Program Support Officer

Important messages

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Assessment accommodation

When you apply to this selection process, you are not applying for a specific job, but to an inventory for future vacancies. As positions become available, applicants who meet the qualifications may be contacted for further assessment.

The Federal Public Service is stronger and most effective when we reflect the diversity of the Canadian population we serve. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is dedicated to building and promoting a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce, representative of Canadian society. All candidates who believe they are qualified are encouraged to apply, including Black, other racialized and Indigenous peoples, women, persons with disabilities and persons of the LGBTQ2+ community.

On October 6, 2021, the Government of Canada announced its plans to require vaccination across the federal public service.

As per the new Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, federal public servants in the Core Public Administration and members of the RCMP must attest to their vaccination status. The requirement for employees to be fully vaccinated applies whether they are teleworking, working remotely or working on-site. This is a condition of employment. Accommodation requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and will be limited to employees who are unable to be vaccinated due to a certified medical contraindication, religion or any other prohibited ground of discrimination as defined in the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA).

*** IMPORTANT TO READ ***

Please note that the selection process has been simplified and you must answer questions that will be used to assess ALL advertised qualifications except the ability to communicate orally and the bilingual language requirement. Your ability to communicate effectively in writing will also be assessed through the application questionnaire.

In answering these questions, you must provide concrete, detailed examples that clearly illustrate HOW you meet the requirement. Failure to clearly explain how you meet the criteria will result in the rejection of your application.

Duties

Program Support Officers are responsible for providing prompt and accurate information to a countrywide client base. The team professionally interacts with our clients/stakeholders to provide the best possible customer experience. The main responsibilities are:
• Manage inbound calls and correspondence in a timely manner
• Identify caller needs, clarify information, research every issue, and provide solutions and/or alternatives
• Accurately document all conversations in the appropriate database in a comprehensible way

If you are highly motivated, quick learner, quality oriented, customer focused, and able to thrive in a fast paced, high volume environment this work is for you! If you possess strong communication skills, excellent customer service skills, problem-solving skills, and information gathering from various systems requiring strong computer-keyboarding skills, we want you in our team!

These positions may require the use of a headset for prolonged periods, working in an environment that contains background noise and constant exposure to a computer screen. Work conditions require adapting to change, dealing with stress, and dealing with potentially angry clients. This is where your strong communication skills and problem-solving skills will come handy!

Work environment

WORK LOCATION

Presently, the official location (designated workplace*) of the positons to be staffed is 200 Montcalm Street (Gatineau) in the National Capital Region (NCR). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Learning Branch employees are required to work from home. When an eventual return to the workplace will be possible, there may be, at the manager’s discretion or based on operational requirements, a continued option or requirement to work from the office or from a different ESDC location or from an employee’s residence located in Canada.

* Designated workplace: location of work or business address where the employee would work if a telework, hoteling or remote working arrangement were not in place.

Intent of the process

This inventory will be used to establish a partially qualified pool of candidates within Employment and Social Development Canada which may be used to staff positions at the PM-02 level with various linguistic profiles (BBC, BBB, CBC, English Essential and English or French essential), various security profiles and various tenures.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

EDUCATION
• Secondary school diploma or an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
• Experience in using technology (e.g. e-mail, Internet and word processing)
• Experience in delivering services or programs to the general public involving obtaining and providing information requiring explanation or clarification

ABILITIES
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing
• Ability to analyze and solve problems

PERSONAL SUITABILITIES
• Judgment
• Effective interpersonal skills
• Client focus

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

ASSET QUALIFICATIONS

EXPERIENCE
• Experience working with the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program
• Experience working with the Canada Education Savings Program
• Recent* experience working in a high volume in-bound** call centre.

*Recent experience is defined as experience that would normally be associated with the performance of these duties within the last year.
**An inbound call centre is a central service or group of people whose almost exclusive function is to provide an appropriate response to a large number of enquiries for information and advice initiated by clients.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Bilingual - Imperative (BBC/BBC)

Information on language requirements

Second Language Writing Skills Self-Assessment
In order to help you decide if you should apply to a bilingual position, an optional self-assessment of your writing skills in your second official language is available for you to take before completing your application.

For more information, please consult:
Unsupervised Internet Test of Second Language Writing Skills

ABILITIES
• Ability to communicate effectively orally

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS

Employment and Social Development Canada is committed to Employment Equity (EE). In order to achieve a representative workforce, selection may be based on qualified candidates self-declaring as belonging to one or more of the following EE designated groups: Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, women and visible minorities. We encourage you to indicate if you belong to one or more of the designated groups by completing the EE section in your application.

Conditions of employment

Reliability Status security clearance

Work day consists of 7.5 hours a day, and the call center is open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Employees must be available to work between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM: rotation of work hours within the call center opening hours may be required.

No work hours outside of the call center opening hours can be accommodated.

Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and attest to their vaccination status or have a supported accommodation measure based on a medical contraindication, religion, or any other prohibited ground for discrimination as defined under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

EVALUATION
Persons are entitled to participate in the appointment process in the official language of their choice. Applicants are asked to indicate their preferred official language in their application.

Please note that asset qualification or a random selection may be used to identify which applications will be given further consideration.

Applicants may be appointed to the position even though he/she does not meet any or all of the asset qualifications. However, meeting these criteria is desirable and may be a deciding factor in choosing the person to be appointed. In the event that there are as many applicants who meet the essential qualifications as there are vacancies, the manager may decide not to assess some or all of the asset qualifications.

COMMUNICATION
Candidates will be contacted and invited to assessments via email. It is imperative that you provide a valid email address that accepts email from unknown users (some messaging systems block these types of correspondence). Candidates are responsible for checking their emails, as well as their junk emails, regularly. In addition, you need to inform us of any changes to your contact information. If you fail to follow these recommendations, you may be eliminated from the selection process.

Acknowledgment of receipt of applications will not be sent.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans first and then to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.