CITY OF DANBURY
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
Salary: $27.63-$29.08/Hourly
Please carefully read this entire important announcement
The City of Danbury will not discriminate against any applicant on the basis of sex, race, color, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, national origin, ancestry, age, veteran status, or disability, except where it is a bona fide occupational qualification. We encourage African Americans, women, Hispanics, and other minorities who meet the minimum qualifications to apply.
The following information is only a general description of the recruitment and hiring process and is not all-inclusive. Please note that any and/or all of the components of this process may be changed by the City of Danbury with or without notice. Additionally, the City of Danbury reserves the right to modify the order sequence of testing as may be appropriate.
Statement of Duties: The Customer Services Representative is responsible for the provision or gathering of information regarding the application for any type of zoning, highway, engineering, health, fire marshal, P.U. and building permits including but not limited to residential, commercial, hotel, restaurant or other projects. Employee is required to perform all similar or related duties.
Supervision Required: Under general supervision of the Customer Services Manager, the employee is familiar with the work routine and uses initiative in carrying out recurring assignments independently with specific instruction. The supervisor provides additional, specific instruction for new, difficult or unusual assignments, including suggested work methods. The employee is expected to recognize instances which are out of the ordinary and which do not fall within existing instructions; in such cases, the employee is expected to seek advice and further instructions. Reviews and checks of the employee’s work are applied to an extent sufficient to keep the supervisor aware of progress, and to insure that completed work and methods used are technically accurate and that instructions are being followed.
Confidentiality: The employee has regular access to confidential information obtained during performance of regular position responsibilities such as department records or applicant identification forms.
Accountability: Consequences of errors, missed deadlines or poor judgment may include adverse customer relations, danger to public safety, and legal repercussions.
Judgment: Numerous standardized practices, procedures, or general instructions govern the work and in some cases, may require additional interpretation. Independent judgment is needed to locate, select, and/or apply the most pertinent practice, procedure, regulation, or guideline.
Complexity: The work consists of a variety of duties which generally follow standardized practices, procedures, regulations or guidelines. The sequence of work and/or the procedures followed vary according to the nature of the transaction and/or the information involved, or sought in a particular situation.
Work Environment: The work environment involves everyday discomforts typical of a municipal office setting subject to frequent interruptions. Noise or physical surroundings may be distracting, but conditions are generally not unpleasant.
Nature and Purpose of Public Contacts: Relationships with co-workers and the public involving frequent explanation, discussion or interpretation of practices, procedures, regulations or guidelines in order to render service, plan or coordinate work efforts, or resolve operating problems. Other regular contacts are with service recipients. Extraordinary courtesy, tact, and diplomacy may be required to resolve complaints or deal with uncooperative or uninformed persons.
Occupational Risk: Risk exposure to the employee is similar to that found in a municipal office setting.
Essential Functions:
The essential functions or duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various type of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to the position.
Provides assistance to customers via telephone, e-mail or in person regarding the permit process for residential and commercial building projects in Danbury.
Conducts research regarding customer requests for information.
Prepares associated paper work as required.
Performs a range of clerical tasks including but not limited to answering telephones, copying, mailing, faxing, preparing correspondence etc.
Collects and processes fees and project bonds for all departments involved in the permit process in accordance with department procedures.
Minimum Qualifications:
Education and Experience: High School diploma, or equivalent and three to five (3-5) years related work experience in an office environment; or any equivalent combination of education, training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the essential functions of the job in the sole determination of the City.
Special Requirements: Certification as a Notary Public is required within thirty (30) days of appointment.
Knowledge, Abilities and Skills Required:
Knowledge: Knowledge of Department rules, regulations, and operating procedures of the permit center and specifically the laws, and regulations pertinent to the process of issuing a building permit for all types of projects. Knowledge of office software such as word processing and spread sheet applications and the Internet (including e-mail) in support of the permit center operations.
Abilities: Ability to interact effectively and appropriately with the public and other personnel for thee resolution of issues and the gathering of information; ability to answer multiple telephone lines and respond to requests for information in a detailed and timely manner; ability to perform multiple tasks in a detailed and accurate manner.
Skills: Proficient customer service skills; proficient skill in the operation of a personal computer and office equipment and the application of office software; proficient recordkeeping as well as written and oral communication skills.
Physical and Mental Requirements :
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the position’s essential functions.
Physical Demands: Little or no physical demands are required to perform the work. Work effort principally involves sitting and walking to perform work tasks, with intermittent periods of stooping, and standing. The employee is occasionally required to lift, push or pull objects such as office equipment, and computer paper.
Motor Skills: Duties are largely mental rather than physical; the job may occasionally require the employee to apply basic motor skills in order to perform activities such as moving objects, operating a telephone system, personal computer and/or most other office equipment, keyboarding, word processing, filing, and sorting of papers.
Visual Demands: The employee is required to routinely read documents and reports and personal computer screens for general understanding. The employee is rarely required to determine color differences.
If you do not meet the above minimum requirements, your application will not be accepted by the Civil Service Commission nor will you receive a refund of your application fee.
2. Application Submission:
Applications are available at the Human Resources Dept., 155 Deer Hill Ave., Danbury, CT 06810 or at www.ci.danbury.ct.us. Qualified applicants must submit a completed original application with three copies and a $10 fee* to Human Resources no later than 6:00 pm, Wednesday, January 2, 2019 EEO/M/F/D/V
*Application Fee waiver: A filing fee is not charged if you are receiving public assistance from the State of Connecticut, or if a applicant’s income falls below the federal poverty levels. A written request for a waiver must be made to the Civil Service Commission prior to the application closing date, 155 Deer Hill Avenue, Danbury, CT, 06810. To have the fee waived, you must submit either a copy of your current benefit card (State of Connecticut Department of Social Services identification card) or your W-2 Statement of Earnings for the year. You must indicate your Social Security Number and/or
Examination Number (if applicable) on the front of the benefit card copy or on the copy of your W-2 Statement of Earnings.
The application must be completed in its entirety. Omissions, false, misleading or inaccurate information will result in rejection of the application.
It is recommended that applicants do not wait until the last day to submit the application. Applications should be completed as soon as possible after publication of the announcement for examination.
Please contact the Human Resources/Civil Service Department at (203) 797-4598 or [email protected] if you need assistance or if you have any general questions.
3. Application Review
The Civil Service Commission is responsible for reviewing the applications to determine if they are complete and meet the minimum requirements for the position. The Commission will review all the applications for the position during their monthly meeting following the closing date of the position.
If an application is accepted by the Civil Service Commission, then the applicant will be notified in writing and will be informed of the next step in the process. If the Commission does not accept an application, the applicant will also be notified in writing.
4. Testing
Once an application is accepted by the Civil Service Commission, the applicant will be notified in writing of the next steps in the testing process. Each test phase named below is listed in the order in which they occur. Each test phase must be passed in order to continue to the next level of the selection process.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to adhere to the City’s testing schedule. Unless otherwise stated, there will be no make-up examinations or alternative examination dates.
If an applicant fails the test phase listed below, the applicant will be immediately eliminated from consideration for this hiring process.
The Written Examination (100% of the final score)
Test Date: Week of January 21, 2019
Location: Hatters Banquet Hall
7 East Hayestown Road
Danbury, Ct 06810
(Unless otherwise notified, applicants are not permitted to bring and/or use calculators, electronic devices, books or other reference materials during the examinations).
Reasonable Accommodations in the testing process:
All requests for reasonable accommodations in the testing process along with medical documentation establishing the need for the accommodation must be submitted to the City of Danbury Human Resources Department no later than the closing date of applications.
5. The Eligibility List
A passing average score of “70% or higher on the above test will place an applicant on the Customer Service Representative Eligibility List in rank order. The rank on this list is established according to the averaged score on the written and oral exams according to the percentages as indicated above plus any additional applicable veterans points awarded. The resulting list is then certified by the Civil Service Commission and will be used to fill vacancies as they occur, as per Civil Service Rules. If the list is not exhausted, it remains in effect for one year. However, the Commission can decide to extend an eligibility list for one additional year.
Participation in the testing and recruitment process and/or placement on an eligibility list does not guarantee a continuance in the remainder of the hiring process nor does it imply or constitute an offer of employment.
6. Additional Testing Requirements
Once the eligibility list is certified, depending on the number of vacancies, candidates with the highest ranking on the list will be interviewed by a panel of City Officials. As future positions become available, applicants are interviewed from this list based on their ranking for as long as the list is active.
Those candidates selected through the panel interview will continue in the selection process by participating in an additional series of testing which may include but is not limited to background checks, drug screens, medical physical, etc. Once again, each test phase must be passed in order to continue to the next level of the testing process. If any one of the test phases is not passed, the candidate will be immediately eliminated from consideration for this hiring process and subsequently removed from the eligibility list.
Application