Virginia Department of Social Services

Human services for Virginians

Human Services Assistant 3 - CSA/IV-E Unit

Case Management & AdvocacyConfirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-timeMartinsville, VA, USA$28.5k - $52.1kIn-person

About the Job

Requirements

A high school diploma supplemented with post-secondary coursework in subjects such as social work, human services, gerontology, social or behavioral sciences, business, or a related field, and relevant work experience in public administrative support work, or an equivalent combination of training and experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Considerable knowledge of customer and personal services, including assessing customer needs, meeting service quality standards, and evaluating customer satisfaction.
Considerable knowledge of English language structure and content, including word meanings and spelling, composition, and grammar.
Considerable knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems, including word processing, spreadsheets, file and records management, and office procedures and terminology.
Working knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; mathematics and research methods; assigned program eligibility requirements; and available community resources.
Some knowledge of laws, regulations, requirements, and policies for local, state, and federal social, assistance, and housing programs.
Skill in operating automated office equipment, including calculators and fax/copiers, and computer-based word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, and file-maintenance programs.
Ability to communicate effectively with program participants; plan, organize, and prioritize work; establish and maintain working relationships to exchange ideas and coordinate activities; accept direction and follow procedures; counsel others; compile information from records, reports, and other sources in the appropriate format; resolve conflicts; create forms, charts, and graphs; perform basic arithmetic and calculate rates, ratios, and percentages and interpret bar graphs; make screening decisions using specified criteria; read and interpret documents; and conduct effective interviews in person and by telephone.
May be subject to criminal-history, central-registry, driving-record, and pre-employment drug-screen checks, which may include fingerprinting and other employment-related checks. The finalist must submit fingerprints and personal descriptive information for criminal-history record and Central Registry searches.
Must be willing to work in the community emergency shelter during a natural disaster or emergency.

Responsibilities

Screen clients for benefits and services.
Interview clients and explain programs, services, policies, and procedures.
Assist clients with applications.
Evaluate and approve agency providers.
Research information.
Serve as the initial point of contact for applicants seeking benefits or services.
Provide information about programs and benefits, general eligibility requirements, policies, and procedures.
Assist clients in completing applications and perform initial application screening.
Provide information to clients seeking services and make direct referrals for services.
Research databases to obtain or verify information needed to process applications.
Maintain logs of client documentation received.
Schedule and coordinate appointments for clients to meet with benefits, employment, or services staff.
Contact clients for requested or needed information and respond to routine questions in person, by email, or by telephone.
Analyze needs, coordinate resources to support families and clients, and generate payments for services when appropriate.
For Adult Services and Adult Protective Services, independently manage provider program requirements; interview clients and assess emergency needs; manage the voucher system and prepare vouchers for ongoing expenditures; facilitate placement of adults in Adult Living Facilities; prepare complex statistical reports; verify hours and timesheet accuracy for in-home providers; review expenditures and research operational cost-effectiveness; and prepare, process, and reconcile budgets for adult programs.
For Benefit Programs, attend and testify at administrative hearings; prepare periodic, special, and other statistical reports; and assist with orientation and training of new staff.
For Foster Care, conduct adoption searches using court records, libraries, agency files, the internet, and city directories, and make initial contact when a match is found; assist with subsidy billings and payments; prepare financial and statistical forms, reports, case documentation, and court reports; assist with supervised visitation; and coordinate special event programs and unit events.
For Employment Services, help participants write resumes; follow up on referrals to ancillary agencies in person and in writing; debrief participants dismissed from Work Net classes; locate resources for interview clothing and help participants make appropriate clothing choices; and take participants on educational and career-exploration field trips.

Desired Qualifications

Bilingual English/Spanish ability is preferred.

Title Description- Human Services Assistant III represents the specialist level in the occupational group for Human Services Assistants. Employees serve as the initial point of contact for clients seeking benefits and/ or services and screens clients for benefits and services. Human Services Assistant III is distinguished from Human Services Assistant II by serving as a screener and the initial point of contact for the clients seeking benefits and/or services.

General Work Tasks (Illustrative Only) –

Screens clients for benefits and services;
Interviews clients and explains programs, services, policies and procedures;
Assists clients with applications;
Evaluates and approves agency providers;
Researches information;
Serves as initial point of contact for applicants;
Interviews applicants for benefits and/or service programs;
Provides information regarding various programs and benefits, general eligibility requirements, policies and procedures;
Assists clients with completing applications and performs initial screening of applications;
Provides information to clients seeking services and directly makes referrals for services;
Researches a variety of databases to obtain and/or verify information needed to process applications;
Maintains logs of client documentation received;
Schedules and coordinates appointments for clients to meet with benefit, employment or services staff;
Contacts clients for requested/needed information and responds to routine questions in person, e-mail or by telephone; and
Analyzes needs and coordinates resources that will support families/clients and generates payment for services when appropriate.
In addition to the above other illustrative program area assignment/tasks follow:
Adult Services/Adult Protective Services:
Independently manages the Provider program requirements;
Interviews clients and conducts assessment for emergency needs;
Manages voucher system and prepares vouchers for ongoing expenditures;
Facilitates placement of adults in Adult Living Facilities;
Creates and prepares complex statistical reports;
Verifies hours and accuracy of time sheets for In-Home Providers;
Reviews expenditures and researches operational cost effectiveness; and
Prepares, processes, and reconciles budget for various adult programs.

General Work Tasks (continued) –

Benefit Programs:
Attends and testifies at administrative hearings;
Prepares periodic, special and other reports for statistics; and
Provides assistance in the orientation/training of new staff.
Foster Care:
Conducts adoption searches via court records, library, agency files, Internet, City directory, and makes initial contact if a match is found;
Assists with subsidy billings and payments;
Prepares a variety of financial, statistical forms and reports, case documentation and court reports;
Assists in conducting supervised visitation; and
Coordinates special event programs such as Toys for Tots, Annual Art Sale, Bags & Bears and unit events.
Employment Services:
Helps participant in writing resumes; follows up on referrals to ancillary agencies, in person and in writing;
Debriefs participants when "fired" from Work Net classes;
Locates resources for clients needing appropriate interview clothing and helps clients in making appropriate clothing choices; and
Takes participants on educational/career exploration field trips.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Knowledge- Considerable knowledge of: principles and processes for providing customer and personal services (including customer needs assessment, meeting of quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction); structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar; and administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, spreadsheets, managing files and records, and other office procedures and terminology. Working knowledge of: human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; mathematics and research methods; and eligibility requirements for the programs assigned; and available community resources. Some knowledge of laws, regulations, requirements and policies of Local, State, and Federal social, assistance and housing programs.

Skills- Skill in: operating a variety of automated office equipment to include calculator, fax/copier; and the use of computer-driven word processing, spreadsheet, graphics and file maintenance programs.

Abilities- Demonstrated ability to: communicate effectively with program participants; plan, organize, and prioritize own work schedule; establish and maintain working relationships with clients, professionals, co-workers, and the public sufficient to exchange ideas and coordinate activities; accept direction and follow established procedures; counsel others; organize, and post date, from records, reports and other sources using the appropriate format; exhibit solid interpersonal skills, including conflict resolution in working with clients, professionals and employees; create forms, charts, and graphs; add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals; compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs; make screening decisions based upon specific criteria’s; read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, manuals; and conduct effective interviews both face-to-face and by telephone.

Education and Experience- High school diploma supplemented with post-secondary coursework in subjects such as social work, human services, gerontology, or one of the social or behavioral sciences, business or related field, and relevant work experience in public administrative support work OR any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities.

Preferred Qualifications:

Prefer Bi-lingual (English/Spanish).

Special Requirements:

Applicants may be subject to a criminal history background search, central registry search, DMV/driving record check, and/or pre-employment drug screen. The investigation may include fingerprint checks (State Police, FBI), local agency checks, employment verifications and references, verification of education (relevant to employment), credit checks (relevant to employment), and other checks requested by the hiring authority. This position is covered under Code of Virginia 63.2-1601.1 or 63.2-1720 requiring the finalist candidate to submit to fingerprinting and provide personal descriptive information for criminal history record check through the Central Criminal Records Exchange, and a search of the Central Registry.

All offers of employment are contingent upon satisfactory results of the required checks and screenings.

Employee must be willing to work in the community emergency shelter in the event of a natural disaster or emergency.

Special Instructions to Applicants:

Applicants are encouraged to provide a complete listing of work experience, either paid or unpaid, and qualifications on the application.

Minimum Salary: $28,480

Maximum Salary: $52,093

About the Company

Virginia Department of Social Services

Human services for Virginians

Virginia Department of Social Services is the state agency that designs and administers human-service programs for people and families across Virginia. Its responsibilities include food and energy assistance, foster care and adoption, child support, licensing, and abuse and neglect prevention. The department works with local social-services agencies and community partners to deliver benefits, protection, and family support. The agency spans benefits administration, protection, family services, regulation, and statewide oversight while providing policy, systems, funding, training, and operational support to Virginia’s locally administered social-services network.

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