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

Public Affairs Specialist

Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

You will serve as a Bilingual Spanish Public Affairs Specialist in the Office of Media Relations. The individual plans, participates in, and executes NHTSA’s high-profile public information programs directed toward the news media, industry media, consumer organizations, and the public.

 

Overview

Help
Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
11/29/2022 to 12/09/2022
Salary
$89,834 to - $116,788 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Washington, DC
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Some travel required.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Full Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
12
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
NHTSA.NCO-2023-0004
Control number
691561100

Duties

Help

As a Public Affairs Specialist, you will:

  • Develop, write and edit highway safety related web content, blogs, tweets, speeches, bytes and b-roll scripts, public service announcements, statements, editorial content fit for publication, and press releases related to highway safety in both English and Spanish. Research, write, and edits content for news conferences, and major mass media traffic and highway safety campaigns.
  • Establish and maintain liaison with program offices within NHTSA, other federal departments, and private organizations to plan and implement inter-agency information dissemination related to highway safety. Participates in briefings with the Administrator, Deputy Administrator, and the Office of the Secretary's top officials on news conferences and special events. Provides recommendations for using social media to further promote NHTSA's highway safety mission to the general public. 

The ideal candidate for this position is driven, reliable, adaptable and able to provide consistently excellent, effective customer service in a timely manner while maintaining a high level of quality and productivity in a deadline driven, fast-paced environment. The individual can establish and maintain effective external working relationships with industry media, national and regional media outlets, industry associations, as well as internal working relationships with DOT and NHTSA staff, including Senior Officials.
The ideal candidate is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, and can craft clear and effective messaging and outreach aimed at the public that can be disseminated through a variety of media channels and platforms; respond quickly to media inquiries; support NHTSA’s social media team by preparing and reviewing materials to posted on a variety of social media platforms; produce related concise and on-point briefing materials, talking points and background information by working with leadership and program offices; and coordinate press releases and media advisories with Office of the Secretary’s media team and where needed works closely with OST’s senior officials on news conferences, campaigns, and special events.
The ideal candidate is resourceful and excels under tight deadlines and pressure situations that require providing timely and accurate information and reflects professionalism. The individual is the consummate team member who works cooperatively and effectively with other media team members and is eager to take on challenging assignments and projects.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

  • You must be a U.S.Citizen and eligible for consideration.
  • You must meet specialized experience to qualify.
  • Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.
  • Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
  • GOVERNMENT TRAVEL CARD: This position involves travel.  A government contractor-issued travel card will be issued and must be retained for official business only.
  • PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.
  • DEU REQUIREMENTS: Applicants selected under delegated examining procedures may be required to successfully complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
  • NOTICE: Individuals considering employment with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration need to be aware of certain ethics requirements that apply to Federal employees. There is a one-year “cooling off” period during which a new Federal employee may not work on a matter that involves the employee's previous employer. In addition, depending on the job, you may be required to sell certain assets you hold (such as stocks) that would present a conflict of interest with the work you would perform if hired. For details about these restrictions, click on this link: https://www.nhtsa.gov/about-nhtsa/working-nhtsa

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must meet the specialized experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

To qualify for the Grade 12, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-11 it must include:

  • Experience providing sound, policy-based media statements in a fast-paced, multi-tasking media relations office.
  • Experience in translating to Spanish factual media statements in response to breaking news and under very tight deadlines; and experience in pulling together information from many sources to present accurate information, in both English and Spanish, to the public in a timely manner.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

  1. Demonstrated knowledge and skills as a public affairs professional working under very tight deadlines acquiring information about different subjects and in analyzing, selecting, and presenting the information in a style, manner, and format that is accurate and suited to the requirements of the designated medium; strong writing and grammar skills for communicating to the public and media.
  2. Demonstrated extensive experience working with reporters and/or editors daily and has a strong relationship with national and regional reporters and/or industry beat reporters.
  3. Demonstrated ability to communicate with managers, peers, and customers at all levels.

For all types of consideration, 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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:  https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-policies/#url=e4

All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if similar vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level. 

To compete with U.S. Citizens:  If you meet the qualification requirements, your application will be placed in one of two categories: Qualified and Well Qualified which is based upon your responses to the vacancy questions. Within these categories, applicants eligible for veteran's preference that have provided supporting documents will receive selection priority over non-veterans. The top rated applications will be reviewed for the quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position.

To compete with other competitive status government employees: If you meet the qualification requirements, your application will be scored based upon your responses to the vacancy questions. The top rated applications will be reviewed for the quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position. If referred, all relevant documents including performance appraisals and awards submitted with your application package will be forwarded to the hiring official for review.

Eligible Federal employees also seeking consideration for noncompetitive reassignment for this position, must indicate interest in the assessment. In eligibility question 14: select Yes/Other/Former Incumbency of a Position brought into the Competitive Service. Noncompetitive federal candidates must have competitive status on a SF-50, meet minimum qualifications, have served at the same grade or higher, and held or exceeded the promotion potential of this position.

All applicants:  Your application will be rated on the extent and quality of your experience, education and training relevant to the position. The answers you select in the on-line process must be substantiated in your application package.  If upon review, it is determined that your described work history, competencies, and/or supporting documents do not support your answer choices, your application may be updated on your behalf or you may not be referred to the selecting official. Please ensure that your work history provides enough details to support your answers. The Automated Staffing Office is ultimately responsible for determining your final rating.


You may preview questions for this vacancy.

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.