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

Public Affairs Specialist

Small Business Administration
Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience (ODR&R), Headquarters (HQ)
This job announcement has closed

Summary

You will serve as a Public Affairs Specialist for the Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience (ODR&R) in one of the listed office locations. This position provides planning, building and implementation of social media strategies to drive engagement and build brand awareness.

Overview

Help
Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/10/2024 to 10/16/2024
Salary
$86,962 to - $113,047 per year

The salary range above reflects the Rest of US pay scale, and will be adjusted based on the locality of the hiring office

Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Locations
3 vacancies in the following locations:
6501 Sylvan Road
Citrus Heights, CA
409 3rd St. SW, Suite 6050
Washington, DC
101 Marietta St. NW, Suite 700
Atlanta, GA
5726 Professional Cir Suite100
Indianapolis, IN
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
76% or greater - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Other
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
DE-25-HQ-12574817
Control number
813856000

Videos

Duties

Help

As a Public Affairs Specialist at the GS-1035-12, some of your typical work assignments may include:

  • Communicating the Agency's programs and objectives and ongoing activities related to disaster declarations with all levels of management and Congressional officials.
  • Analyzing social media metrics to determine and manage the effectiveness of the campaign with other digital and social media activities in meeting stated goals.
  • Participating in the development and coordination of social media campaigns.
  • Independently utilizes social media platforms on a regular basis to implement and engage in online conversations including chats, webinars, and live events.
  • Coordinating messaging or public relations outreach for large disaster events covering a wide geographical area and/or managing a specific task in support of the event for the purpose of marketing the services and products of an organization.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
  • This is a Permanentappointment in the Competitive service with a full time work schedule.
  • This position is also being announced under Merit Promotion Procedures, announcement # MP-25-HQ-12575077
  • In order to receive consideration as a status candidate, you must apply to the Merit Promotion announcement.
  • Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required heighten Disaster Activities.
  • If required to travel to a disaster site, you may encounter hazardous working and/or living conditions, for example, no water or electricity and/or minimal lodging facilities.
  • By applying for this position with SBA's US Small Business Administration, you can enjoy challenging but satisfying work and join a highly motivated and diverse team that helps families and businesses rebuild their lives after a disaster.
  • Additional selections may be made from this announcement if identical vacancies occur within 180 days from the closing date.
  • This is not a bargaining unit position.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

  • U.S. citizenship is required.
  • You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government travel credit card.
  • Favorable background investigation is required.
  • You may be required to complete a one-year trial period.
  • This is not a bargaining unit position.
  • A valid driver's license may be required.
  • Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required while on assignment (up to seven days a week and ten to fourteen hours a day).

Qualifications

Generally, time in Non-Pay status is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed below.

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

Experience:
To receive credit, you must indicate the month and year as well as the average hours worked per week for each employer. Average work hours must be stated on the resume to quantify each period of work experience or that experience will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement.

You must address the specific specialized experience required for each grade level of this position on your resume or application or you will be rated "Ineligible" for that grade level.

GS-12: To qualify you must have at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-11 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position. This experience may have been gained in a Non-Federal service position. In addition, this Specialized Experience must demonstrate the following:

  • Knowledge in creating engaging content (text, image, graphics and video) that can be shared across social media channels to drive engagement and build brand awareness; and
  • Understanding of the management and/or use of social media platforms to include posting of content, engaging in on-line conversations, chats, webinars, and live events; and
  • Understanding of social media metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns and adjust strategies; and
  • Knowledge in using video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro, iMovie, or Final Cut Pro to create engaging video content for social media; and
  • Planning, organizing, and preparing written communications, such as press releases, presentations, articles, photos, flyers, etc. for dissemination to various types of media outlets, social media platforms, brochures and periodicals; and
  • Acting as spokesperson by making public appearances, preparing presentations, talking points or speeches for local news conferences/events, and town hall meetings or other targeted audiences for the purpose of explaining an organization's programs, policies, and procedure to the media, government officials, business leadership and the public.
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.

All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 10/16/2024.

Education

Education may not be substituted for experience for this position.

Qualification Standards: Public Affairs Series 1035 (opm.gov)

Additional information

If selected for this position, you will be eligible for benefits. The above link is provided for your reference to explore the major benefits offered to most Federal employees.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.phptitle=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire

Career and InterAgency Career Transition Assistance Programs:
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) is a program that helps "surplus" or "displaced" federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job in their current agency (intra-agency, i.e. SBA employees only).

Inter-Agency Career Transition Assistance (ICTAP) is a program that helps "surplus" or "displaced" federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job at another agency (inter-agency; i.e. not applying to their current or former agency).

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. For additional information visit www.sss.gov.

Telework may be available. For information on Telework visit: http://www.telework.gov/

How you will be evaluated

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

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

The assessment includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

For this vacancy, we will use a Category Rating system to refer qualified applicants for consideration. This is a three-step process. First, your resume or other application is evaluated to determine if you meet the Qualifications, including the Specialized Experience described above, for the grade level(s) that you are applying for. Secondly, if you meet the minimum qualifications requirements, your responses to the questionnaire, including narrative responses, if applicable, will be compared to your resume or other application. If your resume does not support the answers you gave on the questionnaire, you may be rated "Ineligible," or you may be placed in a lower category. Third, your name will be placed in one of the three following categories:

  • Best-Qualified - highly proficient with an overall comprehensive level of knowledge, skills and abilities related to this position.
  • Well-Qualified - competent in the position with an overall accomplished level of knowledge, skills and abilities related to this position.
  • Qualified - an overall basic level of knowledge, skills and abilities related to this position.
Application of Veterans' Preference: The Category Rating process protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-veterans within each quality category. All the veterans must be selected before any non-veterans within each category.

For this position, disabled veterans who meet minimum qualifications for this position and have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% (CPS & CP) are placed at the top of the Best-Qualified category regardless of which category they would otherwise be assigned to.

Preference eligibles who do not have a service-connected disability of 10% or more (XP or TP) are placed at the top of their quality category.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies:
  • Attention to Detail
  • Communications and Media
  • Computer Skills
  • Customer Service
  • Flexibility
  • Influencing/Negotiating
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Organizational Awareness
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork
  • Writing


Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.