Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist
Veterans Benefits Administration - Department of Veterans Affairs
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:11/05/2024. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees, former Federal employees applying for reinstatement, or a current federal employee applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment must meet time in grade requirements. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. NOTE: This does not apply to Non-Federal Applicants, or applicants applying for consideration under Non-Competitive Authority (i.e…. “30% or more Disability”, VRA, and/or Schedule A). To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50’s and/or General Adjustment SF-50’s as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade. For a GS-15 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-14 level. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience as described below: GS-15 Grade Level Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-14 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Demonstrated experience serving as a principal advisor to senior executive leadership on public information programs, media relations, and communication policies. Served as a lead in the development and execution of internal and external public affairs and communication initiatives aligned with the agency’s mission and policies to meet diverse information needs. Expert-level proficiency in coordinating, developing, and implementing corporate strategic public information and communication plans on a national scale. Effectively informs and educates key audiences about the organization’s programs, policies, activities, and initiatives. Expert knowledge in devising and executing high-profile media strategies, proactive external engagement efforts, and editorial opportunities for major communication initiatives. 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; religions; 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Some work may require walking and standing in conjunction with travel to attend meetings and conferences away from the work site. Work may require carrying light items such as papers, books, or small parts. The work does not require any special physical effort. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management’s website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
The position is in the Veterans Benefits Administrations (VBA), Office of Communication (OC), located in Washington, DC and reports to the Director of Communication. OC is responsible for planning, developing, implementing and overseeing VBAs internal and external communication, messaging, marketing, advertising and digital communication strategy.