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Survey Technician

Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Multiple vacancies will be filled at a Forest Service Office across the Intermountain Region, Region 4.

Applications will expire in 90 days. To remain in consideration, you must resubmit your application.

The position performs a variety of land survey duties related to land management activities on multiple National Forest units.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Janet Wilkins at janet.wilkins@usda.gov

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/31/2023 to 03/08/2024
Salary
$33,693 to - $54,625 per year

Salary wage as shown is for the Rest of the U.S. For more information, refer to the Office of Personnel Management, Salary and Wages web page.

Pay scale & grade
GS 4 - 6
Location
6 vacancies in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection,
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
50% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position for meetings, training, and/or site visits. During the field season, crews may be required to work 10 hour days with evenings spent at isolated, primitive field camps.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—A recruitment or relocation incentive may be authorized at the discretion of management in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Multiple - Permanent Full Time and Full Time Seasonal 13/13 positions are available.
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
6
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
23-R4OCR-0817-SURV-4-5-6DP
Control number
746384900

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Duties

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  • Responsibilities listed are reflected at the full performance level of GS-6.
  • Independently measure uncomplicated surveys and resolve technical problems.
  • Conduct measurements from known points and between benchmarks of known elevation.
  • Determine angles, distances, and differences in elevation between stations.
  • Operate and maintain instruments and equipment, e.g., transits, theodolites, levels, distance measuring and positioning equipment, and other instruments on land surveys.
  • Recognize and report errors, inconsistencies, and other deficiencies in technical data.
  • Assist in performing basic surveys, such as location, right-of-way, and property surveys for a segment or portion of a project.
  • Utilize a variety of surveying related equipment and GPS equipment to perform surveys and prepare associated documents and reports.
  • Compile topographic maps, survey plats, and related information using appropriate equipment and techniques to obtain and depict all details and information pertinent to the intended purpose.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.
  • The work environment includes terrain that may be steep, uneven, rocky, and covered with thick and tangled vegetation. Temperatures and weather extremes may range from very hot and dry to cool and extremely wet, rain, snow, wind, or dusty.
  • The work environment requires the incumbent to stay alert continually and to take special safety precautions including wearing special protective items of clothing.
  • The work requires some physical exertion, such as long periods of standing; walking over rough, uneven, rocky, or slippery surfaces.
  • The work requires recurring bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, climbing, or similar activities; recurring lifting of light to moderately heavy items weighing less than 50 pounds; and/or regular visits to a variety of outdoor sites.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Work Experience: Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience: the beginning day, month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary, or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time. Incomplete, inaccurate, or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-04:
Applicants must have six months of general experience which includes any type of work that demonstrated the ability to perform the work of the position, or experience which provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation AND six months of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-03 level in the Federal Service. General experience for this position is defined as: Observed technical work, such as construction inspector or surveyor work.
Qualifying Specialized Experience is defined as meeting at least one or more of the following: Measured slope distance and convert to horizontal distance; Recorded data from surveys and composed brief notes; Performed basic mathematical calculations using standard formulas; Operated complex equipment systems used for surveying.
Substitution of Education for Experience (HR/SME):
An Associate's degree or two years of successfully completed education above high school that included at least 12 semester hours in any combination of courses in surveying, engineering, industrial technology, construction, physics, drafting, forestry, geography, navigation, cartography, physical science, or mathematics;
OR
Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university.

For the GS-05:
You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-04 in the Federal service;
OR a bachelor's degree or 4 years of successfully completed education above high school (120 semester/180 quarter hours) with major study in an appropriate field of surveying, engineering, construction, or industrial technology, or that included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as surveying, engineering, industrial technology, construction, physics, drafting, forestry, geography, navigation, cartography, physical science, or mathematics;
OR combinations of successfully completed post-high school education (in excess of the first 60 semester/90 quarter hours) and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university with courses related to the occupation of the position.
Qualifying Specialized experience is defined as meeting at least one or more of the following:
Made rough estimates of yardage to be excavated for small land areas; Recognized inconsistencies in data based on knowledge of standard sequences; Recorded and measured areas using manual and electronic recording and measuring devices; Used simple hand instruments such as hand levels and compasses to collect land survey data; Conducted simple traverse surveys; Performed assignments which involved use of judgement in estimating distances, in sketching, and in composing brief notes.

For the GS-06:
You must have one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 in the Federal Service;
OR one full year (18 semester/27 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level coursework that is directly related to the work of the position (such as surveying, engineering, construction, or industrial technology);
OR combinations of graduate level education that is directly related to the position and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.
Qualifying Specialized experience is defined as meeting at least one or more of the following:
Conducted simple traverse surveys using manual instruments; Used transit, theodolites, electronic distance measuring systems (and/or other instruments), in the establishment of rights-of-way and land lines; Recorded data and made sketches of topography and other physical features; Provided leadership and training for lower grade crew members as necessary; Conducted p-line surveys or assisted with road location or road design; Searched for and monumented public land corners.


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

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Additional information

Applications will expire in 90 days. To remain in consideration, you must resubmit your application.

Duty Location:
LOCATION NEGOTIABLE AFTER SELECTION. Multiple positions will be filled at a Forest Service Office across the Intermountain Region. Final determination of duty location will be determined by the selecting official at the time of the job offer. To see where these Forest Service Offices are located, click Region 4 - Forest & Grassland Offices (usda.gov). Click each region to see the different locations.

This announcement will be used to fill permanent full time positions and/or positions with a seasonal work schedule where full-time work is guaranteed for 13 pay periods, placing you in non-pay/non-duty status for the remaining 13 pay periods.

The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP), Reemployment Priority List (RPL), or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligibles must meet the agency's definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.

If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is not guaranteed.

This position may be eligible to telework up to four days per week, based upon the duties of the position. This position may also be eligible for flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.

The Forest Service may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government, to attract highly qualified candidates. Additional information is available at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/pay-and-leave-flexibilities-for-recruitment-and-retention/

Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

THIS IS AN OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT. This type of announcement provides the Forest Service with a readily available source of applicants when vacancies occur. Eligibility and qualifications will be verified when there is a vacancy for the location and grade for which you applied. Information on specific locations where jobs are being filled and the dates when applications are due for these locations can be found at https://fsoutreach.gdcii.com/Outreach.

Field work is usually in areas of variable mountainous terrain and extreme temperature variation. These locations are often remote with limited vehicular access and wilderness type settings.

We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated in accordance with the category rating procedure as defined in the USDA Demonstration Project Plan. Applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be placed in the Eligible category. You will be further evaluated against criteria for placement in the Quality category. This evaluation is based on the level of your experience, education, and/or training as determined by your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire. Individuals with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.

Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12104605

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