Workforce Associate

Unemployment Benefits Associate

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 and employers, taking care of requests and concerns regarding resolutions on their unemployment claims. Will guide claimants through the initial and weekly filing process for unemployment insurance and help employers access their account. Will also resolve problems and errors for customers; provide supportive tasks and perform related work as required.

New hires will start at the base salary of $17.96 hourly, $1,436.80 bi-weekly, $37,356.80 annually.

Key Responsibilities in this position :

• Manages high-volume of inbound and outbound calls in a timely manner, in a call-center environment.
• Identify customers' needs, clarify information, research every issue, and provide solutions and / or alternatives for the customer.
• 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.
• Communicate with internal and external customers and answer questions from claimants and employers.
• Exercises good judgment and handles customer problems.

Essential Knowledge & Skills :

All new hires will participate in an intensive 3-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 :

Complete other duties as assigned.

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

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

If you're looking for a career with a well-respected organization that values its employees and customers, you've come to the right place!

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.

Graduation from an accredited area college with an Associate's Degree; OR 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; OR 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; OR 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.