This position is located in the Office of External Affairs, Department of the Chief Executive Officer, in Washington, DC. In this role, the incumbent will be responsible for sharing the AmeriCorps story, impact of national service and volunteerism with our key stakeholders and the general public.
Summary
This position is located in the Office of External Affairs, Department of the Chief Executive Officer, in Washington, DC. In this role, the incumbent will be responsible for sharing the AmeriCorps story, impact of national service and volunteerism with our key stakeholders and the general public.
The Public Affairs Specialist (Writer-Editor) is responsible for writing, editing, and reviewing both traditional and digital communications content that support the plans and implementation strategy for public engagement. Incumbent provides strategic support to communications outreach to CEO and COS teams, as needed.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Interview stakeholders to gain insight and background for story development.
Draft and verify long and short-form content in a fast-paced environment, including national service and volunteerism think pieces, Op-Eds, blog posts, recruitment collateral, web content, emails, and other outreach assets.
Identify and track story ideas by program and key demographic attributes for potential future use.
Write talking points, FAQs, and other background communications for Agency principals in support of media and external outreach
Regularly monitor and update content for americorps.gov alongside web manager and developers(s) to optimize user experience, enhance content, and follow navigation, style sheets, SEO/M and 508 accessibility standards.
Serve as an editor for Agency departments for external communications, emails, blogs and other content as requested.
Write, proof, and edit content to ensure consistency, accuracy, and alignment with brand platform, AP Style and Agency style guide
Review, update, and provide style guide training for colleagues.
Distill complex ideas, data, and research into compelling content.
Discover creative narratives and insights to bring the AmeriCorps story to life.
Adeptly manage a busy workload and competing deadlines.
Provide excellent customer service and responsiveness to colleagues across the agency.
A 2-year probationary period is required for new Federal employees
Merit Promotion and applicants must submit a SF-50 to verify Status and grade
Must be telework ready
Satisfactory completion of a background investigation
Qualifications
Applicants must have one year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the NY-02 pay band, which would be at or equivalent to, the GS-7 level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is that which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience includes.
Specialized experience includes: 1) Editing written correspondence and/or informational materials for an organization; 2) Preparing written or multimedia materials to promote the organization's position on a variety of sensitive, controversial and/or complex issues; and 3) Designing and tailoring meetings and public involvement strategies to the general public and special target audiences that involved a degree of controversy.
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps VISTA) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Such experience must be clearly documented in the applicant's resume.
Education
You can use education in lieu of specialized experience. Qualifying education includes 1 full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement. You must submit your transcripts if you are using education in lieu specialized experience.
You may also qualify based on a combination of education and experience, if applicable.
Additional information
Additional selections may be made from this announcement or for similar positions across AmeriCorps. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with interested selecting official(s) at AmeriCorps.
As a Term employee, you will not be covered be the agency's Interchange Agreement with the Office of Personnel Management, which allows for noncompetitive transfer from AmeriCorps to other agencies in the competitive service of the federal government.
If you are a male applicant who was born after 12/31/59 and are required to register under the Military Selective Service Act, the Defense Authorization Act of 1986 requires that you be registered or you are not eligible for appointment in this agency.
Veteran's Preference: If you are claiming 5-point or 10-point veteran's preference, you must submit documentation described below in "Required Documents."
Special Employment Consideration: Persons with disabilities, disabled veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more, certain other veterans, spouses of certain members of the Armed Forces, VISTA volunteers, some Peace Corps employees and returning Peace Corps volunteers are examples of individuals who are potentially eligible for noncompetitive appointment. If you are eligible and would like to be considered for one of these noncompetitive appointments, applicable documentation that supports your eligibility must be submitted with your application package.
Ethics Requirement: Our Agency is committed to the highest ethical standards and, as an employee you will be covered by the criminal conflict of interest statutes (18 U.S.C. 201-209) and the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (5 C.F.R. part 2635). Additionally, you may be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) or Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e) within 30 days of your appointment date and on an annual basis thereafter.
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.
Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:
Analytical Skill
Communications and Media
Customer Service
Interpersonal Relations
Oral Communication
Written Communication
Important Note: Your resume must support your answers to the job specific questions. High self-assessment on the Occupational Questionnaire that is not supported by the information in your resume or supporting documents can/will result in elimination from further consideration. If you do not answer all of the job specific questions you will not be considered. Incomplete applications (resume and required supporting documents) will be considered ineligible.
Qualified applicants will be placed in one of the following three categories:
1 - Qualified Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements as described in the Qualifications section of this announcement.
2 - Well Qualified Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and demonstrates proficiency based on the answers to the job specific questions.
3 - Best Qualified Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and demonstrates high level proficiency based on the answers to the job specific questions.
NOTE: Status candidates will be considered under the provisions of the agency's Human Resources system which allows for:
1) Non-competitive referral of lateral candidates; and
2) The separation of status and non-status applicants for referral purposes.
Status candidates will be referred on one selection list only, i.e., either merit promotion or non-competitive. Non-status candidates who are eligible for Noncompetitive referral, e.g. Peace Corps, VRA, etc., will be referred under Noncompetitive procedures only. For Noncompetitive categories, See "Special Employment Consideration" below under "Other Information."
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 showing relevant experience (cover letter optional);
Unofficial transcript (if qualifying based on education):
Veterans' Preference Documentation (DD-214, VA Letter, and SF-15 if claiming 10-point preference; DD-214 if claiming 5-point preference), if applicable;
For Merit Promotion Eligibility: SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (must indicate tenure and position occupied), if applicable;
Documentation supporting eligibility for Non-Competitive appointment, e.g., Schedule A (severely disabled), eligible veterans (VRA or 30-percent or more disabled), VISTA, Peace Corps, etc., if applicable
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.
To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire, which is available to preview here https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11170411, along with submitting the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 08/02/2021.
To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
Click the Submit My Answers button to submit your application package.
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.
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.
AmeriCorps
250 E Street SW
Washington, DC 20525
US
Next steps
Once the occupational questionnaire is received, you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful, however, you must also include a resume and any other documents that are applicable to you under the "Required Documents" section of this vacancy announcement. After a review of your complete application is made, you will be notified of your status via email. Please be aware that emails could reside in your "junk," "bulk," or "spam" mail folder, depending on your filters. You will be notified of the final outcome.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
Resume showing relevant experience (cover letter optional);
Unofficial transcript (if qualifying based on education):
Veterans' Preference Documentation (DD-214, VA Letter, and SF-15 if claiming 10-point preference; DD-214 if claiming 5-point preference), if applicable;
For Merit Promotion Eligibility: SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (must indicate tenure and position occupied), if applicable;
Documentation supporting eligibility for Non-Competitive appointment, e.g., Schedule A (severely disabled), eligible veterans (VRA or 30-percent or more disabled), VISTA, Peace Corps, etc., if applicable
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.
To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire, which is available to preview here https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11170411, along with submitting the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 08/02/2021.
To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
Click the Submit My Answers button to submit your application package.
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.
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.
AmeriCorps
250 E Street SW
Washington, DC 20525
US
Next steps
Once the occupational questionnaire is received, you will receive an acknowledgement email that your submission was successful, however, you must also include a resume and any other documents that are applicable to you under the "Required Documents" section of this vacancy announcement. After a review of your complete application is made, you will be notified of your status via email. Please be aware that emails could reside in your "junk," "bulk," or "spam" mail folder, depending on your filters. You will be notified of the final outcome.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
