Skip to main content
U.S. flag
Back to results

Health Communications Specialist

Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration
Center for Devices and Radiological Health
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This Direct-Hire position is in the Food and Drug Administration and is located in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), which assures that patients and providers have access to safe, effective, and high-quality medical devices and safe radiation-emitting products. CDRH facilitates medical devices innovation by advancing regulatory science, providing industry with predictable, transparent, and regulatory pathways, and assuring consumer confidence in devices marketed in the U.S.

Overview

Help
Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
05/07/2021 to 05/14/2021
Salary
$103,690 to - $134,798 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Location
few vacancies in the following location:
Silver Spring, MD
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Moderate Risk (MR)
Trust determination process
Announcement number
FDA-CDRH-21-DH-11106544LD
Control number
600845900

This job is open to

Help

The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Career transition (CTAP, ICTAP, RPL)

Federal employees whose job, agency or department was eliminated and are eligible for priority over other applicants.

Clarification from the agency

You must be a U.S. Citizen or U.S. National. Foreign nationals or legal permanent residents are not eligible for consideration. This is a direct hire authority announcement. Traditional federal rules regarding rating, ranking, and veterans' preference do not apply. This vacancy will also be used to clear CTAP/ICTAP.

Duties

Help
  • As a Health Communication Specialist in the Office of Communication and Education (OCE), Division of Communication (DC), you will:
  • Develop, test, and disseminate a variety of clear and actionable public health communication, public health emergency and crisis communication, and educational materials for use in national outreach efforts to different target audiences.
  • Develop, implement, and manage comprehensive communication plans and marketing strategies for internal and external audiences on highly complex, time-sensitive, controversial and sensitive issues while meeting established project milestones
  • Develop relationships and coordinate with other communication specialists, Agency colleagues, health officials, and community representatives to execute a variety of high-visibility communication strategies.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

  • Citizenship Requirement: You must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for this advertisement unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  • Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
  • Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
  • FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
  • Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.

Qualifications

The position of Health Communications Specialist falls under the 1001 occupational series. To qualify for this position at grade GS-13, you must meet the following:

Minimum Qualifications

Specialized Experience. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

You must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service to include experience:

  • Drafting, editing, and clearing health communication documents, media relations materials and/or web content that are tailored to specific audience segments;
  • Developing, implementing and evaluating high-quality short- and long-term communication and marketing plans and strategies designed to inform the public and other audiences about public health programs and/or communications for public health emergencies; and
  • Conducting and implementing target audience research and message testing into communication strategies and products.
. All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 05/14/2021. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible or your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your skills and abilities. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.

You may be asked to provide additional information at a later time. All interview requests and selection decisions are at the full discretion of the hiring office.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date . To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, 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. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

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.

Education

Education is neither qualifying or required for this position.

Additional information

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest in positions with the FDA, the agency reserves the option of setting an application number limit.

When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either:
(A) the day the limit is reached,

-OR-

(B) the pre-defined closing date of 05/14/2021, whichever comes first.

If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.

The application limit, if applicable, for this advertisement is: no limit

For more information about announcement closing, see: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/job-announcement/expiration/

Additional Conditions of Employment:

  • Pre-employment physical required: no
  • Drug testing required: no
  • License required: no
  • Mobility agreement required: no
  • Immunization required: no
  • Bargaining Unit Position: yes, 3591
  • Telework eligible position: Telework is at the discretion of the supervisor. Additional Information:
  • Incentives may be authorized; however, this is contingent upon funds availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require you to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a period of up to 3 years. Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid. Incentives include the following: moving expenses, recruitment or relocation incentive; student loan repayment, superior qualifications appointment, creditable service for annual leave for prior non-federal work experience or prior uniformed military service, etc.
  • Additional selections may be made for similar positions across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within the local commuting area(s) of the location identified in this announcement. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with interested selecting official(s) at HHS. Clearance of CTAP/ICTAP will be applied for similar positions across HHS.
  • If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years (from 05/14/2021) as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. See Political Appointee FAQ - OPM for more.

How you will be evaluated

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

This is a direct hire announcement. Traditional rating and ranking of applications, and veterans' preference does not apply to this vacancy. We will evaluate you against the basic qualifications. Qualified applicants will be referred for consideration in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management direct hire guidelines. Note: Volunteer experience can also be used as qualifying experience.

Once the job opportunity announcement closes (at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on 05/14/2021), a review of your résumé and supporting documentation will be conducted, the information will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible.

If you are referred to the hiring manager for consideration, you may be further evaluated based on an interview; review of requested work samples, writing samples, most recent performance evaluation(s), or professional references; or results of an oral presentation or work-related test. Failure to comply with any of the additional assessment requirements will result in removal from further consideration. These assessment methods/tools may also be listed under Key Requirements.

A subject matter expert will review the resumes.

Structured interviews: may be asked scenario-based interview questions concerning core
competencies. Method/tools used to evaluate applicants: work samples, conducting a presentation, reference
checks, tests may be used.



Interagency / Career Transition Assistance Program (I/CTAP): Well-Qualified is defined as an applicant who meets the qualification standards and eligibility requirements for the position, including minimum educational and experience requirements; any medical qualifications and suitability; is able to perform the essential duties of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation; meets any applicable selective placement factors for the position (such as the ability to speak a specific language or any other factor required immediately upon hire); and is able to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry. Learn more on the USAJOBS Career Transition Assistance Site.

Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

Your session is about to expire!

Your USAJOBS session will expire due to inactivity in 8 minutes. Any unsaved data will be lost if you allow the session to expire. Click the button below to continue your session.