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Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist

Department of Transportation
Maritime Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York. The Director of Public Affairs is responsible to the Deputy Superintendent for appropriate external affairs of the Academy including public information, website and social media content management, Academy protocol, Congressional liaison, industry, military and community liaison and relations, and other Academy matters involving public affairs. 

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
10/13/2022 to 11/03/2022
Salary
$129,621 to - $168,506 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 14
Location
Kings Point, NY
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Some travel required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
14
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Noncritical-Sensitive (NCS)/Moderate Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
MARAD.MMA-2023-0001
Control number
682997000

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen. This position is in the Excepted Service. For information on the Excepted Service, please visit: Excepted Service Appointing Authorities@ http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/excepted-service/. This is not a Bargaining unit position.

Duties

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The Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist (Director of Public Affairs),

  • Develops, coordinates, and supervises Academy public relations and public information programs in accordance with established U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration and Academy policies and guidelines. Serves as Academy coordination and scheduling contact for all public media activities and communication. Serves as Academy Protocol Officer, supervising visit schedules and tours for all civilian, military, and political VIP visitors, Academy official functions and activities which have a public relations or public information orientation. Also serves as qualify control agent for senior Academy leadership events and appearances, in accordance with the Immediate Office of the Superintendent.
  • Develops an overall strategy for internal and external communications. Develops a travel plan strategy for the Superintendent to maximize their outreach efforts to promote the Academy to audiences that may be unfamiliar about the Academy or its mission.
  • Develops metrics for measuring office success in meeting strategic goals and produce monthly and/or quarterly reports as needed.  
  • Prepares holding statements for release of Academy reports. Develops crisis communication strategy and prepares to manage negative publicity.
  • Function as Congressional Liaison Officer, serving as prime coordinator for all Academy telephonic and written communication with congressional offices. Maintain ongoing contact with congressional office personnel for public relations issues and matters. Maintain active communication and liaison with industry, military and community organizations as necessary to assist the fulfillment of the Academy mission; Establish and maintain effective relationships with news media and with influential specialized groups interested in USMMA activities and initiatives.

The Ideal Candidate is a professional with proven experience managing a public affairs program for an organization and/or region.  This should include developing and implementing comprehensive nationwide communications and marketing projects, establishing and maintaining productive working partnerships with news media, directing and managing the production of executive speeches, presentations, briefing, and special reports, analyzing feedback from the media, program officials, the public, and stakeholders, preferably on a college/university campus or military installation.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • This is an Excepted Service position.
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.
  • Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
  • You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
  • TRIAL PERIOD: This is an Excepted Service position. This job will be filled by an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive service. Applicants selected for an excepted service position may be subject to a two-year trial period.
  • GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
  • PCS/RELOCATION/RECRUITMENT: Permanent Change of Station (PCS), Relocation, and Recruitment Incentive authorization varies by position/selection.
  • SUPERVISORY PROBATIONARY PERIOD: New supervisors must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • TELEWORK ELIGIBILITY: If selected for this position you will be eligible for occasional telework and you are required to report to the office on a regular basis. The number of telework days approved is determined by the agency policy, emergency situations.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the specialized experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

To qualify for the Grade 14, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-13, it must include:

  • Experience in managing a public affairs program for a region, with responsibility for planning, developing, and communicating the organization's programs, policies, and activities to the regional public.
  • Experience in planning and assigning work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets, and adjust short-term priorities, and prepares schedules for completion of work.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

  • Accountability - Maintains oversight of the graduate records program and produces reports and studies as may be required for congressional, governmental, alumni association, news media or other interests.
  • Communications and Media - Develops, coordinates and supervises Academy public relations and public information programs in accordance with established Maritime Administration and Academy policies. Plans, develops and implements comprehensive nationwide communications and marketing projects, campaigns, and publications to convey public information about USMMA programs, strategic initiatives, services, and activities.
  • Oral Communication - Maintains active communication and liaison with industry, military and community organizations as necessary to assist the fulfillment of the Academy mission; Establishes and maintains effective relationships with news media and with influential specialized groups interested in USMMA activities and initiatives. Manages the coordination and response to information requests from the news media and others.
  • Written Communication - Functions as Congressional Liaison Officer, serving as prime coordinator for all Academy telephonic and written communication with congressional offices.

    For all types of consideration, 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.

    For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:  https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

    All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.





Additional information

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level

For this announcement, all applicants will be reviewed to determine if they meet the basic qualifications for this position, specifically the educational and specialized experience requirements.

Applicants will not be rated or ranked.

All applications that are verified to meet the basic qualifications will be referred to the selecting official.

The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package.  If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers.


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