Clarification from the agency

Recent Graduates; All U.S. Citizens, Nationals, and Foreign Nationals who meet both Immigration Laws and Annual Appropriations Laws.

As a General Engineer (Recent Graduate), you will:

• Serve as an engineer responsible for researching, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, and performing difficult but well precedented engineering assignments in support of the functions of one or more functions.
• Perform assigned segments or phases of larger assignments.
• Analyze engineering data through computational processes; compares data from various reference sources or research agencies to identify correlating factors; and interprets the data and explains the mathematical or statistical techniques and limitations, and the significance of their use to the specific problem.
• Perform, interpret, and correlate various calculations, analyses, and computations for unknown factors or relationships that are primarily matters of a factual nature or involve mechanisms that are well understood.
• Learn engineering techniques and gain knowledge through job experience and extended professional training that supplements technical understanding.
• Use computers and information technology and their varied applications to accomplish projects, designs, plans, and reports.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation.
• A 1-year trial period is required.
• Must be in good academic standing.
• A Pathways Recent Graduate Participant Agreement is required.

• Recent graduate who has completed, within the previous 2-years, a qualifying associate's, bachelor's, master's, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution. -OR-
• Student who within 9-months of the closing date of this announcement will meet the education requirements and will graduate with a qualifying associate, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution. A student may not be appointed to a position until they have graduated. -OR-
• Preference eligible veteran who was precluded from applying due to their military service obligation begin their 2-year eligibility period upon release or discharge from active duty. Eligibility for these veterans cannot exceed 6-years after degree or certificate completion.

1. Be a U.S. citizen;
2. Successful completion of 1-year of continuous service;
3. Complete all training and development requirements within the 1-year appointment period;
4. Demonstrate successful job performance;
5. Meet the OPM qualification standards for the position to which converted;
6. Receive a recommendation for conversion from the first-level supervisor; and
7. Meet agency-specific requirements, as specified in the Participant Agreement.

• A Recent Graduate may be converted to the highest General Schedule grade level qualified for at time of conversion.
• Relocation is not authorized; relocation/recruitment/other incentives may be paid in accordance with federal regulations and in consideration of budget availability for a highly qualified candidate; determined upon selection.
• The salary is based on a Special Rate Table, Number 0754 and 0755.

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

A. 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 -

B. 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)1, 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)2 examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and 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 the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.

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 bachelor's 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. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

GS-07: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-05) in the Federal service.

GS-07 Specialized Experience is defined as: Routine engineering work that required and was characterized by (1) knowledge of engineering; (2) ability to apply such knowledge to engineering problems; and (3) continuing development of engineering knowledge and ability.

You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows:

• One year of graduate-level education, or superior academic achievement (S.A.A.) gained in a bachelor's degree curriculum from an accredited college or university, that is qualifying for the position to be filled. S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade point average, or (3) honor society membership. Class standing is being in the upper third of your graduating class, based on completed courses. Grade point average (GPA) is defined as: A GPA of 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 as recorded on your official transcripts or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. Honor society membership is defined as a member of one of the national scholastic honor societies, as listed by the Association of College Honor Societies. -OR-
• Combination of education and experience as described above: If you have some specialized experience as described above, but less than one year; and you have less than one full year of graduate level education, you may combine your education and experience to meet the requirements. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.

GS-09: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-07) in the Federal service.

GS-09 Specialized Experience is defined as: Non-routine engineering work that required and was characterized by (1) professional knowledge of engineering; (2) professional ability to apply such knowledge to engineering problems; and (3) positive and continuing development of professional knowledge and ability.

You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows:

• Master's or equivalent graduate degree; or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or a LL.B. or J.D. if related; your education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. -OR-
• Combination of education and experience as described above. Less than one year of specialized experience may be combined with graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level (i.e., credit hours beyond the first year of full-time study may be credited).
• One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours the graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. If the graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study is not available, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) is used. When crediting education that requires specific course work the number of hours of related courses required, as a proportion of the total education, is prorated.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

Once the application process is complete, your resume and supporting documentation will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications. If you are minimally qualified for this job, your responses to the self-assessment questions (True/False, Yes/ No, Multiple Choice questions) will be evaluated and you will be placed into one of three pre-defined quality categories under Category Rating procedures. These categories are "Best Qualified", "Well Qualified", and "Qualified. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Arithmetic/Mathematical Reasoning
• General Engineering
• Research
• Speaking
• Written Communication