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Congressional Affairs Specialist

Department of Homeland Security
Federal Emergency Management Agency
This job announcement has closed

Summary

When disaster strikes, America looks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Now FEMA looks to you. Join our team and use your talent to support Americans in their times of greatest need. FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages Federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. We foster innovation, reward performance and creativity, and provide challenges on a routine basis with a well-skilled, knowledgeable, high performance workforce. Please visit www.fema.gov for additional information.

The ideal candidate for this position has experience working as a legislative staffer for a Member of US House of Representatives, United States Senator or a Congressional Committee. This position starts at a salary of $79,720 (GS-12) with promotion potential to the $123,234 (GS-13). Apply for this exciting opportunity to become a member of the Office of External Affairs team within FEMA.

Future promotions will be dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, the continuing need for an employee assigned to the higher level, and administrative approval.

EMERGENCY ASSIGNMENT: Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

Overview

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Job canceled
Open & closing dates
04/12/2017 to 08/02/2017
Salary
$79,720 to - $103,639 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
Washington DC, DC
1 vacancy
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Occasional non-emergency travel may be required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Promotion potential
13
Supervisory status
No
Announcement number
FEMA-17-SGF-160231-DE
Control number
467702500

This job is open to

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Duties

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In this position, you will be responsible for supporting FEMA’s ongoing dialogue with Members of Congress and serve as liaison to Congress related to the Agency’s authorities, programs and policies.

Typical assignments include:

  • Assisting the Director, Deputy Director and Branch Chiefs of the Congressional Affairs Division in designing short and long-term proactive strategies to engage Members of Congress and their staffs and communicate the Agency’s mission, program, policies and procedures.
  • Recommending policy changes for review and ultimate distribution to Members of Congress and their staffs.
  • Participating with counterparts in development and implementation of congressional and legislative program strategies for highly visible or national priority program(s).

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
  • You must successfully pass a background investigation.
  • Selective Service registration required.
  • Please review "Other Information" section for additional key requirements.

You qualify for this position at the GS-12 level (starting salary $79,720) if you possess the following:
One full year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-11 level, that demonstrates experience working as a legislative staffer for a Member of US House of Representatives, United States Senator, or a Congressional Committee; or one year experience as a liaison from a department, agency, or business to Congressional stakeholders. All Previous experience should include a variety of assignments related to building /maintaining relationships with legislative offices; and communication and coordination activities with constituency groups and external audiences.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g. Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills, and provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Qualifications

The qualification requirements listed below must be met within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

NOTE: Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume. For a brief video on How to Create a Federal Resume, click here.

Current or former FEMA Reservists/DAE employees: To accurately credit your experience for these intermittent positions, make sure to list the dates (from MM/YY to MM/YY) of each deployment, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment. Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

Additional information

  • To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully pass a background investigation for Public Trust as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined (Mythbuster), a review of financial issues such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs. For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit the OPM website at https://www.opm.gov/investigations/background-investigations/.
  • DHS uses E-verify, an internet based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities.
  • This announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.
  • All candidates must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
  • A one year probationary period is required for new Federal competitive service employees and new supervisors and managers.
  • If selected for this position you will be required to attend a two week Emergency Manager Orientation (EMO) in Anniston, AL or Emmitsburg, MD. Travel is at FEMA’s expense and will occur from Sunday to Friday.
  • Veterans, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the documentation that is required, click on the links above or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement.
  • This is a Bargaining Unit position.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements. If you meet the minimum qualifications, we will use your responses to the job questionnaire to place you in one of three categories based on your experience, education and training. The competencies needed to perform this job are:

  • Technical Proficiency
  • Communication
  • Customer Service
  • Representing the Agency
  • Teamwork and Cooperation
If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be placed in one of the following categories:
  1. Best Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all Selective Placement Factors (SPF) and appropriate Quality Ranking Factors (QRF) as determined by the job analysis.
  2. Well Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrates acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all SPFs and appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis.
  3. Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, including all SPFs and appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis.
If you are best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview.

Veterans: Qualified veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% are listed in the best-qualified category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level, or higher. This position is not considered scientific/professional. Other 10-point preference eligibles and veterans with 5-point preference who meet the eligibility and qualification requirements are placed above non-preference eligibles within the category in which they qualify. View information on veterans' preference.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) Eligibles: If you have never worked for the federal government, you are not ICTAP eligible. View information about ICTAP eligibility on OPM’s Career Transition Resources website. To be considered eligible under ICTAP, you must be placed in the "well-qualified" category for this position, as described above. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under the required documents section of this announcement.

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