Clarification from the agency

U.S. citizens who are recent graduates of qualifying educational institutions. All United States citizens. Applicants who can be appointed to a job within 2 years of receiving their college degree or certificate. Veterans (precluded from applying due to military service) must be appointed within 6 years of receiving their degree or certificate.

As a Industrial Engineer (Recent Graduates), GS-0896-7, your typical work assignments may include the following under supervision:

• Performs work measurement and cost studies regarding Level 1 systems, and participates in the conduct of special studies of cost related issues (e.g. program, project, appropriation).
• Participates in the establishment of databases of system historical costs, and technical and schedule parameters; identities cost estimating relationships; performs cost sensitivity and cost benefit analysis; determine whether analysis include all appropriate life cycles cost, and clearly communicate findings to management officials within DHS.
• Monitors cost issues for programs in order to participate in the identification of approaches to address straightforward costs issues and related industrial engineering concerns.
• Maintains interaction with cost estimating and technical representatives of contractors, the organizational elements, field activities, and other DHS organizations for the purpose of exchanging cost estimating and analysis information.
• Makes minor adaptations to Industrial engineering methods to DHS cost analysis application.
• Cohort based onboarding experience
• Orientation to DHS mission and cultures
• Orientation to federal acquisition careers and the professional environment
• Structured on the job experience
• Partnership with a Mentor
• Peer support and networking with your APCP counterparts
• Specialized training
• Career certifications
• External events and activities
• Mission-connection experiences
• Management interviews of senior professionals
• Leadership shadowing experiences
• Special projects.

All DHS-HQ announcements have a 5 business day open period due to the number of applications received.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• You must submit to a pre-employment drug test.
• You must be 16 years of age or older to apply.
• The duration of Recent Graduates and PMF appointments in the excepted service is counted as a trial period across the Federal Government.
• Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.
• This position requires the Selectee to sign a Recent Graduates Participant Agreement, which outlines the work schedule, intern responsibilities, work assignments, and program requirements.
• You will be required to complete at least 40 hours of formal interactive training every year that advances the goals and competencies outlined in your established Individual Development Plan (IDP).
• You will be required to serve a trial period for the duration of the Recent Graduates appointment.
• The Pathways Program requires the incumbent to submit official or unofficial transcripts with your application and provide official transcripts prior to entrance-on-duty (EOD).
• Applicants tentatively selected for this position will be required to submit to a drug test to screen for illegal drug use. A final offer of employment is contingent upon a negative drug test result.
• Applicants Must Meet Qualifications by June 30, 2023
• Completion of an OGE 450, Confidential Financial Disclosure Form
• You may be subject to random drug testing.

Qualifications

To be eligible for this position, you must have completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associate's, bachelor's, master's, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution by June 12, 2023. Veterans unable to apply within two years of receiving their degree, due to military service obligation, have as much as six years after degree completion to apply.

NOTE: Qualifying educational institution means-
Any of the following educational institutions or curricula that have been accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the Secretary of Education:

• A technical or vocational school;
• A 2-year or 4-year college or university;
• A graduate or professional school (e.g., law school, medical school); or
• A post-secondary homeschool curriculum.

AND

You must also meet all qualification requirements:
Basic Requirements for Industrial Engineer
Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by ABET; or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.

OR

A Combination of education and experience -- college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering.

The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.
4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:

You qualify for the GS-07 grade level if you possess one of the following:

• One year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal government, performing duties such as: The ability to conduct cost estimates for key programs, estimate the cost of systems, and perform benefit analyses ; OR
• One full year of graduate level education at an accredited or pre-accredited college or university; OR
• A combination of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience as described above. This will be calculated using your resume and unofficial transcripts or a list of courses/course hours submitted with your application; OR
• A bachelor's degree with superior academic achievement, which is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership:
  1. Class standing - Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses.
  2. Grade-point average (GPA.) - Applicants must have a grade-point average of:
     • 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or
     • 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
  3. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society -- Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College Honor Societies. Membership in a freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this provision.

All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

After Program completion, Department of Homeland Security Recent Graduates may be converted to a term or permanent position in the competitive service. To be eligible for conversion to a permanent or term position, Recent Graduates must:

• Successfully complete at least 1-year of continuous service in addition to all requirements of the Program.
• Demonstrate successful job performance.
• Meet the Office of Personnel Management's qualifications for the position to which the Recent Graduate may be converted. To learn more, please visit: http://www.opm.gov/HiringReform/Pathways/program/graduates/.

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements. Applicants who meet the minimum qualifications will be considered in the following order:

1. Preference eligibles having a compensable service-connected disability of 10% or more;
2. Other 10-point preference eligibles;
3. 5-point preference eligible; and
4. Non-preference eligibles (i.e., non-veterans).