This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/798208400. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
This position is located in a State Office, Rural Development (RD), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The position is developmental, with duties designed for advancement to the full promotion level position of Public Affairs Specialist, GS-1035-12
This is NOT a remote position. You will be required to report to the Official Duty Location (ODS) located in Amherst, MA.
07/03/2024 to 07/10/2024
$44,590 - $71,808 per year
GS 5 - 7
1 vacancy in the following location:
No
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
No
Recent Graduates
Full-time
Excepted
12
No
No
PATH-MA-12463620-2024-SR
798208400
Recent graduate who has, within the previous two years, completed a qualifying Associate's, Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate, professional, vocational or technical degree or certificate program. Veterans unable to apply within two years of receiving their degree due to military service obligation have up to six years after degree completion to apply.
Applicants must provide transcripts. Please see the Additional Information section below for detailed information that is required regarding transcripts.
Undergraduate Education: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in any field leading to a bachelor's degree, in an accredited college or university, meets the GS-5 level requirements.
Graduate Education: Education at the graduate level in an accredited college or university of one full year meets the requirements at GS-7; such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.
One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement.
Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended.
For certain positions covered by this standard, the work may be recognized as sufficiently technical or specialized that graduate study alone may not provide the knowledge and skills needed to perform the work. In such cases, agencies may use selective factors to screen out applicants without actual work experience.
One of the following incentives may be offered:
Note: The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed.
Recent Graduate appointments are intended to last for 1 year. Recent Graduates who satisfactorily complete all the USDA Recent Graduates Program requirements may be non-competitively converted to a Term or Permanent appointment in the competitive service. Conversion is not guaranteed. Recent Graduates converted to Term appointments may later be non-competitively converted to a Permanent competitive service position.
Upon successful completion of the Recent Graduate Program requirements in accordance with 5 CFR 362.205 (qualifications, one-year continuous work experience, satisfactory performance, mandatory training completion, etc.) you may be non-competitively converted to a term, career conditional or career appointment within 120 days to a:
Public Affairs Specialist, GS-1035-7/9/11/12. The full performance level (FPL) of the position to which converted may be up to the GS-12 level.
NOTE: An agency is not required to convert any individual in a Pathways position, to a position in the competitive service, whether upon completion of degree requirements or otherwise. Conversion to a competitive service position is not an entitlement.
This position may be eligible to telework, and flexible work arrangements as determined by agency policy and any applicable collective bargaining agreements.
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
Evaluation of applications will be based on applicants' quality of experience and the extent they possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) or competencies:
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
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 (normally 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m., 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 in order to be entered into the system prior to its closing.
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 Online" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents.
NOTE: If a document is resubmitted, it replaces the previous submission, which means the previous document is no longer available to the Human Resources Office. If you are adding to, rather than replacing a previous submission, you must upload both the old document and the new document. You must verify that uploaded documents 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. Applicants may combine all like required documents (e.g. SF-50s or veteran docs) into one or more files and scan for uploading into the application. Each file must not exceed 3MB. Grouping like documents into files will simplify the application process. Documents must be in one of the following formats: GIF, JPEG, JPG, PDF, PNG, RTF, or Word (DOC or DOCX). Uploaded documents may not require a password, digital signature, or other encryption to open.
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.
You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).
Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.
Under the Fair Chance Act, agencies are not allowed to request information about an applicant's criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has been made, except as allowed for access to classified information; assignment to national security duties or positions; acceptance or retention in the armed forces; or recruitment of a Federal law enforcement officer. An applicant may submit a complaint or any other information related to an organization's alleged noncompliance with the Fair Chance Act. The complaint must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged noncompliance. To make a Fair Chance Act inquiry or complaint, send an email with the appropriate information to dave.root@usda.gov. subject line: Fair Chance Act.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/798208400. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
Learn more about
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Agency serves rural communities throughout the country by investing in their communities through housing and utility infrastructure, by increasing economic opportunity, and by improving the quality of life for all rural Americans. Rural Development provides over 40 loan and grant programs in the Rural Housing and Community Facilities Services, Rural Business and Cooperative Services, and Rural Utilities Service. Rural Development supports a positive work environment and promotes diversity and inclusion for nearly 5,000 employees.
Rural Development is a dynamic organization recruiting for employees who possess the energy, compassion, and commitment to serve those in rural communities and will enjoy working in a fast paced and results driven organization. Our commitment is to expand economic opportunity and quality of life in all of rural America by providing financial programs to support essential public facilities and services such as water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics, emergency service facilities and electric and telephone service. Rural Development offers a friendly and professional working environment and such excellent benefits as: a generous salary, alternative work schedules, paid vacation and sick leave, paid holidays, retirement and supplemental savings plan, a wide array of health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans, flexible spending accounts, and long-term care insurance.