Montgomery County is located adjacent to Washington, DC and with over one million residents, is the most populous County in the State of Maryland. The County is also the most diverse County in the State and ranks among the top ten most diverse Counties in the nation. Montgomery County contains many major U.S. government offices, scientific research and learning centers, and business campuses.

The Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for delivery of the County’s public health and human services that the needs of our community’s most vulnerable children, adults and seniors. The Department provides services through more than 120 programs at more than 20 locations. With over 2,000 employees, the Department of Health and Human Services is the largest County Department.

As a Department, we believe health and wellness of the county can only be achieved by ensuring that every resident has fair opportunities to reach their fullest potential. This means access to quality housing, transportation, education, employment, health care, human services, safe neighborhoods and healthy food. HHS’ provides critical services for residents who face a variety of obstacles in achieving their full potential. HHS plays an essential role in building a healthy and strong community.

If you are interested in working for the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, we invite qualified candidates to apply for our Community Services Aide III position.

About the Position:

The TESS Center is a walk-in center that serves approximately 500-600 in-person customers per month, as well as serves customers virtually. Each Community Services Aide averages 100-150 clients per month, with approximately a third of those clients being virtual only and engages with Montgomery County residents from diverse backgrounds ensuring limited English proficiency, literacy and technology barriers are easily overcome. The Community Services Aide works to identify needs, following the whole family approach to ensure the individual and family are provided access to County, State and Community resources.

The duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Assesses client needs and eligibility for assistance; identifies and reduces barriers so clients may complete information required to access a range of public and private resources.
• Serves as a Notary Public for TESS Center clients.
• Provides information, referral, and follow-up, serving as a liaison among clients and other agencies to address a range of emergency, social service, educational, health, and other needs.
• Provides written translation/oral interpretation for clients as they address critical needs and as they interact with other agencies (Spanish/English/other languages using LEP resources).
• Responsible for scheduling customers, updating, and maintaining information and referral resources.
• Prepares and maintains client records involving progress and contact notes, internal and external correspondence, using DHHS’ eICM system and Qless system.
• Completes statistical reports concerning clients served and services provided, using multiple systems.
• Provides customer assistance and works collaboratively with other staff members to ensure excellent customer service either in person and /or virtually.
• Provides outreach, engages, and supports programs delivered through TESS partners, and participates in agency activities, complying with regulations, and funder requirements.
Some evening and weekend hours are required (no more than 2 evenings and one weekend day per month) to support programming and community-based activities.

OHR reviews the minimum qualifications of all applicants, irrespective of whether the candidate has previously been found to have met the minimum requirements for the job or been temporarily promoted to the same position. This evaluation is based solely on the information contained in the application/resume submitted for this specific position/IRC.

Montgomery County Government is an equal opportunity employer, committed to workforce diversity. Accordingly, as it relates to employment opportunities, the County will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, in accordance with the law. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the Office of Human Resources via email to OHR@montgomerycountymd.gov. Individual determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made in accordance with all applicable laws.

Montgomery County Government also provides hiring preference to certain categories of veterans and veterans/persons with a disability. For more information and to claim employment preference, please refer to the Careers webpage on Hiring Preference.

All applicants will respond to a series of questions related to their education, relevant experience, knowledge, skills and abilities required to minimally perform the job. The applicant's responses in conjunction with their resume and all other information provided in the employment application process will be evaluated to determine the minimum qualifications and preferred criteria status. Based on the results, the highest qualified applicants will be placed on an Eligible List and may be considered for an interview. Employees meeting minimum qualifications who are the same grade will be placed on Eligible List as a "Lateral Transfer" candidate and may be considered for interview.

If selected for consideration for this position, you may be required to provide evidence that you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities indicated on your resume.

Montgomery County Ethics Law: Except as provided by law or regulation, the County's "Public Employees" (which does not include employees of the Sheriff's office) are subject to the County's ethics law including the requirements to obtain advanced approval of any outside employment and the prohibitions on certain outside employment. The outside employment requirements of the ethics law can be found at 19A-12 of the County Code. Additional information about outside employment can be obtained from the Ethics Commission website.

Minimum Qualifications:

Advanced proficiency in the Spanish/English languages is required. The candidate selected to fill the vacancy will be required to pass a language proficiency exam assessing oral communication, reading comprehension, interpreting, written communication and translating text from the Spanish language to the English language and vice versa.

Preferred Criteria:

There is no Preferred Criteria. All applicants will be reviewed by OHR for minimum qualifications. Those applicants who meet minimum qualifications will be rated Qualified, placed on the Eligible List, and may be considered for an interview.

Preference for interviews will be given to applicants with experience in the following:

• Effective written and oral communication skills, with an ability to understand complex directions and procedures; and generate correspondence and reports, applying expertise in, style, syntax, formatting, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• Experience in a professional setting providing oral interpretation and translation of documents at an advanced level (from the Spanish to English language, and from English to Spanish), and expertise working with diverse populations.
• Experience in addressing and delivering social services or other supports to vulnerable populations in a professional setting, utilizing knowledge of family dynamics, human development, crisis intervention, and case management.
• Knowledge of available resources and applicable regulations to deliver social, health, and/or public assistance services to a low-income population.
• Excellent customer service skills to serve diverse populations, with an ability to manage sensitive situations equitably.
• Knowledge of the principles and methods of community engagement, and experience working with public and private organizations to address the needs of low-income people.
Experience utilizing technology and computer applications to deliver eligibility services, with proficiency in Microsoft Office applications to prepare documents and statistical reports.