This position is part of the Surface Transportation Board, Office of Board Member. As an Administrative Support Specialist, you will be responsible for administrative and program support duties to assist the Board Members in performing their substantive and administrative responsibilities and further the mission at the Surface Transportation Board (Board).
**This vacancy is also open under Merit Promotion procedures. Please see announcement number ST-10717190-20-KW.**
Summary
This position is part of the Surface Transportation Board, Office of Board Member. As an Administrative Support Specialist, you will be responsible for administrative and program support duties to assist the Board Members in performing their substantive and administrative responsibilities and further the mission at the Surface Transportation Board (Board).
**This vacancy is also open under Merit Promotion procedures. Please see announcement number ST-10717190-20-KW.**
Serves as a liaison and handles communications with persons and/or groups inside and outside the agency.
Schedules and helps Board Members prepare for regular and one-time meetings with persons and/or groups inside and outside the agency.
Coordinates with Board staff to compile briefing materials prior to meetings.
Supports Board Members' advisors by gathering case law and statutes cited in filings, compiling information in an organized format from legal databases.
Assists in planning Board committee meetings, conferences, hearings, oral arguments, and other meetings and events.
Maintains records in accordance with federal record-keeping requirements, ensuring appropriate disposition of records.
Makes travel arrangements, submits vouchers for reimbursement, and coordinates with persons inside and outside the agency.
All qualification requirements must be met by 02/18/2020. Your application package will not receive consideration if it lacks any of the required documents under the "Required Documents" tab.
Probationary Period: One-year probationary period may be required.
Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See http://www.sss.gov/.
Background Suitability Investigation: Continued employment is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background investigation and the granting of a Federal suitability or security clearance. If selected, you may be offered tentative employment until the background investigation has been fully adjudicated.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet the specialized experience* as described below:
Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position typically in or directly related to the administrative position, and is equivalent to the work performed at the next lower grade level.
To be qualified for this position at the GS-12 grade level, you must demonstrate in your resume one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level of Federal service such as: preparing correspondence, scheduling meetings, maintaining an executive calendar; using office automation software; compiling or assisting in preparing presentations and briefing materials; preparing travel documents/itineraries; and providing customer service to internal and external customers.
Specialized experience must meet 52 weeks equivalent to the next lower grade level. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.
Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):
Written Communication
Oral Communication
Administration and Management
*Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (i.e, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other 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.
Education
Education may not be used as a substitute for experience at this grade level.
Additional information
A career with the U.S. Government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. Learn more about federal benefits.
As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. In addition, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has work/life-balance flexibilities that may be right for you. We offer:
Flexible Work Schedule options: Two flexible work schedules, the Flexitour Option and the Compressed Work Schedule. Employees on the Flexitour may schedule fixed arrival and departure times around established core hours and work 8 hours plus a 30-minute unpaid lunch period. Employees on the Compressed Work Schedule may work 8 9-hour work days and one 8-hour day (plus the 30-minute unpaid lunch period) in each biweekly pay period and receive one scheduled day off; OR may work 4 10-hour days (plus the 30-minute unpaid lunch period) with one week day off each week;
Limited Telework opportunities upon supervisor approval and in accordance with the Employee Work Schedule policy;
Fitness Center: STB employees, at no cost, have access to the fitness center conveniently located in the building; and
A monthly transit subsidy for a portion of your commuting costs to help defray the commuting costs of employees who use mass transportation, including commuter bus, Metrorail or Metrobus, or commuter rail systems.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Once the application process is complete, a review of the resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered to more accurately reflect the submitted documentation.
All qualified candidates will be assigned to a quality category. The category assignment is a measure of the degree in which your background matches the competencies required for this position. Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):
Written Communication
Oral Communication
Administration and Management
The Category Rating Process does not add veteran's preference points or apply the "rule of three" but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each quality category. Veteran's preference eligibles who meet the minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent will be listed in the highest quality category (except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-09 level or higher).
Category Rating Procedures: Applicants who apply under "All US Citizens" eligibility and do not have eligibility under Merit or Noncompetitive status, will be placed in one of the following categories:
Best-Qualified: Applicants who demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, as determined by the job analysis.
Well-Qualified: Applicants who demonstrate acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, as determined by the job analysis.
Qualified: Applicants who demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, as determined by the job analysis.
**Qualified veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% are listed in the best-qualified category. Other 10-point preference eligibles and veterans with 5-point preference who meet the eligibility and qualification requirements are placed above non-preference eligibles within the category in which they qualify.
**CTAP/ICTAP Candidates: To be considered "well qualified" you must meet all of the requirements as described in the qualification section. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
Please be advised, the following documents are required even if you are already a current Federal or STB employee:
1. Resume that includes the experience you wish to be considered for the review of your qualifications, the dates of employment with month and year, and hours worked per week, if part time. Resumes that do not contain all of the necessary information to determine qualifications may be marked as insufficient and applicants may not receive consideration for this position. Your latest resume submission is the one that will be used to determine your qualifications.
2. Responses to questionnaire.
3. Supporting documents verifying your eligibility or any preference eligibility along with your application package.
These documents may include, but are not limited to:
Veterans documentation: All veterans MUST submit a DD-214, MEMBER 4 copy, if you are currently on active duty, you must submit an official statement of service from your command or other official documentation that proves your military service was performed under honorable conditions;
Preference eligible documentation: If claiming 10-point preference you must also submit a SF-15 and any other proof that you are eligible for 10-point preference if a job offer is extended to you, final VA letter including percentage (please do not include letter from VA noting specific private medical information);
ICTAP documentation: RIF separation notice along with last performance rating or appraisal; and
Transcripts if you are using education to substitute or if position has a positive education requirement.
To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.
The complete application package must be submitted before the announcement closes on 02/18/2020. The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 7:30a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date.
To begin your online application:
You must create a login.gov account, if you don't already have one. You must:
-Create a login.gov account - you only need to do this once.
-Enter an email address during the account set up - use the same email address you use for USAJOBS (your primary or secondary email address).
-Create a new password.
-Have a working phone number (mobile or landline) near you - login.gov will send you a security code.
-Finish setting up your login.gov account.
Once you've finished setting up your login.gov account, you'll go back to USAJOBS to finish the process. Double check your USAJOBS Profile to make sure all of your information is accurate. You must use your login.gov email address, password, and security code every time you want to sign into USAJOBS. Follow the prompts in USAJOBS to take the online questionnaire and submit the required documents. See Required Documents section for more details.
Note: We recommend you don't use a .gov, .mil or .edu email address. Instead, use a personal (non-government) email address when you create your login.gov account. Please do not use an email address you share with someone else.
** For any issues signing into login.gov, go to https://login.gov/contact/
This and other STB positions may be filled using Schedule A, 5 CFR 213.3102(u). Schedule A is an excepted service hiring authority used to appoint persons with severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities. Such individuals may be converted to permanent status after two years of satisfactory service. Documentation of disability is required, that is, a Schedule A Letter, which is used to verify that the applicant qualifies under Schedule A. This documentation must be provided at the time of application. A Schedule A letter can be obtained from a licensed medical professional (e.g., a physician or other medical professional certified by a state, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory to practice medicine); a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist (i.e., state or private); or any Federal agency, state agency, or agency of the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory that issues or provides disability benefits. A VA letter does not qualify as a Schedule A letter. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation for the application process, please include the accommodation request with your Schedule A letter. Reasonable accommodation requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Because this vacancy announcement is a competitive announcement, in order to be considered under Schedule A, you must email your Schedule A documentation and resume directly to Nilsa Grange at Nilsa.Grange@stb.gov, instead of applying through USAJobs.
Surface Transportation Board
395 E Street SW
Washington, DC 20423
US
Next steps
The Best Qualified Candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interview. Highly Qualified candidates may be referred if there is an insufficient pool of candidates in the Best Qualified group.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
Please be advised, the following documents are required even if you are already a current Federal or STB employee:
1. Resume that includes the experience you wish to be considered for the review of your qualifications, the dates of employment with month and year, and hours worked per week, if part time. Resumes that do not contain all of the necessary information to determine qualifications may be marked as insufficient and applicants may not receive consideration for this position. Your latest resume submission is the one that will be used to determine your qualifications.
2. Responses to questionnaire.
3. Supporting documents verifying your eligibility or any preference eligibility along with your application package.
These documents may include, but are not limited to:
Veterans documentation: All veterans MUST submit a DD-214, MEMBER 4 copy, if you are currently on active duty, you must submit an official statement of service from your command or other official documentation that proves your military service was performed under honorable conditions;
Preference eligible documentation: If claiming 10-point preference you must also submit a SF-15 and any other proof that you are eligible for 10-point preference if a job offer is extended to you, final VA letter including percentage (please do not include letter from VA noting specific private medical information);
ICTAP documentation: RIF separation notice along with last performance rating or appraisal; and
Transcripts if you are using education to substitute or if position has a positive education requirement.
To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above.
The complete application package must be submitted before the announcement closes on 02/18/2020. The following instructions outline our application process. You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 7:30a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date.
To begin your online application:
You must create a login.gov account, if you don't already have one. You must:
-Create a login.gov account - you only need to do this once.
-Enter an email address during the account set up - use the same email address you use for USAJOBS (your primary or secondary email address).
-Create a new password.
-Have a working phone number (mobile or landline) near you - login.gov will send you a security code.
-Finish setting up your login.gov account.
Once you've finished setting up your login.gov account, you'll go back to USAJOBS to finish the process. Double check your USAJOBS Profile to make sure all of your information is accurate. You must use your login.gov email address, password, and security code every time you want to sign into USAJOBS. Follow the prompts in USAJOBS to take the online questionnaire and submit the required documents. See Required Documents section for more details.
Note: We recommend you don't use a .gov, .mil or .edu email address. Instead, use a personal (non-government) email address when you create your login.gov account. Please do not use an email address you share with someone else.
** For any issues signing into login.gov, go to https://login.gov/contact/
This and other STB positions may be filled using Schedule A, 5 CFR 213.3102(u). Schedule A is an excepted service hiring authority used to appoint persons with severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities. Such individuals may be converted to permanent status after two years of satisfactory service. Documentation of disability is required, that is, a Schedule A Letter, which is used to verify that the applicant qualifies under Schedule A. This documentation must be provided at the time of application. A Schedule A letter can be obtained from a licensed medical professional (e.g., a physician or other medical professional certified by a state, the District of Columbia, or a U.S. territory to practice medicine); a licensed vocational rehabilitation specialist (i.e., state or private); or any Federal agency, state agency, or agency of the District of Columbia or a U.S. territory that issues or provides disability benefits. A VA letter does not qualify as a Schedule A letter. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation for the application process, please include the accommodation request with your Schedule A letter. Reasonable accommodation requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Because this vacancy announcement is a competitive announcement, in order to be considered under Schedule A, you must email your Schedule A documentation and resume directly to Nilsa Grange at Nilsa.Grange@stb.gov, instead of applying through USAJobs.
Surface Transportation Board
395 E Street SW
Washington, DC 20423
US
Next steps
The Best Qualified Candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interview. Highly Qualified candidates may be referred if there is an insufficient pool of candidates in the Best Qualified group.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
