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Public Affairs Specialist

Department of Homeland Security
Transportation Security Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Securing Travel, Protecting People - At the Transportation Security Administration, you will serve in a high-stakes environment to safeguard the American way of life. In cities across the country, you would secure airports, seaports, railroads, highways, and/or public transit systems, thus protecting America's transportation infrastructure and ensuring freedom of movement for people and commerce. For additional information about our agency please: Click Here

This position is also being announced through Government-Wide procedure under Announcement #HQ-SCPA-18-435890-G. Candidates who wish to be considered under both Public (US Citizens) and Government-Wide procedures must apply to both announcements.

Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
04/06/2018 to 04/16/2018
Salary
$45,495 to - $68,316 per year
Pay scale & grade
SV F
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Herndon, VA
1 vacancy
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Promotion potential
G
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Secret
Announcement number
HQ-SCPA-18-435890-P
Control number
496007100

This job is open to

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Duties

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This Public Affairs Specialist position is located in the Social Care Branch, External Communications Division, within the Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs (OSCPA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If selected for this position, you will be responsible for responding to questions, comments, and concerns from the public regarding TSA policies, initiatives, and programs utilizing various social media platforms. Typical assignments include but are not limited to:

  • Providing accurate and appropriate responses to the public regarding TSA policies, practices, and programs through various social media platforms.
  • Utilizing precedence and knowledge of Public Affairs programs to ensure work appropriately portrays the agency's agenda.
  • Identifying social media trends to prepare communications on behalf of TSA.
  • Developing partnerships and building relationships with industry, airport, and TSA stakeholders to share information and best practices and/or assist passengers. Leveraging relationships in order to achieve goals of the program office.
  • Participating and contributing to project teams in order to develop resolutions to problems and issues with broad impact.
  • Conducting extensive research, developing plans and assisting with the implementation of a variety of public affairs projects and programs.
  • Providing input and formulating general documents, communications, presentations, and responses for division level communications that may impact multiple organizations and program goals.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • You must possess U.S. Citizenship or be a U.S. National.
  • You must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
  • Selective Service registration is required.
  • This position is emergency/essential/exempt.
  • See additional "Conditions of Employment" in "Other Information" section

You must meet the qualification requirements for this position no later than the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

Qualifications

To qualify for the SV-F Pay Band (equivalent to GS-5/7/9), you must meet one of the qualification requirements (A, B, OR C) outlined below. A. Experience: For those qualifying using experience, your application must clearly outline three (3) years of progressively responsible general experience, one year of which was equivalent to at least the SV-E Pay Band or GS-4 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as:

  • Analyzing problems to contribute to improving processes and programs;
  • Communicating orally and in writing to relay information to internal/external customers.

OR

B. Education: A four year course of study leading to a Bachelor's or higher-level degree in any field from an accredited college or university.

OR

C. Combining Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements, and may be computed by first determining the total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the position; then determining the education as a percentage of the education required for the position; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for the position.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: Education at the graduate level in an accredited college or university in the amounts indicated above meets the requirements for this position. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. One (1) year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Applicants who meet the qualifications listed above based on education or a combination of education and experience must provide proof of education, such as a list of completed college courses or the date and school of degree (including the number of semester or quarter hours) or transcript(s) from an accredited college or university. The information must be provided as an attachment to the application by the closing date of the announcement.

If selected, you must supply an official transcript(s) or certification of degree.


Note: Credit for experience is given based on a 40-hour workweek. Part-time experience is credited on a part-time ratio, i.e., working 20 hours per week for two months equals one month of experience. No additional credit is given for overtime. 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.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Additional information

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
  • Employee is subject to a rotational shift of 10 hour days, four days a week at the Transportation Security Operations Center.
  • Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8a.m. to 10p.m. ET and weekends and holidays from 9a.m. to 7p.m.
  • Position is emergency/essential/exempt.
This position is located at the Freedom Center in Herndon, VA.

Salary range listed includes Locality Pay of 28.22%.

Eligibility to apply for other Federal positions: TSA is an Excepted Service agency exempt from most of Title 5 United States Code, including regulations which apply to displaced Federal employees (CTAP/ICTAP) of other agencies, and employment with TSA does not confer "Competitive Status" that generally results from selection and service in Competitive Service agencies. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has established an Interchange Agreement, which allows most permanent TSA employees to apply and be considered for vacancies in Competitive Service agencies. Information from OPM on this or other Interchange Agreements is available at: http://www.opm.gov.

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 as a condition of placement into this position.

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.

If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.

TSA employees who are absent for the purpose of performing military duty may apply for any vacancies announced in their absence.

It is the policy of the Government not to deny employment simply because an individual has been unemployed or has had financial difficulties that have arisen through no fault of the individual. Information about an individual’s employment experience will be used only to determine the person’s qualifications and to assess his or her relative level of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Although an individual’s personal conduct may be relevant in any employment decision, including conduct during periods of unemployment or evidence of dishonesty in handling financial matters, financial difficulty that has arisen through no fault of the individual will generally not itself be the basis of an unfavorable suitability or fitness determination. For more information, click here.

Payment of relocation expenses (Permanent Change of Station) is not authorized.

More than one position may be filled from this announcement.

If you are entering TSA employment on an appointment without time limitations, you must serve a basic trial period unless you have already met the requirement.

TSA policy requires verification of Selective Service registration for male applicants born after 12/31/59. For more information click here.

View common definitions of terms found in this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on a comparison of the position requirements against the quality and extent of the experience and/or related education as reflected in your resume and supporting documentation. You are encouraged to ensure work experiences clearly show possession of the competencies required for this position. We will compare your resume and supporting documentation to your responses on the assessment questionnaire. If, after reviewing your resume and any supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your category placement may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.

When completing the assessment questionnaire for this position, you will be prompted to elect if you wish for your application to be considered as External (where Veterans’ Preference applies), as Status (current or former Federal Employees), and/or Internal to TSA as a current permanent or competitive temporary employee. At that time, please select the answer(s) that apply to you and your application to this position.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Grouping procedures. Under Category Grouping, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

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 Desirable (Quality Ranking) Factors as determined by the job analysis.

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 as determined by the job analysis.

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 as determined by the job analysis.

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 or 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 .
To preview questions please click here.

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