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Economist - GS - 0110 - 14 (Open to U.S. Citizens) (SME)

Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

PLEASE NOTE: THIS VACANCY IS LIMITED TO THE FIRST 100 APPLICATIONS RECEIVED AND WILL CLOSE AT MIDNIGHT ON THE CLOSING DATE OR AT MIDNIGHT ON THE DAY WE RECEIVE THE 100TH APPLICATION, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST.

The Office of Transportation Policy Studies provides senior transportation officials with impartial and empirically-based insights into national policy options for cost-effectively improving the performance of our transportation system, and understanding the relationship between transportation policy choices and the economy.

The work that you do can save lives; save time; help your fellow citizens get to jobs, schools, and health care; enable fast and efficient delivery of goods and services; and help the government make every transportation investment dollar count. This is a particularly exciting time to be a transportation economist: automation and other technologies are potentially reshaping travel behavior and transportation economics. This is your opportunity to apply your economics skills to understanding what our highways and roadways may mean for all types of transportation – from cars and trucks, to busses, light rail, bicycles, pedestrians – technologies (piloted and robotic) – and even how they fit within the larger context of air, water, and rail transportation.

The ideal candidate for this position enjoys and excels at applied, data-driven research. Flexibility, creativity, curiosity, and a willingness to take initiative will help you to find—or to create—the projects that interest you the most ensure your research is effective in engaging senior leaders and shaping policy choices. Good time-management skills will enable you to juggle inevitably competing and changing demands and priorities in a dynamic policy environment. Good social skills will allow you to establish a close rapport with our leadership, and colleagues across the transportation community. Good communication skills will enable you to translate complex economic concepts and results into meaningful policy considerations.

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy may be used to fill similar positions within 60 days for these locations.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
01/11/2018 to 02/16/2018
Salary
$112,021 to - $145,629 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Washington DC, DC
1 vacancy
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Promotion potential
14
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Announcement number
FHWA.HPL-2018-0004
Control number
488382000

This job is open to

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Duties

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As an Economist, you will:

  • Identify key economic features associated with emerging transportation trends, technologies, modal options, vehicle markets, and markets for transportation service providers and propose analysis programs to improve FHWA understanding of these trends and their policy implications.
  • Design, build, maintain, and utilize models and datasets necessary to understand how geo-spatial socio-demographic and economic patterns shape transportation options -including mobility services – and the movement of people and goods under a range of potential future technologies and policy options.
  • Plan and execute a research program, including management of contracted research elements, to utilize available resources effectively in providing timely results responding to a range of high-priority questions about the relative importance of key assumptions, trends, or policy features.
  • Identify the significance of research findings for policy development and effectively and impartially communicate your findings to agency decision-makers, the public, and the research community.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must meet specialized experience to qualify.
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
  • Review Required Documents Section as documents are required by closing date
  • Announcement also advertised Status & VEOA Applicants FHWA.HPL-2018-0003.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
  • GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel. A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
  • DEU REQUIREMENTS: Applicants selected under delegated examining procedures may be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Education Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of transcripts for verification, AND (3) meet either the specialized experience requirements.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT:

To qualify for the GS-14, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equal or equivalent to the following:

  • Experience with advanced economic theories and quantitative research techniques applicable to analysis of markets with a geo-spatial component.

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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

Applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

MANDATORY EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

  • Degree: Economics, that include at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus. OR
  • Combination of education and experience--courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Additional information

Displaced employees may be eligible for ICTAP or CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review the OPM Employee's Guide to Career Transition.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) maintains a model federal work environment that is free of discrimination. DOT ensures equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), genetic information, age, disability, sexual orientation, or protected activity.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level.

If you meet the qualification requirements, your application will be placed in one of four categories: Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze, which is based upon your responses to the vacancy questions. Within these categories, applicants eligible for veteran's preference that have provided supporting documents will receive selection priority over non-veterans. The top rated applications will be reviewed for the quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position.

Your application will be rated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position. The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package. If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, your application may be updated or you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers. The Automated Staffing Office is ultimately responsible for determining your final rating.
To preview questions please click here.

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