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Survey Technician

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Multiple vacancies will be filled at a Forest Service Off ice across the Intermountain Region, Region 4.

The position performs a variety of land survey duties related to locating, marking, and maintaining boundaries and corners for land management activities on multiple National Forest units.

See 'ADDITIONAL INFORMATION' section for duty location information.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Janet Wilkins at
janet.wilkins@usda.gov



Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/31/2023 to 03/08/2024
Salary
$46,696 to - $74,250 per year

Salary wage as shown is for the Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 7 - 9
Location
6 vacancies in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection,
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
50% or less - During the field season, crews may be required to work 10 hour days with evenings spent at isolated, primitive field camps.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—A recruitment or relocation incentive may be authorized at the discretion of management in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Multiple - Permanent Full Time and Full Time Seasonal 13/13 positions are available
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
9
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
23-R4OCR-0817-SURV-7-8-9DP
Control number
746389500

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Duties

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  • Responsibilities listed are reflected at the full performance level of GS-9.
  • Incumbent performs a variety of technical land survey duties related to locating, marking, and maintaining boundaries and corners for land management activities on National Forest System lands.
  • Plans technical cadastral surveying projects, including preparing and coordinating preliminary project plans, specifications, and estimates for proposed projects.
  • Obtains needed landownership status and corner status records.
  • Evaluates information for evidence of any conflicts in title or potential issues that could affect the planned survey project.
  • Maintains, calibrates, and adjusts instruments and equipment used to carry out survey project activities.
  • Provides technical guidance to other survey technicians in use and maintenance of survey tools and equipment.
  • Carries out technical land surveying project activities.
  • Selects the most efficient survey approach from among the various alternatives, resolving concerns that arise in the course of the planned work activity.
  • Takes measurements and collects, organizes, and summarizes data.
  • Prepares a variety of reports, drawings, and survey plats for completed projects.
  • Performs computations to validate and refine survey data in order to determine the location of property boundary lines and property corners, route location/alignment, traverse closures.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.
  • The work environment includes terrain that may be steep, uneven, rocky, and covered with thick and tangled vegetation. Temperatures and weather extremes may range from very hot and dry to cool and extremely wet, rain, snow, wind, or dusty.
  • The work environment requires the incumbent to stay alert continually and to take special safety precautions including wearing special protective items of clothing.
  • The work requires some physical exertion, such as long periods of standing; walking over rough, uneven, rocky, or slippery surfaces.
  • The work requires recurring bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, climbing, or similar activities; recurring lifting of light to moderately heavy items weighing less than 50 pounds; and/or regular visits to a variety of outdoor sites.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience: the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary, or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate, or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS 7: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-6);
OR one full year (18 semester/27 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level coursework that is directly related to the work of the position (such as: surveying, engineering, construction, or industrial technology);
OR combinations of graduate level education that is directly related to the position and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

Qualifying Specialized experience is defined as meeting at least one of the following: Operated and maintained a variety of manual and electronic devices such as transits, theodolites, levels, distance measuring and positioning equipment, or other instruments used on land surveys; Utilized a variety of surveying related equipment and GPS equipment to perform surveys and prepare associated documents and reports; Independently measured uncomplicated surveys and resolved technical problems; Assisted in performing basic surveys, such as location, right-of-way, and property surveys for a segment or portion of a project; Determined angles, distances, and differences in elevation between stations.

For the GS-08: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-7);
OR two full years (36 semester/54 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level education or master's degree if the coursework is directly related to the work of the position (such as: surveying, engineering, construction, or industrial technology);
OR combinations of graduate level education that is directly related to the position (in excess of 18 semester/27 quarter hours) and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

Qualifying Specialized experience is defined as meeting at least one of the following:
Operated instruments and equipment, and made minor adjustments to such instruments, in order to locate land, property corners, and boundary lines; Identified or verified corners by inspection, testimony of landowners, and in comparison with references or by survey using original and resurvey recorded data; Performed varied surveys, such as location, right-of-way, and property surveys for a segment or portion of a project; Utilized a variety of surveying related equipment and GPS equipment to perform surveys and prepare associated documents and reports.

For the GS 9: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-8);
OR two full years (36 semester/54 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level education or master's degree if the coursework is directly related to the work of the position (such as: surveying, engineering, construction, or industrial technology);
OR combinations of graduate level education that is directly related to the position (in excess of 18 semester/27 quarter hours) and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

Qualifying Specialized experience is defined as meeting at least one of the following:
Helped plan and conduct various types of surveys using an advanced knowledge of surveying; Prepared schedules, organized and executed the details of limited survey projects and activities; Applied a practical knowledge of the basic theories and practices of surveying; Used resourcefulness, initiative, and independent judgment in resolving the details of projects; Prepared field notes, reference maps and sketches for surveying analysis; Processed, evaluated, and edited electronic field data for entry into a computer aided mapping, design, and analysis system.


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.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

Applications will expire in 90 days. To remain in consideration, you must resubmit your application.

Duty Location:
LOCATION NEGOTIABLE AFTER SELECTION. Multiple positions will be filled at a Forest Service Office across the Intermountain Region. Final determination of duty location will be determined by the selecting official at the time of the job offer. To see where these Forest Service Offices are located, click Region 4 - Forest & Grassland Offices (usda.gov). Click each region to see the different locations.

This announcement will be used to fill permanent full time positions and/or positions with a seasonal work schedule where full-time work is guaranteed for 13 pay periods, placing you in non-pay/non-duty status for the remaining 13 pay periods.

The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligibles must meet the agency's definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.

If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is not guaranteed.


The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

THIS IS AN OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT. This type of announcement provides the Forest Service with a readily available source of applicants when vacancies occur. Eligibility and qualifications will be verified when there is a vacancy for the location and grade for which you applied. Information on specific locations where jobs are being filled and the dates when applications are due for these locations can be found at https://fsoutreach.gdcii.com/Outreach.
Field work is usually in areas of variable mountainous terrain and extreme temperature variation. These locations are often remote with limited vehicular access and wilderness type settings.

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 in accordance with the category rating procedure as defined in the USDA Demonstration Project Plan. Applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be placed in the Eligible category. You will be further evaluated against criteria for placement in the Quality category. This evaluation is based on the level of your experience, education, and/or training as determined by your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire. Individuals with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12104619

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