Retirement Benefits Counselor – Member Services Call Center

Description of Work

We are seeking a friendly, hard-working call center representative to join our growing team! This is a full-time position (40 hours per week) with State Benefits, including health insurance, paid vacation, paid sick time, paid holidays, as well as retirement.

Each employee will have the opportunity to work remote AFTER orientation & completion of training classes, based on competencies displayed. Remote work is rotational on a 2-week basis. The starting salary for this position is limited up to $53,601

All new Counselors will receive a thorough 6-week training course that covers all of the processes and programs that we offer. We will introduce you to statutes, death benefits, disability benefits, and retirement processes, as well as all the varieties of state and local public employment memberships. Our goal is to guide you in learning all aspects of this job to make you feel confident as an expert in retirement benefits!

Our Retirement Benefits Counselor positions function within the Call Center, located within the Member Services Section of our Retirement Systems Division. 

The Counselors will assist our members through phone calls and emails daily, with a high annual volume—last year more than 280,000 calls and 50,000 emails. 

Candidates chosen for this role will:

• Act as a liaison between all sections of the Retirement Division (payroll, disability, death processing) and our members.
• Respond to inbound calls and answer incoming emails as scheduled or requested using call center software and resources such as digital quick reference guide (DQR)
• Explain and apply interpretation of laws, codes, and procedural guidelines
• Understand and assess individual situations while applying current statute regulations and communicate the appropriate decision to involved parties.
• Educate, counsel, and advise benefit program options
• Provide technical assistance to agencies and HR professionals regarding various retirement systems.
• Assist in training of new personnel by buddy program, side-by-side monitoring, etc.
• Participate in process improvement assignments/enhancements and TEAM building exercises.

About Us: 

The Department of State Treasurer’s campus is located on Atlantic Avenue, is surrounded by many shopping centers and restaurants, has access to a 24-hour 7-day a week free gym on the campus, and offers a competitive benefit package, and has free employee parking!

The Member Service’s section provides the full range of retirement education, correspondence services, and one-on-one counseling/training for all members and employers concerning retirement and disability benefits, statutory provisions, new legislation, and information supporting the effectiveness of these efforts. This section includes the Call Center and the Education Retirement Group.

• This is a continuous posting; applications are screened weekly for qualified candidates so response for interview will be timely. **

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities / Competencies

Qualified candidates must document on the application that they possess all of the following: 

• Demonstrated ability to learn different systems and databases quickly and efficiently.
• Ability to learn general retirement processes and procedures.
• Excellent customer service skills, with patience and empathy, and effective and strategic written and verbal interaction.
• Multi-task, set priorities and manage time effectively to adapt to an ever-changing work environment.
• Test, trouble-shoot, and problem solve administrative and member-facing systems for functionality and effectiveness.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office specifically PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook.

The ideal candidate will have: 

Experience interpreting and communicating employee benefits, relevant experience in a call center, or both! Caring about the members and their questions and moving them to 

find a resolution is our top priority and what we need to add to our growing team!

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

Some state job postings say you can qualify by an “equivalent combination of education and experience.” If that language appears below, then you may qualify through EITHER years of education OR years of directly related experience, OR a combination of both. See oshr.nc.gov/experience-guide for details. 

Bachelor’s degree from an appropriately accredited institution and two (2) years of experience related to the area of assignment;

OR

an equivalent combination of training and experience.

Supplemental and Contact Information

• PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION ON-LINE USING THIS WEBSITE *

This position is subject to a criminal history background check through CastleBranch. In addition, one or more of the following may also be reviewed, depending on the nature and requirements of the position: employment history, professional references, credit history, and educational verification (i.e., degree, license, or official transcript). Foreign degrees may require an official evaluation for U.S. equivalency. Applicants will be required to pass the background check to the satisfaction of the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer. All offers of employment are conditional until the satisfactory completion of the background check.

This office uses the Merit-Based Recruitment and Selection Plan to fill positions with highly qualified individuals. All applicants must complete and submit a State application for employment using the NEOGOV Online Job Application System (OSHR – Work for NC) for the State of North Carolina. To receive credit for your work history and credentials, you must list the information on the online application form. Any information omitted from the application cannot be considered in screening for qualifying credit. Attached or incorporated resumes (including Text resumes on application form) WILL NOT be used for screening for qualifying credit. Please make sure you complete the application in full.

“See Resume” or “See Attachment” will NOT be accepted. Other attachments will also be accepted, but not used in screening for qualifying credit. 

Due to the volume of applications received, we are unable to provide information regarding the status of your application over the phone. To check the status of your application, please log in to your account and click “Application Status”. It is not necessary to contact the Human Resources Office to check the status of an application.

Please note, if you received your high school diploma or college degree outside of the United States, you are required to have your education validated for US equivalency and submit a copy of all equivalency documentation to our office for review.

There are several organizations that perform this specialized service, feel free to use any service of your choosing. For your convenience a couple are listed below:

• International Education Research Foundation – (310) 258-9451 or www.ierf.org
• World Education Services Inc. – (212) 966-6311 or www.wes.org

If you are having technical issues submitting your application, please call the NeoGov Help Line at 855-524-5627. If there are any questions about this posting, other than your application status, please email Department of State Treasurer at HR@nctreasurer.com. 

NOTE: For temporary, contract or other supplemental staffing appointments:

There are no paid leave, retirement or other benefits associated with these appointment types.

For permanent and time-limited appointments:

Eligible employees have benefits that include employee health insurance options, standard and supplemental retirement plans, NC Flex (a variety of high-quality, low-cost benefits on a pre-tax basis), and paid vacation, sick, and community service leave, to name a few. Paid parental leave is available for eligible employees. Some benefits require 30 + hours work/week for participation.

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