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IRS Pathways Recent Graduate Program (Information Technology Specialist)

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The IRS Internal Recent Graduates Program affords a developmental opportunity to IRS employees, who have graduated within the previous 2 years from a qualifying educational institution or program.

More information about the Recent Graduates Program can be found here: Students & Recent Graduates.

See Other Information for Locations

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open date: 08/22/2019
Closed date: 09/04/2019
Location
4 vacancies in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$40,503 - $78,042 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 05 - 09
Promotion potential
12
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-Time
Travel Required
25% or less - 1-5 Travel Nights per Month
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Announcement number
19CW7-WIB1134-2210-5-9-IF
Control number
543380100

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Recent Graduates (US Citizens/Nationals) completing a qualifying degree/certificate within the last 2 yrs. of this application date (or will graduate 9 mo’s from this application date) may apply. Veterans (5 USC 2108) unable to apply due to military service during this 2-yr. period may have their eligibility extended to receive the full 2 yrs. of eligibility. The remaining 2-yr. eligibility period begins upon release from active duty and may not extend beyond 6 yrs. from completion of study.

Duties

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If selected, you will be placed in a developmental position as an IT Specialist GS-2210-5/7/9/11/12, in the Wage & Investment Division.

WHAT IS THE WAGE & INVESTMENT DIVISION? The Wage & Investment Division (W&I) serves about 122 million taxpayers who file upwards of 94 million returns each year. W&I provides high-quality taxpayer assistance, and enable taxpayers to transact and communicate electronically to file their returns and make payments.

WHAT DOES AN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST DO? An Information Technology (IT) Specialist working general programs uses a wide variety of information, documentation, and regulations on the use of information technology resources, IRS data security guidelines, and IRS and Treasury guidance on acquisitions to address and/or adapt to specific problems or issues. As an IT Specialist, you will apply a series of different and unrelated processes and methods, decide what needs to be done based on analyses of the subjects and issues related to the assignment, and select the appropriate course of action from many acceptable alternatives. You will be challenged to independently identify and analyze important factors and conditions in order to recognize and apply an understanding of interrelationships among different IT functions and activities.

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-12. You will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this developmental position.

  • Planning and carrying out difficult IT assignments, developing new methods, approaches and procedures. Providing advice and guidance to other organization employees on a wide range and variety of complex IT issues.
  • Interpreting policies, standards, and guidelines. Evaluating and recommending the adoption of new or enhanced approaches to delivering IT services. Testing and optimizing the functionality of systems, networks, and data
  • Identifying and defining business or technical requirements applied to the design, development, implementation, management and support of systems and networks. Evaluating proposals for the acquisition of IT products and services, ensuring the optimal use of commercially available products
  • Preparing and presenting reports, representing the organization in interactions with other organizations, and providing technical leadership on group projects
  • Developing data models, producing database design schema for integrating source data into data management systems, ensuring compliance with data management standards, and recommending new or modified standards to increase efficiency
  • Providing technical guidance in designing, coding, testing, debugging, and maintaining applications software programs, translating and interpreting functional requirements, applying computer assisted software engineering (CASE) tools to the design and development process, testing, installing, implementing, documenting, and maintaining software, and providing guidance to less experienced coworkers in solving programming problems
  • Updating the organization’s business continuity and/or disaster recovery plans to respond to new security requirements or changes in the IT architecture and presenting updated plans to the IT security manager for review and approval
  • Evaluating the feasibility of proposed new systems development projects, consulting with customers to refine functional requirements, translating functional requirements into design specifications, determining best approaches for implementation with the technical environment, and working with applications developers to isolate and solve design problems encountered during testing and implementation stages


If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties, and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OTHER IRS CAREERS? If you want to find out more about IRS careers, visit us on the web at www.jobs.irs.gov

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Refer to "Other Information."
  • Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National
  • IRS Employees with Career or Career Conditional Appointments.

In order to successfully complete the Recent Graduates Program, you must complete 1 year in the position, a minimum of at least 40 hours of interactive training, and demonstration of successful job performance. If for any reason you do not successfully complete the program you will be returned to the previous grade of the same or similar position you previously held within IRS prior to being selected for the Recent Graduates Program.

Qualifications

In the Recent Graduates Program you may qualify based solely on education, experience or a combination of both. You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

GS-5 LEVEL: Three years of IT-related experience one year of which was equivalent to at least a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-4 grade level in the Federal service. This experience must include Information Technology (IT) related experience that demonstrates each of the following four competencies: 1) Attention to Detail, 2) Customer Service, 3) Oral Communication and 4) Problem Solving. IT related experience for this position includes: Basic knowledge of IT processing functions to understand the stages to automate a work process. Experience must have also included work with clients and customers to assess and/or address their needs, and provide information or assistance relative to the products or services; communicate effectively both orally and in writing; and, identify and resolve problems, determine relevant information, demonstrate using sound judgment, and making recommendations. Experience may have been gained in work such as computer operator or assistant, computer sales representative, program analyst or other positions that required the use or adaptation of one or more of the fields identified and required computer programs and systems. OR Bachelor's or equivalent degree at an accredited college or university In computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management OR A degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks. OR A combination of experience and education at an accredited college or university equivalent to 4 years as described in paragraphs above. You may combine the college credits you completed with any qualifying experience you have to total the equivalent of a four-year college education.

GS-07 LEVEL: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-5 grade level in the Federal service: This experience must include Information Technology (IT) related experience that demonstrates each of the following four competencies: 1) Attention to Detail, 2) Customer Service, 3) Oral Communication and 4) Problem Solving. Specialized experience for this position includes: Interviewing subject-matter personnel to get facts regarding work processes, and synthesizing the resulting data into charts showing information flow; operating computer consoles where this involved choosing from among various procedures in responding to machine commands or unscheduled halts; scheduling the sequence of programs to be processed by computers where alternatives had to be weighed with a view to production efficiency; preparing documentation on cost/benefit studies where this involved summarizing the material and organizing it in a logical fashion; working directly with customers in obtaining information needed to establish or change accounts; translating detailed logical steps developed by others into language codes that computers accept where this required understanding of procedures and limitations appropriate to use of a programming language OR One year of graduate education at an accredited college or university in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics or technology management or in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaption of applications, systems or networks. OR Superior Academic Achievement may be met by having a Bachelor’s degree, with one of the following: A GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all completed undergraduate courses or those completed in the last 2 years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in the major field of study or those courses in the major completed in the last 2 years of study, or rank in the upper one third of the class in the college, university, or major subdivision, or membership in a national honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. OR At least 1 year of combined graduate education and experience as defined in paragraphs above.

GS-09 LEVEL: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service. This experience must include Information Technology (IT) related experience that demonstrates each of the following four competencies: 1) Attention to Detail, 2) Customer Service, 3) Oral Communication and 4) Problem Solving. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience in an IT field or work where the primary concern was the subject matter of the IT application. The assignments must have shown completion of the following, or the equivalent: Analysis of the interrelationships of pertinent components of the system; planning the sequence of actions necessary to accomplish the assignment; personal responsibility for at least a segment of the overall project. OR Master's or equivalent graduate degree or two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree  in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, statistics, operations research, engineering or technology management or in one or more of the fields identified above that required the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks. One year of graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. OR At least 1 year of combined graduate education and experience as defined in paragraphs above.
 For Grades 5 Through 9:
You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions.

In addition to the above you must have, within the previous 2 years, completed all educational requirements for a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying institution; or intended graduation is no more than 9 months from date of application.


- The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis.
- To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume.

In addition to the above requirements, you must meet the following, if applicable:

You must have been at the next lower grade level of the grade you are applying to for 52 weeks (time-in-grade requirement).

Additional information

The IRS Internal Recent Graduates Program affords a one-year development opportunity to IRS employees who meet Program Eligibility and requirements. If selected, you will be placed in a position as a Information Technology Specialist, GS-2210 (this position has a Career Ladder to Grade 12) in the Wage & Investment (W&I) Division. The Recent Graduates Program requires successful completion of one-year in the position; a minimum of at least 40 hours or interactive training; mentorship; and demonstration of successful job performance. If for any reason you do not successfully complete the program, you will be returned to the previous grade of the same or similar position you previously held within IRS prior to being selected for the Recent Graduates Program. Placement is neither guaranteed nor implied.

There are 4 Recent Graduate Program positions located in W&I at the following locations: At your current post of duty

POSITION DESCRIPTIONS GS-05, 94453; GS-7, 94454; GS-9, 94455 A PM/C SharePoint site is available for IRS Employees at: https://organization.ds.irsnet.gov/sites/HCOETS/PMC/SPDLibrary/SitePages/Home.aspx

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • All selectees must sign a Participant Agreement.
  • Education must be completed and “official” transcripts must be received and verified before you can be appointed/entered on duty.
  • Pay retention may be offered based on applicable laws and regulations.
  • We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
  • This is a bargaining unit position.
  • Alternative work schedule, staggered work hours or telework may be available.
  • Tour of Duty: Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-4:30PM
  • Subject to a 1-year trial period is required (unless already completed).

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a “not qualified” determination.

Rating:
Your application will be evaluated on the CJEs of the position to be filled per the National Agreement Article 13. Your application will also be rated and ranked among others, based on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, training, performance appraisals and awards relevant to the duties of this position. IRS employees may obtain most recent awards listing at https://persinfo.web.irs.gov/. Your rating may be lowered, if your responses to the online questions are not supported by the education and/or experience described in your application.

Referral:
 If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview (telephonic and/or in person at the discretion of the Selecting Official in accordance with hiring polices). We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.


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Internal Revenue Service

WHY IS THE IRS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK? As an IRS employee, you will feel proud knowing you helped make America stronger while working at one of the world’s biggest financial institutions. You will be part of an organization that collects over $2 trillion in revenue and processes over 200 million tax returns annually. We are proud of how we apply the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.

IRS hires talented and dedicated individuals from many backgrounds, including accounting, business, finance, law enforcement and information technology. You will be challenged and supported on a daily basis. Whether you are just starting out or looking for a new opportunity, consider an IRS career.

Agency contact information

IRS Pathways Forward
Phone
512-433-2475
Email
hcoirsforward@irs.gov
Address
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
5015 S. IH-35
Austin, Texas 78744
United States

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