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Conditions of Employment
- You must be a U.S. Citizen.
- You must successfully complete a background investigation.
- A one-year probationary period may be required.
- You must sign a Pathways Agreement.
Applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is seeking bright, innovative, results-oriented individuals to join our Recent Graduates Program (RGP). The Recent Graduate Program is a one-year program that targets individuals who have recently graduated from qualifying educational institutions or programs. Successful applicants will be placed in a dynamic, one-year career development program. Throughout the program, you will participate in formal training, job assignments and receive a mentor to develop competencies applicable to the Bureau of Economic Analysis's mission and needs. These positions are at the band I/II/III entry levels, with an opportunity for permanent appointment upon successful completion of the program.
To be eligible for conversion to a permanent or term position, Recent Graduates must:
- Successfully completed at least 1-year of continuous service in addition to all requirements of the Program.
- Demonstrate successful job performance.
- Meet the Office of Personnel Management’s qualifications for the position to which the Recent Graduate will be converted.
This position is in the excepted service.
This is a non-bargaining unit position.
This position is eligible for telework; additional criteria will be required (e.g., supervisory approval).
A probationary period may be required. If non-competitively converted, the time spent as a Recent Graduate will count towards the probationary period.
Qualifications
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:
Basic Entry Requirements for All Grade Levels:
You must be a Recent College Graduates from qualifying institutions within two years of degree or certification (Veterans precluded by their military service obligation, will have up to six years to apply).
Students with a transcript with a degree confer date on or before December 31, 2019, will be considered for the Recent Graduate Program. Graduation / expect graduation date MUST be indicated on your resume.
A. Degree: economics, that included at least 21 semester hours in economics and 3 semester hours in statistics, accounting, or calculus.
-OR-
B. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in economics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. Evaluation of Experience Examples of qualifying experience include:
- individual economic research assignments requiring planning, information assembly, analysis and evaluation, conclusions and report preparation;
- supervisory or project coordination assignments involving a staff of professional economists, and requiring the evaluation and interpretation of economic information; or
- teaching assignments in a college or university that included both class instruction in economics subjects and one of the following (1) personal research that produced evidence of results, (2) direction of graduate theses in economics, or (3) service as a consultant or advisor on technical economics problems.
In addition to meeting the basic entry qualification requirements, applicants must have specialized experience and/or directly related education in the amounts shown below.
For the Band-II: You must have one year of experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the Band II or GS-07 grade level in the Federal service. Experience for this position includes individual economic research assignments; information assembly, analysis and evaluation, conclusions and report preparations; project coordination assignments involving professional or academic economists, and evaluation and interpretation of economic information.
OR
2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree.
For the Band-III: You must have one year of experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the Band II or GS-09 grade level in the Federal service. Experience for this position includes collecting economic data from primary or variety of sources; manipulating or analyzing economic data; investigating outliers in data; preparing reports on economic analyses; conducting independent research and preparing write-ups of findings; designing tables and charts to illustrate analyses and communicating economic concepts.
OR
3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree.
NOTE: To show proof of meeting the Basic Entry Requirements, all applicants MUST submit a copy of their college transcripts. See the Required Documents section for more information.
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.
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation will be reviewed to determine if you meet the minimum qualifications for the position. If you meet the minimum qualifications stated in the job opportunity announcement, we will compare your resume, optional cover letter and supporting documentation to your responses on the scored occupational questionnaire (True/False, Yes/No, Multiple Choice questions). Your resume and/or optional cover letter must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. The best-qualified candidates will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview.
How you will be evaluated for preference eligibility: Within each category, those entitled to veterans' preference will be listed at the top of the pre-defined category for which they are placed.
Preference eligibles with a service-connected disability of 10% or more will be listed at the top of the highest quality category (gold).
The scored occupational questionnaire will evaluate you on the following competencies; please do not provide a separate written response:
The following competencies are desirable at the full performance level of this position - Band III.
- Ability to compile data and use appropriate statistical techniques.
- Knowledge of economic theory.
- Ability to meet tight deadlines.
- Ability to perform economic research and document the results.
- Ability to design, code, and debug data processing algorithms.
For more information on category rating, please go to: http://www.hr.commerce.gov/s/groups/public/@doc/@cfpasa/@phrm/documents/content/prod01_009474.pdf
We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process.
Do NOT include the following types of information in your application:
- Social Security Number (SSN)
- Date of Birth (DOB)
- Photos of yourself (if included on your resume you will not be considered for this position)
- Personal information: such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.
To preview questions please click here.
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