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.

WHAT IS THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION? Criminal Investigation is the investigative and law enforcement arm of the IRS.  The American system of voluntary tax compliance relies heavily on self-assessments of what tax is owed.  When individuals or corporations deliberately don't comply with the tax laws, Criminal Investigation responds with financial investigations and potential criminal prosecutions to promote compliance and confidence in the fairness of the tax system.  

WHAT DOES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST DO? An Information Technology (IT) Specialist 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.  

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; and Meet the qualification standards for the position to which the Recent Graduate may be converted.

The following are the duties of this position at the GS-11.

If selected, you will be placed in a position as an IT Specialist, GS-2210-7 or 9 with a career ladder promotion potential to a GS-11. You will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

As an IT Specialist you will:

• Provide advice and assistance to customers, troubleshoot complex problems; and provide support in a manner that minimizes interruptions in customers’ ability to carry out critical business activities.
• Review, validate, and standardize problem resolutions for inclusion in the problem resolution database.
• Serve as customer technical analyst with responsibility for resolving the most complex customer problems, e.g., by reimaging customer workstations and correcting other workstations affected by similar problems.
• Perform feasibility studies of proposals, considering costs and benefits. Participate in long range or major implementation initiatives, and coordinate local activities associated with all or most phases of planning, implementation, and evaluation of mainframe systems.
• Analyze requests for new programs and modifications of existing programs. Determine how the system should be organized and what equipment demands will result. Identifies specific data elements, program layouts, interrelationships, sequences, and internal logic upon decision to automate. Code, test, debug, coordinate, and document the application.

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

Conditions of employment

• Refer to "Other Information".
• Click "Print Preview" to review the entire announcement before applying.
• U.S. Citizens or Nationals.

Applicant drug testing with a negative result is required. If selected, you will be subject to pass random drug testing with negative results during your employment.

Qualifications

YOU MUST FIRST MEET RECENT GRADUATE PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION. YOU MAY THEN QUALIFY FOR THE POSITION BASED ON EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH AS DETAILED BELOW. THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS MUST BE MET PRIOR TO APPOINTMENT/ENTER ON DUTY DATE:

Federal Experience is not required.

GS-7 LEVEL: One (1) year of graduate level education in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation 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 two years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in your major field of study or those courses in your major completed in the last two years of study, or rank in the upper one third of your class in the college, university, or major subdivision, or membership in a national honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. OR One (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-5 grade level in the federal service. Specialized experience for this position must have been 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:

• 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.
• 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.

GS-9 LEVEL: Master's or equivalent graduate degree in computer science, engineering, information science, information systems management, mathematics, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks. OR Two (2) 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, operations research, statistics, or technology management or degree that provided a minimum of 24 semester hours in one or more of the fields identified above and required the development or adaptation of applications, systems or networks. OR One (1) year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-7 grade level in the federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience that demonstrated knowledge of computer requirements and techniques in carrying out project assignments consisting of several related tasks, such as typically is the case in development of minor modifications to parts of a system on the basis of detailed specifications provided. Experience must have been 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:

• Analyzing the interrelationships of pertinent components of the system.
• Ability to plan the sequence of actions necessary to accomplish the assignment.
• Personal responsibility for at least a segment of the overall project.

ALL GRADES: 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 to be eligible for the IRS Pathways Recent Graduates Program, 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; if you are a veteran, who due to a military service obligation was precluded from applying to the recent graduates program during a portion of the 2-year eligibility period; or intended graduation is no more than 9 months from date of application. Education must be completed prior to appointment/enter on duty date. For more information on education requirements go to Treasury’s Pathways Program.

-The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-timework; part-timework is considered on a prorated basis
-To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/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: Attention To Detail, Customer Service, Interpersonal Skills, Oral Communication, Problem Solving, Teamwork. Category-like rating (Quality Group) will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories, Superior/Best Qualified, Highly Qualified, and 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. We will not reimburse costs related to the interview such as travel to and from the interview site.