Clarification from the agency

United States Citizens Veterans Individuals with Disabilities

The Training Specialist performs the following major duties:

• Training Systems Design, Support, and Guidance:
  • Designs, analyzes, and strengthens systems related to training facilitation, instructional design, and training evaluation and assessment. Provides guidance and ongoing support for the field related to the agency's Staff Training Competencies as related to the health sector.
  • Provides expert advice and guidance related to Peace Corps' health Training Design and Evaluation (TDE) process. Reviews and analyses health sector training designs, materials, and curriculum plans in response to post requests for assistance. Provides feedback to posts along with recommendations for training improvements.
  • Participates in the evaluation of Peace Corps health training programs by promoting continuous assessment of training activities in order to determine those training models that are most effective in achieving programmatic goals. Conducts studies of Peace Corps training practices and formulates recommendations for how both consistency and quality can be improved.
  • Resolves training issues that are controversial, complicated, or issues that set general precedents on fundamental policy issues in the subject-matter field.
  • Collaborates on Agency's knowledge management initiatives to ensure appropriate health training material is added to agency's collection for dissemination to Posts.
• Training Materials Development:
  • Serves as an authoritative consultant in training facilitation, design, and training evaluation and assessment content areas. Develops original training and learning material, inclusive of e-learning modalities in collaboration with e-learning designers as needed. Identifies existing materials for use. Maintains current knowledge of training facilitation, design, and evaluation approaches, trends, and research. Collects, assesses, and recommends promising practices with respect these content areas.
  • In collaboration with Health Sector Specialists, designs and develops training curricula using the Training Design and Evaluation process. Collects, assesses and recommends promising practices with respect to training learning objectives, session plans, and assessment tools.
  • Researches and analyzes newest training methodologies, materials, and tools (including e-learning materials). Identifies and collects professional training materials that would be useful to posts. Collaborates with the Office of Staff Learning and Development and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to ensure that appropriate health sector training resource materials are added to the agency's learning management system, collections, and are disseminated to posts.
• Field Technical Assistance and Staff Capacity Training:
  • Designs and facilitates delivery of in-person and distance learning programs, including Training of Trainers (TOT) workshops for overseas programming and training staff. Provides ongoing training and technical assistance to field-based staff on training facilitation, design, and training evaluation and assessment. Actively incorporates distance learning techniques and other multimedia processes to provide guidance and direction to individuals and teams on TOT workshops and their delivery.
  • Stays abreast on Agency priorities and training initiatives to collaborate effectively with other relevant staff to conceptualize and design training approaches and technical assistance to post programming and training needs.
  • Applies innovative thinking in planning, appraising concepts, and in developing and implementing capacity building initiatives for health training programs.
  • Assumes responsibility for training the trainers on new innovations/modifications to the existing trainings.

Conditions of employment

• Applicants must be U.S. citizens.
• The work arrangement and salary of this position will be negotiated upon selection. (i.e., telework, remote, and or location).
• Applicants must successfully complete a background security investigation with favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet this requirement will be grounds for employment termination.
• All Federal employees are required to have federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• A one year trial period is required.
• This is a bargaining unit position.
• This position requires a public trust background investigation.

Peace Corps Information

• This is a Federal civilian job in the Excepted Service. Peace Corps employees are paid on the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale.
• Initial appointment of employment cannot exceed five years.
• Additional hiring needs may be filled through this vacancy.
• The Peace Corps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors.
• The Peace Corps is a drug-free workplace and promotes a drug-free environment.
• The Peace Corps is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive culture. Our goal is to attract and develop the best and brightest from all lifestyles and backgrounds. The Peace Corps strives to create a culture of inclusion where individuals feel respected and are treated fairly in all aspects of differences. Our commitment is to make a difference in the lives of people around the world.
• The Peace Corps provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the hiring process, please notify the Office of Human Resources by calling 202-692-1200 or the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity on 202-692-2139. Decisions on granting reasonable accommodation are made on a case-by-case basis.

Qualifications

Specialized Experience:

You must meet the specialized experience at the grade level(s) in which you choose to be considered by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on 02/28/2023 (the closing date of the announcement). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. To ensure full credit for your experience, please indicate dates of employment by month, day, and year and the number of hours worked per week in your resume.

This vacancy is being announced at one grade (1):

FP-03

Qualifying experience for the FP-03 level includes one year of specialized experience at least equivalent to the FP-04 or GS-12 level which is in or directly related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience includes: Experience in concepts, principles, and methods of training development to develop broad range of health training programs, manuals and guidelines; Experience in applying knowledge of the mission, organization, work processes and major issues related to agency health programs and ability to develop training material targeted towards enhanced program results; Experience in applying interpersonal and communication skills to work harmoniously with contacts from various hierarchy levels; Experience in developing, designing and evaluating training programs, courses, materials, aids, etc., and employ state-of-the-art training delivery systems; Experience identifying problems, determining the type and amount of data and information needed for problem resolution.

AND

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- education or a subject area related to the position to be filled.

or

Experience

Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Experience that demonstrated a practical knowledge of the subject area of the position and of the methods and techniques of instruction. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include:

• Teaching or instructing in an adult education program, secondary school, college, military installation, or industrial establishment in the appropriate field(s).
• Supervising or administering a training program.
• Development or review of training/course materials, aids, devices, etc., and evaluation of training results.
• Work in the occupation or subject-matter field of the position to be filled that required training or instructing others on a regular basis.

Additional information on qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on the OPM web site at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/

Time-in-Grade Requirements: Internal applicants and Federal employees who are currently holding, or who have held within the previous 52 weeks, a position under a non-temporary appointment in the competitive or excepted service, must meet "time-in-grade" requirements (have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade of the grade for which you are applying). Note: All current or former Federal employees (including internal employees) must provide a copy of their SF-50 (you may need to submit more than one), "Notice of Personnel Action" that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position, title, series, grade, step, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted).

All qualification requirements must be met by 02/28/2023 (the closing date of this announcement). Qualification claims will be subject to verification.

Please note: Peace Corps employees are employed using the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale. The FP pay plan does not follow the same structure as the GS pay plan. In the FP pay plan, as the grade-level numbers decrease the level/pay for the position increases (e.g., the FP-09 is the lowest entry-level pay and the FP-01 is the highest senior-level pay).

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 based on your resume, attached supporting documentation, and your responses to the self-assessment questionnaire. Your materials will be evaluated to validate your possession of any required knowledge, skills, abilities, and/or competencies. The following competencies will be evaluated in the self-assessment questionnaire:

• Education and Training
• Project Management
• Technical Competence

Please note that a complete application is required for consideration, including any documentation that is being used for qualifications. A Human Resources Specialist will review your resume and supporting documentation, which must support the answers you provided. Falsifying your background, education, and/or experience is cause for disqualification.

National service refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through national service programs such as the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, as well as other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, community, student).