Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens or Nationals

WHAT IS THE SMALL BUSINESS/SELF-EMPLOYMENT DIVISION? The Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) Division provides examinations and taxpayer education services for about 7 million small businesses and upwards of 33 million self-employed and supplemental income taxpayers. SB/SE taxpayers generally have higher incomes than most taxpayers, need to file twice as many tax forms, and generally need to rely more on paid tax preparers and the taxpayer education outreach activities of the IRS.

WHAT DOES A CONTACT REPRESENTATIVE DO? IRS Contact Representatives work primarily with taxpayers and their representatives through telephone or face-to-face contact. You would provide authoritative tax law assistance and take action where needed to resolve their tax issues, often involving delinquent situations. Actions needed might include analyzing the taxpayer's ability to pay, initiating liens, and negotiating installment payment agreements.

As a Contact Representative you will:

• Provide technical assistance to individuals and/or businesses primarily through telephone interaction in a dynamic call center environment, and/or face-to-face contact;
• Address wide range of issues/problems that require unique solutions;
• Apply the tax code to assist taxpayers in understanding and meeting their tax responsibilities;
• Secure, analyze and protect sensitive personal and financial information;
• Make determinations and use sound judgment to resolve taxpayer disputes and delinquency issues; And
• Develop, analyze and evaluate information involving the research of computerized records by accessing multiple online/database systems.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OTHER IRS CAREERS? If you want to find out more about IRS careers, visit us on the web at www.jobs.irs.gov

Conditions of employment

• Refer to Other Information.
• Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National

.

Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

GS-05 LEVEL: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience that may have been gained in work with records, documents or financial accounts which involved applying established rules and procedures, or experience gained through work in positions that involved frequent contact with the public researching and responding to non-routine requests for information orally or in writing. The following are examples of specialized experience that may be qualifying and are not all inclusive. Applying laws, rules or regulations and written guidelines; Experience gained in an environment conducting face to face and/or telephone interviews (e.g., collection agency, telemarketing, customer service, sales) resolving problems and issues; Negotiating with others to resolve issues; Performing administrative and technical procedures using a computer to locate and review records and reconcile discrepancies; Experience working with records or financial accounts applying established rules and procedures (e.g., basic accounting, credits and debits, researching and/or adjusting accounts).
OR
You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: completed at least 4 years of education above the high school level leading to a Bachelor’s degree (120 semester hours, 180 quarter hours or 2880 formal classroom hours) or a Bachelors or higher degree.
OR
You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions

-The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis.
-To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a “not qualified” determination.

If you are tentatively eligible and qualified for this position, you may be asked to participate in an on-line Assessment. Participation in the assessment process is dependent on the date and time of application and the number of vacancies being filled in each location at the closing of this announcement. Throughout the hiring process applicants will be evaluated on competencies critical to the Contact Representative position: Customer Service, Conflict Management, Decision Making, Interpersonal Skills, Listening, Managing and Controlling Calls, Problem Solving, Oral and Written Communications, Attention to Detail, Conscientiousness and Reliability, Independence, Persistence, Planning and Organizing, Self-Esteem, Emotional Intelligence, Reading Comprehension, and Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning.

Rating: You will respond to a series of questions designed to assess your possession of your potential (proficiency and capabilities) relative to the Contact Representative position. This assessment may take up to an one hour to complete. Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. Your results from the on-line assessment will be used to assign you to one of two quality level categories, (i.e., A/B = Best Qualified , C = Qualified).

Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of their assigned category and considered before non-preference-eligibles in that category. Qualified preference-eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10% or more will be listed at the top of the highest category.

Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring polices). We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP), you must receive a rating of Category A/B to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

You will only be allowed to take the on-line assessments once in a 12-month period. If you choose to retake the assessments after 12 months, your most current score will be used even if it's lower than your previous score.