Public Affairs Specialist

Summary

Positions may be filled at one or more of the duty locations included in this announcement. Final determination of the duty location will be made at the time of the job offer. These positions serve as a Public Affairs Specialist. The incumbent performs a variety of activities in planning and implementing a comprehensive public affairs program. For additional information about the duties and POC for these position, please see additional information section.

Duties

• The duties are listed are at the full performance grade level.
• Plans, directs and implements a comprehensive public affairs program for the unit.
• Informs interested publics including other agencies, organizations, and individuals of units activities and programs.
• Advises as to how to present the organizations position on controversial issues.
• Develops and maintains effective working relationships with media representatives in the unit's zone of influence.
• Collaborates with other staff to develop and implement public affairs communication plans, program strategies and techniques for dealing with and addressing critical and complex public issues.

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. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. GS-07: Applicants must possess at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level, GS-05. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: assisting in planning and executing public information and outreach activities, including helping prepare informational materials and supporting events designed to communicate organizational programs to the public; and/or drafting routine communication products such as brochures, pamphlets, basic news releases, and informational articles, following established formats and guidelines and coordinating printing or distribution under supervision; and/or responding to routine public and internal inquiries by providing clear, factual information based on approved messaging, ensuring accurate communication and maintaining effective working relationships with individuals interested in or affected by agency programs. OR Successful completion of one full academic year (18 semester hours) of graduate-level education from an accredited college or university in a field that is related to the position being filled that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. OR Superior Academic Achievement (SSA) with a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in a field that is qualifying for this position and one of the following: graduated in the upper third of the college graduating class; member of a national honor society (excluding freshman honor society); had a 3.0 GPA or higher out of a possible 4.0 as recorded on official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education or courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or had 3.5 GPA or higher out of a possible 4.0 on the average of all required courses completed in the major or courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum (GPA will be rounded to one decimal place, i.e., 2.95 rounds to 3.0 and 2.94 rounds to 2.9). OR A combination of experience equivalent to the GS-05 grade level as described above AND one full academic year (18 semester hours) of graduate-level education from an accredited college or university in a field that is related to the position being filled that together demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. GS-09: Applicants must possess at least one year of specialized experience at the next lower grade level, GS-07. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: assisting in creating written communication materials, including basic news releases, informational articles, brochures, and pamphlets, using established formats, templates, and instructions; and/or responding to routine information requests from the public, partner groups, and internal staff, providing approved program details or directing inquiries to the appropriate sources; and/or contributed to public information efforts by coordinating simple communication tasks, reviewing existing outreach materials, and suggesting minor improvements under supervision. OR Successful completion of a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years (36 semester hours) of progressively higher-level graduate education from an accredited college or university in a field that is related to the position being filled that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. OR A combination of the experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 grade level AND 2 full years (36 semester hours) of progressively higher-level graduate education from an accredited college or university in a field that is related to the position being filled that together demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. 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.

Requirements

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. 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. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, 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.

Education

See above for education that may be qualifying for a specific grade level.

How to apply

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process. Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this. To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents. 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.