Clarification from the agency

This position is open to all U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals (including Veterans recruitment). Excepted Service employees may also apply to this announcement.

The incumbent serves as Public Affairs Specialist within the Office of Public Affairs, Office of External Affairs, in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and is responsible for publicity, promotions, and marketing of the museum and its related exhibitions, programs, collections, initiatives and research as well as crisis communication, filming and liaison with Social Media and Web content gathering.  Duties include:

• responding in oral and written form to requests for information from members of the public, private organizations, media representatives, and the internal Office of External Affairs;
• researching, writing and editing news releases, fact sheets, photo credits and pitch letters/emails designed to attract media coverage for the museum;
• establishing and maintaining relationships with news media representatives in order to generate positive and high volume news coverage of the museum's activities and programs;
• managing Office of Public Affairs photo files, regularly monitoring the image collection and working with organizations requesting photos to ensure compliance with NMAAHC and SI policies regarding the use of photographs;
• handling logistics for all press briefings, securing appropriate furniture and needed equipment for media representatives and speakers;
• booking catering and photography services as needed for press briefings as well as making travel arrangements, ordering supplies and completing purchase orders; and
• developing and implementing radio programming to book curatorial staff on talk radio shows.

Conditions of employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Qualification requirements must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date.

Qualifications

You must meet at least ONE of the requirements described below:

Experience: You qualify for this position if you possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system.  For this position specialized experience is defined as: responding to oral and written requests for information from members of the media; coordinating filming and photography for media events; managing research projects, data collecting and reporting through using tools like Meltwater/Cision, TV Eyes, Smartsheet and Microsoft Office 365; and experience raising the visibility of African American history and culture--or the issues affecting African American communities.

Or Education:  Two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master’s or equivalent degree related to this position may be substituted to meet the experience requirements.

Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. For a full explanation of this option please see the Qualification Standards.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

1. Skill in planning and coordinating media interviews and television crews at media events that focus on issues for and about African American audiences and communities.
2. Knowledge of and experience writing and developing talking points, press releases, media plans, media event memos, media inquiry memos, media reports, news clips and media lists.
3. Skill in identifying and capturing the attention of strategically selected media organizations to raise the visibility of an African American museum, historical or cultural institution, and its programs—or to raise the visibility of a public policy initiative focused on issues impacting African American audiences and communities.
4. Ability to handle administrative projects and communicate effectively orally.
5. Ability to communicate in writing using correct and proper English grammar, spelling, capitalization, punctuation and terminology.
6. Skill in software applications, such as Microsoft Office Suite technology and office practices.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria:

Best Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above.

Better Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above.

Good Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree.

This category rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position.

Important Note: Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.