Program Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:10/28/2024. TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements. To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-09 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Defined as having knowledge of policies and regulations related to benefits, recruitment and staffing, and/or employee and labor relations. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Guiding employees in resolving primarily common work-related or personal problems; Providing managers and employees with information and information and interpretations of the organization’s HR policies, procedures and guidelines; Providing counseling to employees on complaints or inquiries. Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have either: a master’s or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree Or Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. GS-11 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Defined as providing advisory services to managers and employees on rules, regulations, and procedures applicable to personnel management, recruitment and staffing, benefits, and/or employee and labor relations. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: Evaluating employee morale problems, excessive turnover, and instances of low productivity; Advising on law, regulations and policies that apply to HR management; Advising on the implication of proposed management decisions with respect to substantive as well procedural HR matters Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have either: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. Or Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. GS-12 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Defined as analyzing data and make recommendations to implement change and create internal policies in the following program areas; staffing, performance management, benefits administration, and employee/labor relations. There is no educational substitute for Specialized Experience for the GS-12 grade level. Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. 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: Work is primarily sedentary. 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/.
This position serves as one of three Program Specialists for the Baltimore Regional Office and the National Capital Region Benefits Office. The incumbent serves as a Program Specialist responsible for providing performance management and technical support for the regional office Human Resources (HR) program. The incumbent is the key advisor to the Director and the Division Chiefs on all human resources issues and coordinates directly with the HR Center.