The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the nation's housing agency committed to strengthening the Nation's housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; and build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.
Summary
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is the nation's housing agency committed to strengthening the Nation's housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; and build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.
This position is located in the Office of Public Affairs (OPA), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Office of Public Affairs strives to educate and keep the American people informed about the Department's mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. By pursuing media outreach, OPA works to ensure homeowners, renters, and those living in subsidized housing hear directly from key officials about the Department's latest initiatives and goals. Using communications tools such as press releases, press conferences, the Internet, media interviews, New Media and community outreach, OPA provides Americans with information about housing policies and programs that are important to them.
The Senior Advisor for Public Affairs serves as the senior technical advisor to the Assistant Secretary (AS) and General Deputy Assistant Secretary (GDAS) for Public Affairs, regarding all communications matters. Serves as HUD’s public affairs expert on housing policy and program issues, and as such, plays an essential role in HUD strategic communications. Continuously provides timely and accurate information, as well as sound guidance and strategic recommendations on the most sensitive and high visibility public affairs issues. Keeps HUD leadership abreast of critical issues with media and Congressional interest. Prepares responses to national media, the public, and political opinion in a politically sensitive and highly unpredictable environment. Provides expert advice and guidance in the functional areas of public information, media relations, community relations, marketing and advertising and public affairs program management. The incumbent serves as a source of institutional memory during leadership and staff transitions to preclude any disruption in the timeliness and/or effectiveness of products.
The incumbent will be privy to the political, personal, and management philosophies of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary. A confidential relationship is imperative since the incumbent will speak for the AS or GDAS, as required, and, as such, will be expected to reflect their philosophies in conversations with officials of the government, business and other groups. The incumbent will also be obliged to present the views of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary in correspondence and other communications with agency managers to program officials.
Duties include, but are not limited to:
Providing round the clock situational awareness and effects coordination OPA-wide, and often HUD-wide, on sensitive matters; continually serving as the OPA expert/strategic communications counsel for the AS on highly sensitive issues; serving as a spokesperson representing OPA on issues receiving national media attention; and providing direct support to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of HUD for talking points and strategy involving high-visibility and highly sensitive/complex issues.
Managing the quality and consistency of output/products requiring AS or GDAS approval; ensuring that these outputs/products are strategic, concise, relevant, consistent and appropriate for use in communicating messages to Congress, the media, and other agencies.
Serving as the agency expert for the development and execution of strategic communications plans, programs and initiatives.
Coordinating all Departmental HQ media Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Conducting long-range policy analysis for the improvement of the Department’s methods of communication with various constituent organizations and interest groups.
Promoting and maintaining effective working relationships with The White House, representatives of federal, foreign, state and local governments, members of Congress, civic organizations and agencies, and with representatives of the media and special interest groups.
Preparing and reviewing information materials for dissemination to various publics for security, propriety and conformance to HUD policy.
Preparing, reviewing or coordinating speeches, presentations, and written and electronic information materials for general and targeted audiences.
Evaluating trends in public opinion to determine public attitudes and perceptions and to identify and relate HUD policies with community interest.
This vacancy is advertised under two (2) different announcements. Please read the Who May Apply section carefully to determine your eligibility. If you are not eligible under this announcement, please see ER-19-002-MP.
Must be able to obtain and maintain a favorable background investigation.
A one-year probationary period is required, if not previously completed.
Must meet Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs)
Will be required to submit a Public Financial Disclosure Report, SF-278.
You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this vacancy announcement.
SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE
As a basic requirement, applicants must demonstrate progressively responsible experience directly related to the knowledge, skills and abilities outlined under Mandatory Technical Qualifications. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the GS-15 grade level in the Federal service, or its equivalent, with state or local government, the private sector, or nongovernmental organizations. Failure to meet basic qualification requirements, specialized experience, and all mandatory technical qualifications may result in disqualification.
You must have at least one year of specialized experience related to this position. Specialized experience includes:
Utilizing public affairs principles, methods, practices, and techniques in order to direct the formulation, implementation and management of external communications policies, strategies, and programs for the purpose of increasing public awareness of, and confidence in, agency initiatives, policies, regulations, and goals; and
Planning, directing, and executing complex communication projects using social media, design or branding expertise, and multimedia products (such as podcasts, infographics, and toolkit development).
Qualifications
YOU MUST FULLY ADDRESS EACH MTQ TO BE RATED FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION.
MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (MTQs): In addition to the qualifying experience, applicants must possess the following technical qualifications that represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential to perform the duties and responsibilities of the position.
Demonstrated experience planning, coordinating, and executing all facets of enterprise wide communications programs that engage internal and external stakeholders utilizing a wide array of communications methods in federal and private sector organizations in the housing industry.
Demonstrated experience providing communications counsel to public and private sector organizations on key facets of U.S. housing policy including housing finance, federally backed mortgage insurance programs, block grant programs, and affordable housing efforts.
Demonstrated experience creating and leading employee communications efforts that create a stronger connection between the work employees perform and enterprise priorities.
To be considered for this position, you must submit a written statement fully addressing each MTQ. Failure to fully address the MTQs, will adversely affect your chances for referral or selection.
This vacancy is advertised under two (2) different announcements. Please read the Who May Apply section carefully to determine your eligibility. If you are not eligible under this announcement, please see ER-19-002-MP.
Education
There is no substitution of education for experience at this level.
Additional information
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development strives to ensure that the public perceives HUD as a fair and equitable agency that administers its programs in an objective and impartial manner. As such, HUD is committed to its government ethics program, which advises employees on applicable ethics laws and regulations designed to protect the agency against real and apparent conflicts of interest. As a federal employee, you will be subject to the Standards of Ethical Conduct and the U.S. criminal conflict of interest statutes. As a HUD employee, you will also be subject to the HUD Supplemental Ethics Regulations which restrict the extent to which a HUD employee can engage in certain activities and hold certain investments. Depending on your position, you may also be required to file a public or confidential financial disclosure report. Upon your new appointment, you will receive guidance regarding your ethics obligations. You will also be required to attend a mandatory ethics training within 3 months of appointment.
HUD employees are prohibited under Section 7501.104, 5 Code of Federal Regulations from directly or indirectly owning, acquiring, or receiving:
Federal Housing Authority debentures or certificate of claim;
Financial interest in a project, including any single-family dwelling or unit subsidized by HUD, or which is subject to a note or mortgage insured by HUD;
Section 8 subsidies to or on behalf of a tenant of property you, your spouse, or a dependent child owns.
The following are exceptions to the Section 8 prohibition:
The employee, or the employee's spouse or minor child acquires, without specific intent as through inheritance, a property in which a tenant receiving such a subsidy already resides;
The tenant receiving such a subsidy lived in the rental property before the employee worked for the Department;
The tenant receiving such a subsidy is a parent, child, grandchild, or sibling of the employee;
The employee's, or the employee's spouse or minor child's, rental property has an incumbent tenant who has not previously received such a subsidy and becomes the beneficiary thereof; or
The location of the rental property is in a Presidentially declared emergency or natural disaster area and the employee receives prior written approval from an agency designee.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
In addition to the specialized experience, applicants will be evaluated against the Mandatory Technical Qualifications (MTQs). As a supplement to your application, please provide examples of relevant experience, training, and personal achievements, which address each of the MTQs. The examples should be clear and concise and show levels of accomplishment and degree of responsibility. FAILURE TO ADDRESS THE REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS WILL RESULT IN YOUR APPLICATION BEING DISQUALIFIED. To preview questions please click here.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
RESUME: All applicants are required to submit a resume, either by creating on in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. Cover letters are optional. To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume. We suggest you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view résumé tips. Your resume should include: full name, mailing address, and day and evening telephone numbers and email addresses. Educational information, including the name, city and state of the colleges or universities you attended, as well as the type and year of any degrees received. Information about your paid and non-paid work experience related to the position including:
Job title (including series and grade, if Federal job)
Duties and accomplishments
Employer's name and address
Supervisor's name and telephone number (indicate if we may contact your current supervisor)
Starting and ending dates of employment (month/year)
Hours per week
Annual salary
Information about honors, awards, and special accomplishments
Country of citizenship
RESPONSES TO THE MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS
If you are applying under a special hiring authority (e.g. Military Spouses, Interchange Agreement, VEOA, Schedule A Disability, etc.), please see applicant guide for required documentation. In order to be eligible under one of these authorities, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.
CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (CTAP/ICTAP) DOCUMENTATION: If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee, click CTAP/ICTAP for eligibility and a detailed list of required documents.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Note: Resumes must be submitted using the USAJobs website.
The following instructions outline our application process:
You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (ET), Monday - Friday).
If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date. HUD provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us if you require this for any part of the application and hiring process.
To begin, either click the "Create a New Account" button and follow the prompts to register or if you previously registered, click the "Apply Online" button and follow the prompts.
You will be re-directed to HUD’s CareerConnector system to complete your application process; answer the online questions, and submit all required documents. (To submit supporting documents, click one of the available options; Upload; Fax; or Reuse existing documents. To protect your privacy, we suggest you first remove your SSN). Also, go to “My Account” to view and update your information, as necessary.
To complete, you must click the "Finish" button located at the bottom of the "Application Review" page.
To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, select the Application Status link and then select the more information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application.
To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
See "How to Apply" Section
Washington, District of Columbia 20410
United States
Next steps
You will receive notification that your application has been received. Applicants who meet the mandatory requirements for their MTQ’s will be considered qualified for this position. Rating and ranking to determine the “Best Qualified” will be conducted by a panel of experts and will be based upon consideration of the degree to which applicants meet the mandatory requirements as described in the vacancy announcement. Interviews and qualifications inquiries may be required.
To check the status of your application for this position, please follow these steps:
Login to your USAJOBS account, select the "Applications" tab section and click on the vacancy that you have already applied to.
Under "Application Status," click the "Additional Application Information" link and you will be taken to HUD’s CareerConnector website where you can check your application status.
The "Additional Application Information" link may not be available if your application status says "Unavailable." This indicates that your application is not complete. If the "Additional Application Information" link is not available and the vacancy is still open, you can click on the job announcement and the "Update Application" button to be taken back to the HUD CareerConnector portion of the application. Please notify us if your contact information changes after the closing date of the announcement. Also, note that if you provide an email address that is inaccurate or if your mailbox is full or blocked (e.g., spam-blocker), you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
RESUME: All applicants are required to submit a resume, either by creating on in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. Cover letters are optional. To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume. We suggest you preview the online questions, as you may need to customize your resume to ensure that it supports your responses to these questions. Please view résumé tips. Your resume should include: full name, mailing address, and day and evening telephone numbers and email addresses. Educational information, including the name, city and state of the colleges or universities you attended, as well as the type and year of any degrees received. Information about your paid and non-paid work experience related to the position including:
Job title (including series and grade, if Federal job)
Duties and accomplishments
Employer's name and address
Supervisor's name and telephone number (indicate if we may contact your current supervisor)
Starting and ending dates of employment (month/year)
Hours per week
Annual salary
Information about honors, awards, and special accomplishments
Country of citizenship
RESPONSES TO THE MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS
If you are applying under a special hiring authority (e.g. Military Spouses, Interchange Agreement, VEOA, Schedule A Disability, etc.), please see applicant guide for required documentation. In order to be eligible under one of these authorities, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.
CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (CTAP/ICTAP) DOCUMENTATION: If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee, click CTAP/ICTAP for eligibility and a detailed list of required documents.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Note: Resumes must be submitted using the USAJobs website.
The following instructions outline our application process:
You must complete this application process and submit any required documents by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (ET), Monday - Friday).
If applying online poses a hardship, please contact us by noon ET on the announcement's closing date. HUD provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us if you require this for any part of the application and hiring process.
To begin, either click the "Create a New Account" button and follow the prompts to register or if you previously registered, click the "Apply Online" button and follow the prompts.
You will be re-directed to HUD’s CareerConnector system to complete your application process; answer the online questions, and submit all required documents. (To submit supporting documents, click one of the available options; Upload; Fax; or Reuse existing documents. To protect your privacy, we suggest you first remove your SSN). Also, go to “My Account” to view and update your information, as necessary.
To complete, you must click the "Finish" button located at the bottom of the "Application Review" page.
To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, select the Application Status link and then select the more information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application.
To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
See "How to Apply" Section
Washington, District of Columbia 20410
United States
Next steps
You will receive notification that your application has been received. Applicants who meet the mandatory requirements for their MTQ’s will be considered qualified for this position. Rating and ranking to determine the “Best Qualified” will be conducted by a panel of experts and will be based upon consideration of the degree to which applicants meet the mandatory requirements as described in the vacancy announcement. Interviews and qualifications inquiries may be required.
To check the status of your application for this position, please follow these steps:
Login to your USAJOBS account, select the "Applications" tab section and click on the vacancy that you have already applied to.
Under "Application Status," click the "Additional Application Information" link and you will be taken to HUD’s CareerConnector website where you can check your application status.
The "Additional Application Information" link may not be available if your application status says "Unavailable." This indicates that your application is not complete. If the "Additional Application Information" link is not available and the vacancy is still open, you can click on the job announcement and the "Update Application" button to be taken back to the HUD CareerConnector portion of the application. Please notify us if your contact information changes after the closing date of the announcement. Also, note that if you provide an email address that is inaccurate or if your mailbox is full or blocked (e.g., spam-blocker), you may not receive important communication that could affect your consideration for this position.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
