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.

IRS Recent Graduates Program affords developmental experiences in the Federal Government intended to promote possible careers in the civil service to individuals who have recently graduated from qualifying educational institutions or programs. Successful applicants are placed in a dynamic, developmental program with the potential to lead to a civil service career in the Federal Government. Following the completion of program requirements, selectees may be considered for non-competitive conversion to a career-conditional or term appointment. All conversion requirements will be identified in the Participant Agreement. Program requirements include but are not limited to:

• Successful completion of at least 1-year of continuous service
• Completion of at least 40 hours of interactive training
• Demonstration of successful job performance
• Meet the qualification standards for the position to which the Recent Graduate may be converted
• Conversion to competitive service is not implied nor guaranteed
• If selected, you will be placed in a position as an IT Specialist, GS-2210, 5/7/9 Career Ladder to GS-12

WHAT DOES AN IT SPECIALIST CUSTOMER SUPPORT DO?An IT Specialist working in customer support provides technical support to customers who need advice, assistance, and training in applying hardware and software systems. Much of this work involves resolving difficult and complex problems, some unique to a single customer or organization, while others are more repetitive or similar to issues that have been handled and resolved before within the organizational component. As an IT Specialist (Customer Support) you will find that each day brings many new and exciting challenges, you will be exposed to the latest in information technology, and be recognized as an expert in your field.

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-11You will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this developmental position.

As an IT Specialist (Customer Support) you will:

• Coordinates, oversees or performs activities involving troubleshooting, installing, testing, and securing existing, new or updated voice or data communications equipment. Evaluates installations to ensure compliance and conformity to regulations, standards, and security compliance, technical and procedural requirements
• Provides advice and assistance to customers on a large local problem to troubleshoot complex problems; and provides support in a manner that minimizes interruptions in customers’ ability to carry out critical business activities.
• Develops contingency plans to ensure continuous availability and accessibility of network resources in the event of emergencies.
• Identifies and analyzes critical problems and issues to determine nature of requirements, specifications,resources, constraints, security, and coordinates controls to ensure integrity of communication systems design and implementation.
• Leads the local implementation of national projects to evaluate and report on new tools and trends in the customer support field such as browser-based and speech-enabled customer support services; recommends purchase of new tools to enhance the delivery of customer support services. Leads the implementation of national projects, reviews, validates, and standardizes problem resolutions for inclusion in the problem management database.
• Leads the implementation of large scale projects such as: upgrading from hubs to switches; inventory control, equipment replacement, consolidation of regional networks; and redesigning network infrastructure in response to changes in network technologies or network requirements, such as VoIP taking into consideration telecommunications policies, regulations, standards, and requirements.
• Serves as senior customer technical analyst with responsibility for projects, resolves the most complex customer problems; e.g., re-imaging customer workstations, correcting other workstations affected by similar problems, configuring hubs, switches, and routers, and troubleshooting interconnectivity and inter-operability of equipment and software requirements including operating systems. Serves as the primary contact with respect to major equipment installations, moves, maintenance, and acceptance testing of new, untried, computer equipment involving multiple sites.
• Provides desk side guidance, documentation, and training on system, products, new technology and updated standard operating procedures (SOPs) to eliminate recurring errors, accomplish tasks or projects and where appropriate, provides recommendations for improvements.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

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 https://www.jobs.irs.gov/

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.

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Qualifications

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 THRU 11: 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.For more information on education requirements go to Treasury’s Pathways Program.

Veterans who, due to a military service obligation, were precluded from applying to a Recent Graduates Program during any portion of the 2 year eligibility period may have their eligibility period extended so that they receive the full 2 years of eligibility. The remaining 2-year eligibility period will begin upon his or her release or discharge from active duty. The veteran's eligibility period may not extend beyond 6 years from the date of completion of all requirements of an academic course of study.

- 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-timework 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.

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 in the following areas: Technology Awareness, Technical Competence,Network Management, Information Technology Architecture, Information Systems/Network Security, Oral & Written Communication, Infrastructure Design. Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories, (i.e., A = Superior, B = Highly Qualified, C= Qualified) depending on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, and training related to this position. 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.

Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of their assigned category and considered before non-preference-eligibles in that category. Qualified preference-eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10% or more will be listed at the top of the highest category.

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.

This vacancy announcement will be used as a register to fill vacancies through 9/4/2020

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee eligible for Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), you must receive a score of category HIGHLY QUALIFIED or better to be rated as “well qualified" to receive special selection priority.