Job Opportunities in United States

Job Description

Iowa Workforce Development is seeking applicants for the position of Workforce Associate at our 1000 E Grand Ave., Administration office in Des Moines, IA.

Position Summary:
We are hiring! Join our team of Unemployment Benefits Associates who are responsible for answering customer calls and listening to questions, comments, and concerns. Our Associates will manage calls in queue from claimants or other business contacts, taking care of requests, or concerns regarding resolutions on their unemployment claims. They will guide claimants through the initial filing process for unemployment insurance, processes initial, reopen, or additional claims filed by unemployed workers. Resolves problems and errors for customers; provides supportive tasks and performs related work as required.

Key Responsibilities in this position:

• Manages high-volume of inbound and outbound calls in a timely manner, in a call-center environment.
• Follow communication “scripts” when handling different subject matter.
• Identify customers’ needs, clarify information, research every issue, and provide solutions and/or alternatives for the customer.
• Process unemployment insurance claims where the claimant has only Iowa employers in the base period
• Engage customers with professionalism and empathy when a response is warranted.
• Keep accurate records of conversations in a standardized format when conducting screenings, taking notes of the conversations during the screening with active listening skills
• Communicates with internal and external customers and answers questions from claimants and employers.
• Exercises good judgment and handles customer problems.

Essential Knowledge & Skills:
All new hires will participate in an intensive 4-week training class as part of the onboarding program. This training consists of classroom education, on-the-job, practice phone calls and an evaluation process at the completion to ensure position readiness for the Unemployment Benefits Associate role.

Essential Skills

• Excellent communications skills, both verbal and written; communicate in courteous manner with customers and coworkers.
• Understand complex subject matter, such as the Code of Iowa, federal and state laws, rules and regulations, agency policy, and procedural manuals.
• Excellent time management, attention to detail.
• Able to prioritize, manage deadlines and work well under pressure
• Problem solving abilities, and able to understand complex subject matter of information
• Maintain a sense of professionalism and calmness when claimant, or customer is irritated, angry, or exhibiting frustrations by potential delays, or negative outcome.
• Perform basic math to determine amounts of payments, overpayments, underpayments, and re-qualifications.

Complete other duties as assigned.

Agency Overview
Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) is a state agency committed to providing employment services for individual job seekers and to connecting employers to available workers through our IowaWORKS partnership.

IWD continually strives to improve processes and align the organization to provide effective, demand-driven products and services. IWD staff in Des Moines consists of administrative services, disability determination services, information technology, labor market information, unemployment insurance services, vocational rehabilitation services, and workforce services. The agency also maintains a statewide delivery system of IowaWORKS Centers and satellite and expansion offices where both employers and job seeking Iowans can receive workforce assistance.

Benefits
Joining the IWD team and becoming a State of Iowa employee comes with a range of valuable benefits, including:

• Excellent health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Generous paid time off, including nine paid holidays, vacation, and sick leave with no cap on the sick leave accrual.
• Prepare for the future with the IPERS retirement package, as well as an additional optional deferred compensation retirement plan.
• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical and dependent care.
• Free Life and Long-term Disability Insurance with the option to purchase additional coverage.
• Employee Assistance Programs and Discount Programs for support.

Click here to learn more about all of the amazing benefits the State of Iowa offers.

Hours of Work: Monday – Friday 8:00am-4:30pm

Our agency uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.e-verify.gov.

No applicant seeking employment with the Iowa Department of Workforce Development can have a current, ongoing overpayment balance with Iowa Workforce Development without a payment plan in place.?Select positions will be subject to a criminal background check.
The classification for this position is Workforce Associate (00806)

Minimum Qualification Requirements

Graduation from an accredited area college with an Associate's Degree;
Experience equal to three years of full time public contact work obtaining, analyzing and evaluating data such as job/claims interviewing, testing, referral and/or placement, sales representative, credit investigation, or related public contact work dealing with job applicants and employers in a variety of supportive clerical and outreach functions; an equivalent combination of education and experience substituting thirty semester hours of college or university coursework for one year of the required experience with a maximum substitution of three years; employees with current continuous experience in the state executive branch that includes experience equal to eighteen months of full-time clerical work or direct customer service in a local Workforce Development Center or other Iowa Workforce Development office.

For additional information, please click on this link to view the job description. (Download PDF reader)