Clarification from the agency

Current Federal employees with competitive status. Former competitive service Federal employees with reinstatement eligibility. Current Excepted service employees in agencies with an active interchange agreement. Those eligible under Schedule A, 30% Compensable veterans, VEOA, or other non-competitive hiring authority. Proof of eligibility must be included with your application.

As a GS-15, full performance Associate Ombudsman, you will perform the following duties:

• Serve as a confidential, neutral, independent, informal resource for preventing, addressing and resolving conflict.
• Provide options to avoid and resolve highly complex and often very high level workplace conflicts and issues bought to his/her attention and informally seeks the resolution of problems and differences between employees, supervisors, and other Departmental officials (career and political) and programs to facilitate effective problem resolution and prevention – in an non-advocacy role
• Provide informal communication channels between affected parties and uses applicable alternative dispute resolution techniques (individual and group facilitations, coaching, mediations, shuttle diplomacy, organizational transformation consultations, referrals, team building and group support) to minimize the escalation of conflict and achieve conflict resolution and problem solving.
• Maintain ongoing review and analysis of lines of organizational communication, making specific recommendations to senior leaders on how best to continue effective, open lines of communication between employees, managers, and supervisors at all levels.
• Maintain statistical data, analyzes systemic problems and identifies patterns of conflict, emerging policy issues and recurring problems.
• Advise and makes recommendations to The Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Chief of Staff, other senior leaders, and management of all levels to implement processes and procedures designed to assure a systematic approach for dealing with problems and issues affecting employees and the interests of the Agency.
• Review, analyzes and evaluates all sides of an issue in an informed and unbiased fashion.
• Work with all Departmental officials, including the Office of the Secretary, Chief Human Capital Office, Civil Rights, Hearings and Appeals, General Counsel, Security, etc., on issues falling within their purview and regarding questions or concerns with policies and procedures, as appropriate.
• Advise and make recommendations to The Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Chief of Staff, other senior leaders, and management of all levels to implement processes and procedures designed to assure a systematic approach for dealing with problems and issues affecting employees and the interests of the Agency.
• Responds to inquiries and requests for information from Department employees, managers/supervisors, and executives as well as inquiries from outside the Department on a wide range of organizational and/or employee-related issues.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a United States Citizen.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males must abide by Selective Service registration requirements.
• Resumes, supporting documentation, and response must be submitted online.
• This position is not included in a Bargaining Unit.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

• Eligible candidates for this position must be able to obtain and maintain a DOE Q/Top Secret clearance.
• Must be able to pass a pre-employment drug test screening and random drug test screenings thereafter.
• Selectee must submit a Financial Disclosure form OGE 450.

Qualifications

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in the Federal service. Specialize is defined as:

For the GS-14 grade level, you must have one year of experience at the GS-13 grade level performing the following:

• Experience serving as a mediator, resolving conflict, disagreements and personnel disputes and providing options of resolution to involved parties, and
• Experience assisting in the design and participate in implementing integrated conflict resolution systems, and
• Experience collaborating with staff, supervisors/managers, executives, and other supporting resource programs to resolve complex and sensitive workplace conflicts, and
• Experience assisting in development of solutions to a variety of organizational issues including those related to dispute resolution programs, processes and procedures.

For the GS-15 grade level, you must have one year of experience at the GS-14 grade level performing the following:

• Experience serving as a mediator, resolving conflict, disagreements and personnel disputes and providing options of resolution to involved parties, and
• Experience designing and implementing integrated conflict resolution systems and methods to address a variety of organizational issues including those related to dispute resolution programs, processes and procedures, and
• Experience collaborating with staff, supervisors/managers, executives, and other supporting resource programs to resolve complex and sensitive workplace conflicts, and
• Experience responding to inquiries and requests for information from Department staff, supervisors/managers, and executives on organizational and/or employee-related issues.

Your application and resume should demonstrate that you possess the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). Do not provide a separate narrative written statement. Rather, you must describe in your application how your past work experience demonstrates that you possess the KSAs identified below. Cite specific examples of employment or experience contained in your resume and describe how this experience has prepared you to successfully perform the duties of this position. DO NOT write "see resume" in your application!

1. Mastery of organizational management principles and practices in order to identify complex, difficult problems and recommend practical, effective solutions and approaches for dealing with them. 
2. Experience and ability analyzing organizational data, developing theories, and making decisions or recommendations to senior leaders regarding organizational trends and systemic issues.
3. Skilled in supervisory, counseling and negotiating practices in order to communicate effectively with employees, supervisors/managers and executives on a wide variety of complex issues that are highly sensitive or emotional in nature.
4. Expert knowledge of federal human resource system and federal administrative regulations and procedures.
5. Expertise in using relevant alternative dispute resolution techniques to address problems and complaints.
6. Mastery of the principles, practices and procedures of the Ombudsman profession.
7. Ability to analyze broad and complex management and operational problems to provide advice and to facilitate communication with affected parties.
8. Ability to make clear and convincing oral and written presentations and to select and present information to individuals and groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

Time-in-Grade: Current Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement to receive consideration.

CTAP/ICTAP candidates: To be considered "well qualified" you must meet all of the requirements as described in this section.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

The Department of Energy uses an application tracking system to evaluate the responses you provide in the applicant assessment questionnaire to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications necessary for this position. Then, the HR Office and/or Subject Matter Expert (SME) will conduct a quality review of your application and supporting documentation to determine if your qualifications meet the criteria for referral to the selecting official.

We will also verify that you are eligible for Merit Promotion positions by reviewing your previous Federal employment to ensure you meet Time-in-Grade requirements. If you are eligible to apply to Merit Promotion announcements based on Veteran or other non-competitive statuses, we will verify your supporting documentation prior to referral.

If you are eligible for career transition assistance plans such as ICTAP or CTAP, you must meet the definition of "well qualified" which is defined as having a score of 85 or better.

If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses you provided in your online questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation before the vacancy closes, you may be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score may be adjusted accordingly.
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