Office Assistant #260911-7086CL-001

State of Connecticut; Middletown (CT); On-site; USD 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

State Employee Benefits Overview

Professional growth opportunities

Healthy work-life balance

Job summary

The State of Connecticut's Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection seeks a full-time Office Assistant to support the Legal Affairs Unit. This role provides administrative and clerical support, handles document processing, records management, and office operations.

You will join a team dedicated to public safety and the critical work of Connecticut’s law enforcement community, with regular hours Monday through Friday and opportunities for professional growth.

Qualifications

• Two years of general clerical work experience or substitutions allowed for education.
• Experience with Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook) is preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills required.

Responsibilities

• TYPES a variety of materials and enters/retrieves data.
• FILS and maintains office procedures, filing systems and forms.
• Composes routine correspondence.
• Prepares and compiles reports and data as needed.
• Responds to inquiries and provides information to the public.
• Processes documents and manages clerical workflows.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Oral and written communication

Arithmetical computations

Education

Two years of general clerical work experience

College training may be substituted for General Experience

High school diploma or GED by appointment

Tools

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook)

Job description

Introduction

The State of Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) is seeking a full-time Office Assistant to support the Legal Affairs Unit.

This position is full time, 40 hrs, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., providing administrative and clerical support to legal staff, including document processing, records management, and general office operations.

Join DESPP and be part of a team dedicated to supporting public safety and the critical work of Connecticut’s law enforcement community.

What We Can Offer You

• Visit our new State Employee Benefits Overview page!
• Professional growth and development opportunities.
• A healthy work/life balance to all employees.

A Message From Our Commissioner

DESPP is committed to protecting and improving the quality of life for all by providing a broad range of public safety services, training, regulatory guidance, and scientific services utilizing enforcement, prevention, education and state of the art science and technology. DESPP is structured on three key Strategic Pillars created by Commissioner Ronnell Higgins . 2. Shared Fiscal Responsibility 3. Ethics and Accountability

• Operational Efficiency, Efficacy and Excellence
• Making decisions through the thoughtful and informed use of data.
• Challenging the "that's the way it's always been done" construct—i.e., thinking outside the box as to how we can improve.
• Constantly seeking better results.
• Recognizing our collective responsibility to steward the agency's resources.
• Realigning planned budgetary actions to ensure that they are in taxpayers' interests.
• Preparing together for potential budget stresses and fiscal challenges.
• Critically and constantly measuring our practices against our policies.
• Performing quarterly performance evaluations agency-wide to measure success and flag areas needing improvement.
• Regularly engaging external partners for feedback and assessments.
• Opening our doors to Connecticut students and workers for apprenticeships, internships, and career pathways.

For an inside look at what it's like to work as an employee for the State of Connecticut, please watch the video below!

Important Note

Candidate selected for an interview must provide the following at the time of interview:

State Employees

• Two (2) most recent performance evaluations
• Completed CT-HR-13

Non-State Employees

• Two (2) professional references contact information including name, email and phone number (at least one being a current and/or previous supervisor)
• Completed CT-HR-13

Candidates who have been selected for employment with the Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection are subject to a detailed background investigation, including a fingerprint supported state and federal criminal history record check along with reference checks. Selection for employment is contingent upon satisfactory completion of the background investigation. The CT-HR-13 can also be found on the DAS website http://portal.ct.gov/das by typing in "CT-HR-13" into the "Search Department of Administrative Services" search field. Also considered in this selection process: Any pending or disciplinary history within the past 2 years and review of attendance records.

PURPOSE OF JOB CLASS (NATURE OF WORK)

In a state agency this class is accountable for independently performing a full range of general clerical functions or for carrying out responsibility for the flow and completion of clerical work in an assigned area.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES

• TYPING:
  • Types a variety of materials in relation to other duties or as assigned;
  • Enters and retrieves data on computers, tablets, and other electronic equipment.
• FILING:
  • Sets up and maintains office procedures, filing and indexing systems and forms for own use.
• CORRESPONDENCE:
  • Composes routine correspondence.
• REPORT WRITING:
  • Compiles and generates recurrent technical, statistical or financial reports requiring judgment in the selection and presentation of data (format).
• INTERPERSONAL:
  • Provides general information and referral services in response to citizen complaints or questions regarding an agency's services or authority;
  • Responds to inquiries from other work units or departments/agencies;
  • Applies agency policies and state statutes and regulations in determining case status or responding to requests for procedural assistance;
  • May lead lower level employees in carrying out assigned clerical functions.
• PROCESSING:
  • Maintains calendars of due dates and initiates recurring work or special clerical projects accordingly;
  • Processes a variety of documents in determining routine case status;
  • Exercises discretion in choosing appropriate follow through procedures within defined guidelines including assembling and reviewing incoming materials for accuracy, completeness and conformance to established guidelines and agency policy and procedures, verifying information through use of internal resources and contacts with sender and other work units and soliciting additional information as required by correspondence;
  • Processes purchase requisitions/purchase orders for subsequent action;
  • Prepares payment lists and billing invoices;
  • Receives shipments of materials and matches/verifies shipment or billing invoices against original purchase orders;
  • Maintains files, journals or account ledgers by posting credits, expenditures, interest, etc.;
  • Figures payments, costs, discounts and adjustments using prescribed methods and formulas;
  • Receives monies in various forms such as cash, checks and money orders and prepares for deposit;
  • Maintains inventory and orders supplies;
  • Uses a variety of electronic equipment to perform job functions.
• Performs related duties as required.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND ABILITY

• Knowledge of office systems and procedures including proper telephone usage and filing;
• Skills
  • interpersonal skills;
  • oral and written communication skills;
  • performing arithmetical computations;
• Ability to
  • perform a full range of clerical tasks;
  • operate office equipment which includes computers, tablets, and other electronic equipment;
  • operate office suite software;
  • schedule and prioritize workflow;
  • read and interpret complex instructions.

Minimum Qualifications - General Experience

Two (2) years of general clerical work experience.

Minimum Qualifications - Substitutions Allowed

College training may be substituted for the General Experience on the basis of fifteen (15) semester hours equalling one/half (1/2) year of experience to a maximum of two (2) years.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience providing administrative or legal support in an office environment, including records processing, case tracking, or document management systems.
• Experience managing competing priorities and meeting deadlines in a professional setting, including coordinating multiple concurrent tasks and maintaining established workflows and timelines.
• Experience with professional written and verbal communication in a legal, government, or regulatory environment.
• Experience with handling confidential and sensitive information with discretion.
• Experience using Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, or Outlook, to enter, maintain, and retrieve data within electronic record-tracking systems or databases.
• Experience with FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) or public records requests, subpoenas, or legal intake processes.
• Experience with government or quasi-government agency operations.

Special Requirements

Persons having responsibility for supervising or observing the behavior of inmates or custodial individuals will be required to possess a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) certification by the time of permanent appointment.

AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

As defined by Sec. 5-196 of the Connecticut General Statutes, a job class is a position or group of positions that share general characteristics and are categorized under a single title for administrative purposes. As such, a job class is not meant to be all-inclusive of every task and/or responsibility.