Clarification from the agency

Status Candidates (this includes Merit Promotion, Status Candidates, Former Overseas Employees, CTAP, ICTAP, VRA, VEOA, 30% or More Disabled, EVHO, Schedule A, Military Spouses, Americorps, Peace Corps, Vista, Interchange Agreement Eligibles, Land Management, and National Guard).

Joining CISA means being part of the team focused on securing the Nation's physical and cyber infrastructure against threats to public health and safety, economy, and national security; we Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow. Within CISA, the Office of the Chief External Affairs Officer is the chief spokesperson for all agency engagement with the media and Congress and leads the communications' strategy and message coordination on agency policies, plans, programs, key initiatives and actions across all external stakeholders, including the media, Congress and industry.

Visit www.cisa.gov to learn more about CISA and how you can be part of the team to Defend Today; Secure Tomorrow.

In this position, you will serve as an Administrative Specialist. Typical work assignments include:

• Supporting business operations by providing full range of administrative services to office leadership and staff.
• Providing travel support for staff to include preparing travel authorizations, expense vouchers, making travel arrangements, answering/researching travel related questions and maintaining travel associated files.
• Updating and maintaining distribution lists and shared mailboxes, call down lists, and similar office management requirements.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective Service registration required.
• You must be able to obtain and hold a Non-Sensitive Public Trust security clearance.
• Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required
• New employees must serve a one year probationary period.
• You must submit to a drug test and receive a negative test result prior to appointment to this position. After appointment, you may be subject to periodic random drug testing.
• Relocation expenses are not authorized. Other recruitment incentives may be authorized.
• This position has been designated excluded from bargaining unit representation under the national security provision of 5 U.S.C. § 7112(B)(6).
• All employees are required to participate in Direct Deposit/ Electronic Funds Transfer for salary payments.
• Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.
• Interviews may be required for this position. Failure to complete the interview may result in removal from further consideration. The interview process may consist of in-person or phone panel interview.

Qualifications

You qualify for the GS-09 grade level (starting salary $60,129) if you possess one of the following:

A. Have one year of full-time specialized experience at the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector performing the following duties:

1. Providing full range of administrative and office management services to include maintaining records, data entry, gathering information for dashboards and reports and updating policies and standard operating procedures;
2. Preparing correspondence, reports, daily binders, spreadsheets, and other documents; and
3. Resolving program issues to communicate solutions and answers.

-OR-

B. Have successfully completed a master's or equivalent degree OR 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. NOTE: A copy of your transcripts must be included with your application to support this response.

-OR-

C. Have a combination of experience described in A above and graduate education described in B above. When combining education and experience, first take the total number of semester hours (or equivalent) earned and divide by 54 semester hours (or equivalent); then take the total number of months of experience and divide by 12 months; finally, add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: A copy of your transcripts must be included with your application to support this response.

You qualify for the GS-11 grade level (starting salary $72,750) if you possess one of the following:

A. Have one year of full-time specialized experience at the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private or public sector performing the following duties:

1. Coordinating all administrative functions necessary for efficient office operation to include report development and coordination, scheduling and organizing meetings, arranging logistics, developing agendas and preparing meeting minutes;
2. Maintaining records, administrative documents, and resources on SharePoint sites and in shared directories; and
3. Planning and administering management and administrative projects for the identification and resolution of procedural or factual issues.

-OR-

B. Have successfully completed a Doctorate or Ph.D., or equivalent degree, or three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such at degree; at an accredited college or university in a field that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. Such fields include business administration, public administration, statistics, finance, and management. NOTE: A copy of your transcripts must be included with your application to support this response.

-OR-

C. Have a combination of experience described in A above and graduate education described in B above. When combining education and experience, first take the total number of semester hours (or equivalent) earned and divide by 36 semester hours (or equivalent); then take the total number of months of experience and divide by 12 months; finally, add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NOTE: A copy of your transcripts must be included with your application to support this response.

National Service Experience (i.e., volunteer experience): 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.

Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Qualifications Must Be Met
The qualification requirements listed above must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

NOTE: Your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire, the qualification and time-in-grade requirements. Failure to do so will result in an ineligible rating.

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Under competitive merit promotion procedures, any individual who is currently holding, or who has held within the previous 52 weeks, a General Schedule position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying).

NOTE: Current and former employees MUST submit a copy of their SF-50 Form which shows competitive service appointment ("position occupied" block 34 on the SF-50 should show a "1"), tenure group (block 24 should show a 1 or 2), grade, and salary. If you are applying for a higher grade, please provide the SF-50 Form which shows the length of time you have been in your current/highest grade (examples of appropriate SF-50s include appointment, reassignment, with-in grade/range increase and promotion actions). Please note: Pay adjustments and awards do not include the length of time in your current position, therefore, they are NOT acceptable. If you have promotion potential in your current position, please provide proof. Employees applying with an interchange agreement must provide proof of their permanent appointment.

You MUST meet all qualification requirements, including Time-in-Grade, by the closing date of this announcement. Qualification AND time-in-grade claims will be subject to verification.

Note about the information provided in your resume and supporting documentation: Your experience (paid and unpaid), education, awards, training and self-development will be evaluated as it relates to the position based upon the information provided in your resume/application and any other supporting documents.

Veterans, Peace Corps/VISTA volunteers, persons with disabilities, and those covered under the Interchange Agreement possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the documentation that is required, click on the links in Who May Be Considered section or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement.

Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP) Eligibles: If you have never worked for the federal government, you are not I/CTAP eligible. View information about I/CTAP eligibility on OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To be considered well qualified under I/CTAP, you must be rated at a minimum score of 85 for this position. In addition, you must submit the supporting documents listed under 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.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the online assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Candidates who apply under Competitive Merit Promotion procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are best qualified based on the content of their resume and their responses to the questionnaire. Best qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided.

Candidate who apply under Noncompetitive and Special Hiring Authorities procedures will undergo a quality review to determine if they are minimally qualified based on the content of their resume, supporting documentation submitted and their responses to the assessment questionnaire.

If you are determined qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview. Preview the Application Questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11151445