Clarification from the agency

MERIT PROMOTION (MP) VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT - Current Federal employees with competitive status; Former Federal employees with reinstatement eligibility; CTAP/ICTAP eligibles; Veterans with VOW, VEOA, or 30% disability; Military Spouses. Those eligible under an OPM interchange agreement.

This position is located in EPA, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Mission Support (OMS), Human Resources Directorate (HRD). The Office of Mission Support serves as the corporate focal point, under the Immediate Office of the Inspector General. OMS is responsible for organization-wide coordination and leadership in promoting the most efficient use and accountability for OIG resources in effectively achieving its mission and strategic goals. The Human Resources Directorate provides operational support for Human Resource activities such as recruiting and staffing while the Human Capital component addresses employee development and employee relations.

As a Supervisory Human Resources Specialist at the GS-0201-14 you will be responsible for, but not limited to:

• Serving as a Supervisory Human Resources Specialist to a team of staffing/recruitment and classification specialists.
• Serving as advisor on HR laws, regulations, and policies relating to recruitment/placement strategies and classification.
• Advising management officials on long-term recruitment strategies to best attract, hire and retain a skilled, diverse and motivated workforce providing the options to utilize available hiring authorities, recruitment sources and special employment programs.
• Developing long and short-range staffing plans to meet forecasted mission requirements, human capital losses, changes in critical competencies availability of candidates, career development patterns, and reorganization proposals.
• Directing and providing developmental training modules to HR Specialists who are responsible for providing a full range of advisories and operational technical services from cradle to grave in the area of classification, recruitment, and placement (i.e., merit promotion, delegated examining, job analysis, development of vacancy announcements and qualification requirements, application of appropriate area of consideration, ranking and rating applicants, issuing and auditing certificate of eligible).
• Tracking progress of recruitment process ensuring established Time-To-Hire (TTH) goals are met. Ensures HR Specialists are utilizing all available recruitment strategies, sources, and special programs, recruitment, relocation, and retention incentive programs.
• Advising managers and senior leadership on issues that are highly controversial, precedent setting, or cross several areas of human resources policy. 

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen.
• Pre-employment drug testing is required and random testing thereafter.

Obtain/maintain the level of security clearance/background check required

If you are a male 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.

Selectees will be required to complete a "Declaration of Federal Employment", (OF-306), prior to appointment and the appropriate background investigation forms to determine suitability for Federal employment. False statements or responses on these forms can jeopardize your employment opportunity and subject you to disciplinary action, including removal from Federal service.

The selectee will be required to complete a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the I-9 Form. We will compare information provided on the I-9 Form to records available from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The system confirms employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the United States. Learn more about e-verify, including your rights and responsibilities.

REAL ID requirements became effective on 05/07/25. If you are selected for this position and plan to use your driver’s license or identification card during the onboarding process (i.e., for employment eligibility verification or to obtain your EPA identification card), the document must be a REAL ID-compliant state-issued driver’s license or identification card that includes the REAL ID-compliant star marking, or must be an Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL). You will receive information about alternative acceptable documents (e.g., passport) prior to onboarding. For more information about REAL ID, see Dept. of Homeland Security and REAL ID FAQs.

Upon appointment, you may be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report, OGE-450. You will need to provide the information annually.  

Depending on your status, this position may require serving a 1-year supervisory probationary period.

You must meet time in grade requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

Qualifications

All applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the Federal Service.

You may qualify for the GS-14 grade level, if you possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the federal sector, or the equivalent in the private sector. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the candidate with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position your specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience performing the operational work of and providing oversight for HR programs in the areas of Classification and Recruitment and Staffing;
• Experience researching and evaluating complex HR programs and providing recommendations for new or substantially modified approaches to execute policies and program functions;
• Experience developing written materials (issues assessments, program assessments, audit responses, etc.) regarding human resources policies, processes, and programs for senior and executive level managers; and
• Experience providing expert advisory services in all areas of human resources to high level officials and managers.

Evidence of the above specialized experience must be supported by detailed documentation of duties performed in positions held. Your resume is the key means we have for evaluating your skills, knowledge, and abilities as they relate to this position. Therefore, we encourage you to be clear and specific when describing your experience. We will not make assumptions regarding your experience or based on job titles alone. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

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. 

Applicants must meet the qualifications for this position within thirty (30) days of 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.

All applicants: Your application will be reviewed in three phases to determine how you move forward in the hiring process.

Phase I: Your resume will be reviewed to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. ONLY two (2) pages of your resume will be reviewed. Additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume) will not be reviewed.

Applicants passing “Phase I” will move on to the “Phase II” of the assessment process where your application will be reviewed and rated based on the competencies listed in the vacancy announcement by a Subject Matter Expert (SME). Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents). Applicants who do not respond to the application questions may be rated ineligible.

Applicants passing “Phase II” of the assessment process will be invited to participate in a structured interview, as part of “Phase III”. A SME panel will conduct the structured interview and assign a score for each of the required competencies listed below, based on your responses to the interview questions.

You will be assessed on the following competencies:

1. Customer Service
2. Managing Human Resource
3. Reading
4. Technical Competence
5. Attention to Detail
6. Influencing

If you are referred for consideration, you may be subject to additional assessments by the selecting official (e.g., technical writing sample or other work sample, job knowledge test, case scenario analysis, scientific data assessment, structured interview, etc.).

NOTE: If you exaggerate or falsify your experience, education and/or your responses to questions, your ratings are subject to change, or you may be removed from employment consideration.

Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other Offices within the OIG community who have vacancies with the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in the same geographic location(s). Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration. You may choose to opt in of having your information shared with other agencies when applying for this position. If an agency requests a copy of a certificate, you are on, you will be notified.