Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens

As a Public Affairs Specialist at the GS-1035-11, some of your typical work assignments may include:

• Participates in the coordination of social media campaigns and strategies for driving engagement and building brand awareness.
• Participates in creating correspondence for ODR&R/Center management addressed to public officials and private organizations about individual loan cases or the disaster program.
• Monitors newspaper, radio, television and internet coverage of the disaster program and provides supplemental information to correct any irregular or inaccurate media information.
• Uses advanced computer skills, including skill in using automated functions such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access databases and desktop publishing to serve as a disaster program information link providing explanations and written materials as necessary.
• Serves as a spokesperson for ODR&R by making public appearances, preparing presentations, talking points or speeches as necessary to convey information about the disaster program, objectives and ongoing activities.

• Resumes will be reviewed for qualifications and qualified eligible applicants will be referred to hiring officials on a weekly or earlier basis as needed in response to disaster activity.
• This is a temporary appointment in the Excepted service with an intermittent (on call) work schedule. This means that employees are in a pay and duty status only when activated to respond to workload needs, especially in response to heightened disaster activity. When no longer needed, employees return to a non-pay status until the next event necessitates additional staff.
• However, depending on the workload and/or level of disaster activity, your work schedule may be changed to full-time. Subsequently, if the workload decreases, your work schedule may be changed back to intermittent.
• If required to travel to a disaster site, you may encounter hazardous working and/or living conditions, for example, no water or electricity and/or minimal lodging facilities.
• Additional selections may be made from this announcement if identical vacancies occur within 180 days from the closing date.

Conditions of employment

• You must be able to obtain and maintain a government travel credit card.
• Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required while on assignment (up to seven days a week and ten to fourteen hours a day).
• This position is not included in a bargaining unit.
• U.S. citizenship is required.
• Favorable background investigation is required.

Qualifications

Generally, time in Non-Pay status is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed below.
You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
You may qualify based on experience, education or a combination of both.

Experience: To receive credit, you must indicate the month and year as well as the average hours worked per week for each employer or that experience will not be credited for meeting the specialized experience requirement.

GS-11: To qualify you must have at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-09 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position. This experience may have been gained in a Non-Federal service position. In addition, this Specialized Experience must demonstrate the following:

1. Managing and/or creating engaging content across various digital communication platforms (such as social media, websites, newsletters, press releases) for an organization; AND
2. Preparing, disseminating, and coordinating new releases and articles at local events (such as press conferences, town hall meetings, or meetings with other targeted audiences); AND
3. Serving as a spokesperson by making public appearances, preparing presentations, and/or talking points or speeches, etc.; AND
4. Engaging with audiences (such as the public, private-sector, partner organizations, and community groups) to ensure accurate, consistent, and effective communication.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application and resume will be compared to the answer you give to the minimum qualification question (s) on the assessment questionnaire.

Your application will be reviewed to determine if you meet all the Specialized Experience required at each grade level. If you do not, you will be rated "Ineligible". If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and/or experience your score can and may be adjusted downward to reflect the submitted application material.

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.

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

Your application package (resume, supporting documents, and responses to the questionnaire) will be used to determine your eligibility, qualifications, and quality ranking for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.