Public Affairs Specialist

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Duties

Develop and maintain professional, proactive, credible relationships with media outlets, including traditional and new media outlets.
Analyze emerging and controversial public land issues and implement communication policies and strategies.
Create, write, and distribute a wide variety of materials to communicate information on an organizations issues, programs, and activities to key publics.
Write creative, engaging, professional social media posts to share themes and messages.
Act as the lead on Public Participation, Outreach, and Education for proposed actions and/implementing actions.

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

U.S. Citizenship required
May be required to complete background investigation and drug screening.
Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males
Must provide resume and supporting documents (See required documents).
You cannot hold an active real estate license, nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Lands.
If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period.
Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
You will be required to obtain and maintain a valid state driver's license.
You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 5 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.

Qualifications

Farmington/Taos, NM Salary Range:

GS-11: $72, 553- $94, 317

GS-12: $86, 962- $113, 047

Santa Fe, NM Salary Range

GS-11: $73, 317- $95, 310

GS-12: $87, 878- $114, 237

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience. If qualifying based on education, a copy of your unofficial transcripts must be provided with your application.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level in which you are applying:

Gs-11

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) overseeing arrangements with the media involving public lands activities; (2) developing recommendations for stimulating interest public lands activities and programs; (3) analyzing new media technology that enhances public lands activities; and (4) designing information programs to assure effective communication with the public.

OR

Education: Successful completion of a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree from accredited college or university that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. (Note: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education).

OR

Combination: Successful completion of a combination of specialized experience and education. To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 36 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. They must equal 100% to qualify using this option. (Note: Only graduate education in excess of two (2) years (36 semester hours) is creditable toward meeting the experience requirement when combining experience and education. (Note: You must submit a copy of your transcripts as proof of any claimed education).

Gs-12

Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service (obtained either in the private or public sectors) performing the following: (1) developing and managing internal and external strategic communications projects, including producing press releases, producing and implementing communications plans, and conducting media interviews; (2) representing an agency in official and public meetings; (3) advising staff on public affairs matters; (4) preparing correspondence for leadership.

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Volunteer Experience: 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.

You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience. One year of specialized experience is equivalent to 12 months at 40 hours per week. Part-time hours are prorated. You will not receive any credit for experience that does not indicate exact hours per week or is listed as "varies".

Education

To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-12 grade level of this announcement.

Additional information

Promotion to the full performance level is neither guaranteed nor implied and will be based solely on your ability to satisfactorily perform the work of the position, existing work at the higher grade level, and recommendation by the position's supervisor.

Physical Demands: The work is generally sedentary and does not require unusual physical effort. Most of the work is performed in an office setting. Driving a car or pickup truck is periodically required. The work often requires walking outdoors and travel in light aircraft, helicopters, and off-road vehicles. Long work days are occasionally required to meet deadlines and resolve specific problems.

Working Conditions: Most of the work is performed in an office setting although travel to field sites or other BLM/government offices is often required. Attendance at meetings at night or on weekends is sometimes required. Incumbent will adhere to all safety rules and regulations as prescribed in manuals/supplements or by the designated Safety Officer.

The Bureau of Land Management has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

Certain incentives (such as Recruitment, Relocation or Student Loan Repayment) may be authorized to eligible selectees. If eligible and qualified, you may be offered a recruitment or relocation incentive. The decision to offer an incentive will be made on a case-by-case basis and is neither promised nor guaranteed. For information visit: Recruitment Incentive or Relocation Incentive or Student Loan Repayment.

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) or Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP): For information on how to apply as an ICTAP or CTAP eligible see http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ctap_guideline.pdf. To be well-qualified and exercise selection priority for this vacancy, displaced Federal employees must be rated at 90 or above on the rating criteria for this position.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, please contact San Antonio Services Branch at SASBMailbox@opm.gov or 816-541-8101.

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How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Occupational Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Occupational Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score may be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions may affect your rating.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessments, including a subject matter expert resume review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed below that are required to successfully perform the job.

Candidates Will Be Rated And Ranked Using Category Rating Procedures. These Procedures Place Candidates With Veteran's Preference Above Non-preference Eligibles Within Each Category. Veterans With a Service Connected Disability Of At Least 10 Percent Are Listed In The Highest Quality Category, Except When The Position Being Filled Is Scientific Or Professional At The GS-09 Grade Level Or Higher. Under Category Rating, Candidates Will Be Rated And Ranked Into One Of Three Categories

Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.

You will be evaluated on the following competencies: