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 filming, social media programming and web content.  Duties include:

• assisting with execution of exhibition media plans, press releases, media advisories, talking points and memos for media interviews and events;
• assisting in managing information and image requests from media;
• assisting in managing logistics, registration and interviews for museum events;
• assisting in managing media inquiries, press previews and press tours;
• compiling and maintaining daily news clips;
• maintaining clip files, ordering office supplies, completing purchase order requests and other forms for financial transactions; and
• assisting supervisor with creating PowerPoint presentations for various settings.

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

Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal Service or comparable pay band system.  For this position specialized experience is defined as responding to written requests for information from members of the media; experience writing press releases and/or talking points, preparing reports using Microsoft Office 365, including PowerPoint and Excel.

Or Education:  One full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement in a field related to this position may be substituted to meet the experience requirement.

Superior Academic Achievement Provisions: A Bachelor’s degree in any field, plus at least one of the following superior academic achievement provisions:

1. A grade-point average (GPA) of B (3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale) for all completed undergraduate courses, or courses completed in the last two years of undergraduate curriculum;
or

2. A grade-point average (GPA) of B+ (3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale) for the required courses in your major field of study, or required courses in your major completed in the last two years of undergraduate study; or

3. Rank in the upper one-third of your class in the college, university, or major completed in the last two years of  undergraduate study; or

4. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society, other than freshman honor societies.  Honor societies that have been approved are listed in the American College of
Honor Societies.  Booklet of Information (1992-95) and/or Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities (1991).

To verify your claim for this provision, please submit a college transcript(s) showing that you maintained a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 for all 4 years of undergraduate courses, or on all undergraduate courses completed during the final 2 years of your curriculum, including all transferred courses.

Note:  GPAs are to be rounded to one decimal place.  For example, 2.95 will round to 3.0 and 2.94 will round to 2.9.  If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) was taken on a pass/fail or similar basis, your claim must be based on class standing or membership in an honor society.

OR

Or a Combination:  Education and experience, in part, totaling 100% may be combined to meet the basic qualifications.

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.

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.

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.

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.
2. Knowledge of writing for media and producing media reports.
3. Skill in identifying and capturing the attention of strategically selected media organizations to rise 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.

If you are found qualified for this position and meet or exceed a predefined rating threshold from your questionnaire responses, you may be contacted by email to complete or submit additional assessments such as work samples, short essays, or other appropriate assessments within approximately one week of the job announcement closing. If you do not meet the rating threshold to move to the next evaluation stage, you will be notified promptly by email.

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.