY: $53,373 | |
| This exam will be scheduled periodically during each quarter. Currently scheduled for: | 2023-06-24 |
| RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS-HANDICAPPED PERSONS: If special arrangements for testing are required, indicate this on your application form. | |
| RESIDENTS: Candidates must have been legal residents of New York State for at least FOUR months immediately preceding the date of the test. Pursuant to subdivision 4a of Sec. 23 of the Civil Service Law, preference may be given to successful candidates who have been legal residents of the municipality to which the appointment is to be made for at least FOUR months preceding the date of the written test. |
| APPLICATION FEE An examination fee of $10.00 (residents and non-residents) is required for each numbered examination for which you apply. The required fee must accompany your application. Check or money order only. Please make checks payable to the Saratoga County Treasurer’s Office, $20 returned check fee. This fee is non-refundable. You are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission stated in the “Minimum Qualifications” section of the examination announcement, and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified. Vague applications will not be interpreted in applicants favor. |
| 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, or if you are an honorably discharged Military Veteran (DD214). 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. A copy of this document can be obtained from the Saratoga County Human Resources Office or on our website at www.saratogacountyny.gov. |
| DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS: The work involves responsibility for providing social work services to individuals and/or their families, which at times includes children in at risk circumstances, to assist them with economic, emotional, social and environmental difficulties. Work is performed in a very dynamic environment under direct supervision of a higher level Caseworker; 12 weeks of in-service training is provided through the agency’s staff development program. A Caseworker, in consultation with the supervising caseworker, investigates, formulates, documents and carries out plans to meet the individual complexities, situations and issues of the cases assigned. Direct contact and field visits with the public, from varying levels of socio-economic situations, backgrounds and cultures, is a routine requirement of this position; Incumbents in this position must be available for periodic On-Call coverage. Does related work as required. |
| MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Possession of a Bachelor’s Degree. (Degree must have been awarded by a college or university by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the US Department of Education/US 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.) |
| THE WRITTEN TEST will be designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and/or abilities in the following areas: 1) Establishing and Maintaining Effective Helping Relationships in a Social Casework Setting. These questions test for an understanding of the factors contributing to the development and maintenance of positive and productive client-worker relationships. You will be provided with descriptions of specific client-worker interactions and asked to select the appropriate responses. The questions cover such topics as confidentiality, time management, professional ethics, and referral techniques. 2) Interviewing. These questions test for an understanding of the principles and techniques of interviewing and their application to specific client-worker situations. You will be provided with a series of concrete interviewing situations for which you will be required to select an appropriate course of action based on an analysis of the situation, the application of the information provided and the ramifications of various interviewing principles and strategies. You will also be asked questions about the interviewing process and various interviewing techniques. 3) 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 and then asked to choose from four suggestions the best order for the sentences. |
| NOTICE TO CANDIDATES: UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTIFIED, 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. |
| IMPORTANT CANDIDATE NOTICE: **Candidates who file for Caseworker exams with more than one civil service agency are required to use the score received in this examination subject to the following terms and conditions: |
| 1. A candidate is permitted to take a Caseworker examination prepared by the NYS Department of Civil Service only once during each of the following defined periods: |
| a. January 1- June 30 b. July 1- December 31 |
| 2. A candidate who applies and is approved for more than one Caseworker examination during the same six-month period (January 1- June 30 or July 1- December 31) is required to use the score resulting from a single test administration for all examinations held during the same six-month period.
3. The candidate must inform the civil service agency if he/she has previously taken a Caseworker examination in any other civil service agency and provide the location and date the examination was taken. 4. A candidate must pay application fees for each examination requiring such fees. 5. A candidate’s placement on resultant eligible list(s) and duration of eligibility for appointment will be determined by the civil service agency conducting the examination(s). |
| ELIGIBLE LIST: A candidate’s eligibility begins when his or her name is placed on the eligible list and continues for a minimum of one year. |
| SECTION 243-b: Provides that any member of the armed forces of the United States who had duly filed an application to compete in a scheduled competitive examination, but was deprived of the opportunity to compete in a scheduled competitive examination due to active military duty be provided with a special military makeup examination. |
| SECTION 85a OF THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW: 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 claming 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. |
| VETERAN CREDITS: For the purpose of claiming veteran credits on a Civil Service examination, an applicant must have served in the armed forces of the United States at any time during the following periods:
World War II – December 7, 1941 to and including December 31, 1946 Beginning January 1, 1998, the NYS Constitution allows members of the US Armed Forces who are on active duty (other than for training purposes) the right to request extra War Time Veterans Credits on civil service examinations prior to discharge. If you are currently on active duty, you may request the addition of veteran’s credits to your examinations score. You must request the extra credits on your examination application in the space provided. If you pass the examination, the credits will be added automatically. To use the extra credits at the time of appointment you must have received an honorable discharge, be a US citizen, and be a resident of New York State. The extra credits can only be used for one NY local Government or New York State government permanent appointment. |
| SECTION 23.2: This examination is prepared and rated in accordance with Section 23-2 of the Civil Service Law. The provisions of the New York State Civil Service Law, Rules, and Regulations dealing with the preparation and rating of examinations, as well as establishment and certification of eligible lists for positions in the classified service will apply to this examination. |
| APPLICATIONS: Applications are available at www.saratogacountyny.gov, or in person at the Saratoga County Human Resources Office, 40 McMaster Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020. Time and place of the examination will be mailed to approved candidates one week before the date of the examination. |
| If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please direct your inquires to Human Resources at (518)885-2225.
Saratoga County is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is valued and recognized as a source of strength and enrichment. We seek to attract talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, and encourage women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, those with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, and veterans to apply. |
