Geographer

DEFINITIONS: Experience: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows: 2 years = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.) Undergraduate Education: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite. Graduate Education: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Applicants must meet A or B below to satisfy the basic education requirement for Geographer, all grade levels. Degree in geography; or related physical or social science such as geology, meteorology, economics, statistics, sociology, anthropology, political science, history, cartography, computer science, urban studies, or planning that included at least 24 semester hours in geography or related fields. A combination of education and experience– courses equivalent to a major in geography, or a related field that included at least 24 semesters hours in geography or related fields, as shown in “A” above, plus appropriate experience and/or additional education. The education or combined education and experience must be comparable in type, scope and thoroughness to that acquired through successful completion of a 4-year course of study as described in “A” above. For GS-11: In addition to the basic education requirement as stated above, applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-11 level: Possess at least one year of appropriate professional experience in geography that is equivalent to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal service. Examples of such experience may include: 1) locating, examining, evaluating and selecting, from a variety of source materials, information for use in depicting the location and standardizing the nomenclature of physical and humane features on a map, chart or in a gazetteer; 2) determining the distribution of like phenomena (e.g., deciduous vegetation or precipitation) over Eastern U.S., or comparing the distribution of two or three different kinds of phenomena, e.g., deciduous vegetation and precipitation; 3) providing assistance to a higher-graded researcher on small, self-contained studies. Examples 1 & 2 included independent responsibility for small projects or significant segments of larger projects. Discrepancies may have arisen in source materials. Judgment was used to resolve the less difficult problems; a higher-level authority resolved the most difficult problems. Work was carried out in accordance with established procedures and criteria. For example, 3, extensive and precise instructions were provided, and the project leader was readily available for consultation and guidance; OR Possess a Ph.D., or equivalent graduate degree, in geography or other directly related field of study or 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education (54 semester hours, 81 quarter hours or the equivalent) leading to a Ph.D. in geography or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the work of the position to be filled; OR Possess a combination of successfully completed progressive graduate level education, as described above, that is beyond the second year of graduate study and professional experience, as described above. You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the position by the closing date of the announcement.
What General Information Do I Need to Know About This Position? This is a term appointment not-to-exceed 13 months with possible extensions up to a total of 4 years without further competition. Appointment to this position will not convey permanent status in the Federal service. Salary: First time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired at the Step 01. GS-11: $80,665 (Step 01) to $104,861 (Step 10)