This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/485144200. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) works to protect the health and value of American agriculture and natural resources. APHIS, International Services (IS) supports this mission in an international environment by safeguarding the health of animals, plants, and ecosystems in the United States; facilitating safe agricultural trade; ensuring effective and efficient management of internationally-based programs; and investing in international capacity-building through training programs that enhance technical, administrative, and diplomatic skills and competencies. APHIS' international mission is to protect and promote U.S. agricultural health through internationally based animal and plant health expertise.
APHIS IS seeks candidates for the APHIS Foreign Service (FS) training and employment initiative. Upon completion of the training program and fulfillment of mandatory qualifications, and concurrence of APHIS senior leadership, the successful candidates will enter the APHIS FS workforce. The training program is headquartered (duty station) in Riverdale (MD). Occasional travel may take place to other APHIS offices located around the United States – Washington (DC), Fort Collins (CO), Ames (IA), and Raleigh (NC), as well as other areas in which APHIS conducts its business. In addition, the capstone of the training will include a temporary tour of duty assignment for the candidate of up to a month at an APHIS international post to experience the actual duties of an APHIS Foreign Service Officer (FSO).
Salary Information: First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lowest rate of the salary range for the grade selected.
This is a term appointment not to exceed 24 months, although trainee appointments may be extended up to a total of four years. For more details click: Term Appointments
APHIS is an emergency response agency. This means that all Agency employees may be asked or assigned to participate in rotating temporary duty assignments to support emergency programs at some time during their careers with APHIS. For details click: APHIS Emergency Response
11/27/2017 to 12/08/2017
$66,510 - $103,639 per year
GS 11
75% or less - Domestic and international travel may be required to complete program.
No
Term
Full-Time
12
0401 General Natural Resources Management And Biological Sciences
No
24IS-APHIS-MA-2018-0123
485144200
In a developmental capacity, the incumbent is expected to accomplish the skills and abilities below under the general supervision of the Program supervisor, with input from APHIS Subject Matter Experts:
Special Conditions:
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including the following specialized experience and/or education, as identified by grade level.
BASIC REQUIREMENT:
Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
OR
Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, AT THE GS-11 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-09 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates experience assisting with or performing work in one or more of the following four areas:
• Trade facilitation (developing and working with technical regulations in the promotion of trade or business expansion); or
• Safeguarding (providing guidance and/or technical expertise to protect the United States agriculture from unwanted pests and diseases entering the United States ); or
• Capacity building (negotiating and enforcing agreements; resolving technical, sanitary, or phytosanitary barriers; pursuing the development of rules-based international systems); or
• Experience ensuring the effective and efficient management of internationally-based programs.
OR
3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position
Equivalent combinations of education and experience are qualifying for this grade level.
TRANSCRIPTS are required if:
COMBINATION OF EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-11 GRADE LEVEL: Applicants may have combinations of successfully completed education and specialized experience to meet total qualification requirements. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for that grade level. To learn more about combining education and experience for this series, click the following: [SELECT ONLY ONE LINK BELOW] Combining Education and Experience for Professional and Scientific Positions
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 can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Applications will be evaluated in accordance with Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Delegated Examining Procedures using category rating. The category rating procedure is used to rank and select eligible candidates. Applicants who meet basic minimum qualifications will be placed in one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. Within these categories, applicants eligible for veterans preference will receive selection priority over non-veterans. Category placement will be determined on applicants' quality of experience and the extend they possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) or competencies:
Your application will be reviewed to determine if you meet (a) minimum qualification requirements and (b) the resume supports the answers provided to the job-specific questions. Your resume must clearly support your responses to all the questions addressing experience and education relevant to this position.
Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to and including removal from the Federal Service.
ASSESSMENT PROCESS
This is a multi-phase assessment process. All the qualified applicants from initial USAJOBS assessment will be invited to participate in an Assessment Center for further consideration.
The Assessment Center will include tests of the candidates’ skills in a series of written, group and oral exams. The successful candidates will demonstrate the skills, abilities, and qualities deemed essential to the work of the Foreign Service - interpersonal, intellectual, leadership, client service, communication, and technical knowledge.
The Assessment Center will take place January 29th – February 9th, 2018, in the APHIS facility in Riverdale (MD). Invited candidates are responsible for all costs associated with traveling to and from the Assessment Center. APHIS will not reimburse any costs associated with the candidate’s Assessment Center participation.
Following the Assessment Center, the candidates’ performances will be evaluated and the results will be combined with the questionnaire from USAJobs. At this time, the Human Resource Specialist will produce a certificate of eligibles. After reviewing the combined results, the most qualified candidates will be asked to participate in an additional phase of the assessment process, known as “APHIS Day”.
APHIS Day will consist of APHIS management and program officials evaluating the candidates for their ability to represent APHIS and its programs worldwide. For APHIS Day, APHIS management has decided that costs associated with travel to attend this part of the assessment will be borne by APHIS. It is estimated that APHIS Day will occur at least four weeks after the conclusion of the Assessment Center.
The hiring supervisor will use this certification to fill any vacancy for the APHIS FSTP. Selections will remain in effect for two years on roster list.
The following documents are required for your application to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in mail service, your system failure or downtime, etc. Encrypted and digitally signed documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
NOTE If a document is resubmitted, it replaces the previous submission, which means the previous document is no longer available to the Human Resources Office. If you are adding to, rather than replacing a previous submission, you must upload both the old document and the new document. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded resumes must be less than 3MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, or Word (DOC or DOCX).
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin. The following instructions outline our application process.
Step 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not already have one) at www.usajobs.gov. It is recommended that as part of your profile you set up automatic email notification to be informed when the status of your application changes. If you choose not to set up this automatic notification, then you will have to log into your USAJOBS account to check on the status of your application.
Step 2: Create a Resume with USAJOBS or upload a Resume into your USAJOBS account. You may want to customize your resume to ensure it documents duties and accomplishments you have gained that are directly related to this position in order to verify that qualifications are met. In addition, your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire (you may preview the online questionnaire by clicking on the link at the end of the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement).
Step 3: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the Occupational Questionnaire and attach any additional documents that may be required. You can update your application or documents anytime while the announcement is open. Simply log into your USAJOBS account and click on "Application Status." Click on the position title, and then select "Update Application” to continue.
If you set up your USAJOBS account to send automatic email notifications, you will receive an email acknowledging: 1) the submission of your online Occupational Questionnaire and resume was successful, 2) if you were referred to the selecting official for consideration, and 3) if you were selected or not selected. If you choose not to set up automatic email notifications, you must check your USAJOBS account for the latest status of your application. Your application may be reviewed to verify that you meet the qualifications and eligibility requirements for the position prior to issuing lists to a selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. We expect to make a final job offer within 40 days after the closing date of the announcement.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/485144200. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
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You can make a difference! The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP) needs bright, energetic and committed professionals to facilitate the domestic and international marketing of U.S. agricultural products and to protect the health and care of animals and plants in the United States. MRP offers an array of occupations and is committed to diversity in the workplace. We operate in domestic and global markets. Be part of an organization that protects the health and agriculture of the American people. Join our team!
USDA is a great place to start or continue your career. USDA is ranked as one of the top 10 "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government" by the Partnership for Public Service (http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/overall/large). Rankings are based on employee feedback regarding satisfaction with their work experience.