Biological Science Laboratory Technician

Summary

This position is located within the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Exotic and Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research Unit, Southeast Area, Athens, GA. In this position, you will actively participates in one or more phases of the research process by performing a variety of complex technical duties, in a laboratory, field, or greenhouse environment and contributes ideas towards the planning and sequencing of the technical aspects of the research.

Duties

• Maintains, calibrates and modifies complex/specialized equipment and automated systems used for test and evaluation procedures.
• Collects, prepares, evaluates and verifies samples and supporting records.
• Maintains records and locates and compiles data and other information from various sources.
• Performs the full range of techniques and studies using a variety of specialized equipment.
• Tabulates, statistically analyzes and summarizes data using personal computers and software packages.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. GS-7: Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-07 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-06 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience processing microbiological samples in a laboratory environment; compiling and summarizing data from experiments; and operating specialized laboratory equipment. OR Education: One full year of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree, if directly related to the position. Related degrees may include Microbiology, Virology, Immunology, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Zoology, Poultry Science, Animal Science, Cell Biology, Veterinary Science, Animal Biosciences, Animal Health, Biomedical Science or Infectious Disease. OR A combination of education and specialized experience as described above. GS-8: Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-08 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-07 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience participating in a microbiological research project related to infectious diseases; analyzing and summarizing results of scientific research data; and operating complex laboratory equipment or instruments. OR Education: Two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree, if directly related to the position. Related degrees may include Microbiology, Virology, Immunology, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Zoology, Poultry Science, Animal Science, Cell Biology, Veterinary Science, Animal Biosciences, Animal Health, Biomedical Science or Infectious Disease. OR A combination of graduate level education and specialized experience as described above. GS-9: Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. The specialized experience requirements for this position are: Qualifying experience for GS-08 includes one year of specialized experience comparable to GS-07 which is directly related to the work of this position and which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. For this position, specialized experience is experience conducting a microbiological research project related to poultry; collecting and evaluating virus samples from poultry; performing cell culture techniques on virus samples collected from poultry; and preparing scientific data to be included in manuscripts or reports. OR Education: Two full years of graduate level education or a Master's degree, if directly related to the position. Related degrees may include Microbiology, Virology, Immunology, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Zoology, Poultry Science, Animal Science, Cell Biology, Veterinary Science, Animal Biosciences, Animal Health, Biomedical Science or Infectious Disease. OR A combination of graduate level education and specialized experience as described above. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Requirements

You must be a US Citizen or US National. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. Direct Deposit - 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 https://www.e-verify.gov/. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period unless previous federal service is creditable. During this time your employment will be evaluated, and we may consider: your performance and conduct, the needs and interests of the agency, whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government, and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Drug test required. Vaccine(s) required. Special physical requirements/demands. Department of Justice (DOJ) Security Risk Assessment (SRA) approval is required. SAC and full background investigation required for positions working with BSL-3 (or higher) agents, or in BSL-3/BSL-4 facilities. Department of Justice (DOJ) Security Risk Assessment (SRA) approval is required.

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. Resumes cannot exceed two pages. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about 1-2 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.