Benefits Associate

POSITION SUMMARY

Interested in a career with the State of Illinois? Do you have strong administrative skills and an eye for detail? If you have experience with customer service, insurance, entering data into spreadsheets and databases, this could be the job for you. Strong organizational skills, analytical abilities, and working with people add to the skills that will help you succeed in this role.

This job offers the opportunity to support various teams within the Group Insurance Division with employee benefits and insurance programs, and other CMS administered programs within the Group Insurance Division.

• Under direct supervision, engages in on-the-job training, learning to perform member support duties in the field of employment benefits and insurance programs. Learns and applies associated laws, rules, and regulations on an ongoing basis.
• Develops effective communication skills through the answering of telephone calls and correspondence and other requests for information regarding group insurance benefits and services to provide optimal customer service and facilitates meaningful and appropriate outcomes.
• Learns to utilize agency databases to locate information and provide efficient and accurate responses to inquiries and to verify the status of inquiries and/or outcomes.
• Performs organizational office tasks in accordance with the established policies and procedures.
• Performs general clerical duties for various units within the Group Insurance Division.
• Coordinates with other areas in the Group Insurance Division to provide them with assistance performing equal level, related work when business needs or work volumes necessitate it.
• Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties enumerated above.

• Requires knowledge, skill, and mental development equivalent to the completion of two (2) years of college.
• Requires one (1) year of work experience in insurance administration, benefits administration, or human resources.

• Prefers one (1) + year professional experience with office methods and procedures, practices, and work principles.
• Prefers knowledge of employee benefit program within a private or public organization.
• Prefers one (1) + year experience assimilating and recalling relevant insurance rules and regulations.
• Prefers one (1) + year experience with personal computer programs/applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook, etc.
• Prefers one (1) + year professional experience evaluating facts/data/information with criteria and reaching reasonable decisions and conclusions.
• Prefers experience effectively relaying information verbally and in written form.
• Prefers one (1) + year of experience utilizing basic mathematics in an office setting.
• Prefers ability to receive, understand, and follow verbal or written instructions.
• Prefers ability to establish and maintain satisfactory working relationships with coworkers, clients, plan members, or other inquiring parties.

• Requires a valid driver’s license and the ability to travel.
• Requires ability to lift boxes of scanned material weighing up to 30 pounds.
• Requires completion of an Illinois State Police (ISP) fingerprint background check and self-disclosure of criminal history.
• Overtime is a condition of employment and may be required/mandated to work overtime including scheduled, unscheduled, or last-minute overtime.

The conditions of employment listed here are incorporated and related to any of the job duties as listed in the job description.

Central Management Services (CMS) is the operational engine working behind the scenes to enable the State’s more than 60 agencies, universities, boards, and commissions to deliver efficient, reliable service to all Illinois citizens. The Agency’s mission is to support the State by delivering innovative, responsive, and effective services that provide the best value for Illinois State government and the people it serves.

Among the services CMS provides are human resources facilitation; benefits programs for employees, retirees, and local governments; property…