Emergency Exercise and After-Action Program

Summary

The Semester of Service Program offers students a volunteer project-based opportunity to support real Federal missions, gaining hands-on experience and valuable career-ready skills. Students must be enrolled at least half-time in an accredited trade school, technical or vocational institute, junior college, college, university, or other accredited educational institution, and participation must be with the permission of the institution at which the student is enrolled.

Duties

• In order to be eligible for this opportunity you must be able to obtain academic credit from your institution OR a third-party stipend of at least $15.00 per hour or higher if the locality you are selected for has a higher minimum wage than $15.00. A 90-day student project to strengthen the Occupant Emergency Plan (OEP) exercise, evaluation, and continuous-improvement program. The project would produce a reusable, HSEEP-aligned tabletop exercise package and standardized after-action/improvement-planning tools while evaluating whether approved AI capabilities can reduce the manual burden associated with organizing evaluator observations, identifying recurring findings, comparing corrective actions, and producing management-level trend information. The government-wide "Semester of Service" Student Volunteer Program, as authorized under 5 U.S.C §31114 and 5 CFR Part 308, enables Federal agencies to engage students in unpaid, project-based assignments of limited duration. These assignments are designed to align with each agency's strategic priorities, offering participants practical experience within Federal operations while supporting the advancement of targeted initiatives.

Qualifications

Applicants will be considered based on their knowledge, skills, or abilities related to project needs. Students pursuing studies in Emergency Management, Homeland Security, Security Management, Data Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, Business Analytics or other academic programs that support emergency management encouraged to apply. To be successful in this Semester of Service assignment, applicants should demonstrate: Basic proficiency with Microsoft Office Written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present information clearly. Ability to analyze data and information and make recommendations for program improvement. Ability to conduct independent research and evaluate source materials. Ability to create clear written summaries, reports and presentations. Ability to work independently and as part of a small team, and communicate effectively with supervisors. Ability to manage multiple assignments, projects, and/or initiatives. Foundational understanding of exercise design, process mapping, AI literacy Experience supporting emergency exercises, after-action reporting, or improvement planning (helpful but not required).

Education

To qualify, you must be enrolled not less than half-time in an accredited trade school, technical or vocational institute, junior college, college, university, or other accredited educational institution. You also must be in good academic standing as defined by your institution. Attach a copy of your transcripts to your application package for verification. If you do not submit sufficient academic documentation necessary to demonstrate that you meet the eligibility described in this announcement, your application will be deemed incomplete, and you will be ineligible for further consideration for this vacancy. An academic year of undergraduate education is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in an accredited college or university and vocational or technical institution. See the Required Documents section of this announcement. If you do not submit a transcript (unofficial or official) indicating your possession of the required education, you will not be considered for this position. Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service. If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information. If the student is not currently enrolled or is between academic programs, the student may have a brief interim period of not more than five months during which the student must demonstrate a bona fide intention of continuing to pursue a course of study immediately after the interim period has ended. This documentation may be provided through an official letter from the academic institution confirming the student's status as a continuing student, or similar documentation. Graduating seniors from high school, college or graduate school who are not continuing their education will not be considered eligible.

How to apply

Persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have speech disabilities, please dial 711 to access telecommunications relay services. To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. A complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To begin, click Apply to access the online application. You will need to be logged into your USAJOBS account to apply. If you do not have a USAJOBS account, you will need to create one before beginning the application. Follow the prompts to select your résumé and/or other supporting documents to be included with your application package. You will have the opportunity to upload additional documents to include in your application before it is submitted. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. After acknowledging you have reviewed your application package, complete the Include Personal Information section as you deem appropriate and click to continue with the application process. You will be taken to the online application which you must complete to apply for the position. Complete the online application, verify the required documentation is included with your application package, and submit the application. To verify the status of your application, log into your USAJOBS account (https://www.usajobs.gov/), all your applications will appear on the Welcome screen. The Application Status will appear along with the date your application was last updated. For information on what each Application Status means, visit:https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status Paper applications and supplemental documents submitted in any other manner without prior approval from the vacancy contact will not be considered. Click here for information on Reasonable Accommodations.