Experiences at Social Security Administration

I took the Civil Service test that was required, after going to Nght School to take some refresher classes in Typing and Mathematics, in which I scored an 87.5 on the Civil Servant's Test. I was then put on a waiting list to be hired by Social Security. However, I was so eager to be employed that I requested the scores to be "floated " to other agencies, so that I might be better able to be selected. Eventually, I was hired by The Internal Revenue Service , a temporary 3 month appointment, The United States Coast Guard Yard, another 3 month temporary appointment, and later the United States Department of Agriculture where I worked for approximately 2 years before finally being selected for Social Security. Which I feel gave me a bit more experience. While at Agriculture, I came in as a Typist, my supervisor felt that I would be best served by working in Statistics which is where I got the start that followed me through the years at Social Security. Most interesting in USDA, I worked on the Food Stamp Project during it's infancy days, and is in force until today. My beginnings at Social Security led me to meet some really nice co-workers who assisted me in learning the program. There was quite a bit to learn which was quite a different program itself from United States Department of Agriculture. Simply because this was Insurance! At this particular time, There was a drive on to become acclimated with Computers. The Group that I was hired with was called Office of Research and Statistics. Where all of the research of beneficiaries on the rolls of Social Security were reviewed for various programs that were in the Agency. We also did projections where we may have to determine how many groups of people would be on the Rolls in a given year and etc., for instance Widow, Widowers, Children and etc.

As far as automation coming into focus this is where the Computers were making an entrance, and old Data that was used had to be converted to used on the Computer, because there were compilations of certain Data that was used for Publications to be used by Washington, Colleges and etc.

As a result, there was a "push" to learn Computer usage, at various levels. Mainly being taught Computer Languages
so that we could manipulate data in different manners in order to get the desired results. To get to this level, we were required to take classes managed by the Administration, or go to some educational innstution that offered eu...

Rotated as receptionist, maintained filing system, ordered and received medical and school records for judges, monitored and scheduled hearings, typed letters to claimants, dictated letters and typed letters from dictation, input data in the office tracking system

Interviewed claimants and assisted them with filing for Social Security retirement or disability, or low income payments. Customer service.

Responsible for daily receipts in the Area Office of vouchers, mail, time reports and personnel actions. Prepared weekly staffing reports and progress reports on assignments and projects. Accountable for acting as liaison between managers and district offices. Maintained inventory and prepared procurement requisitions and records of purchases....