Administrative Support Specialist

Clarification from the agency

Current Federal employees with competitive status or other eligibility; Former Federal employees with reinstatement eligibility; CTAP/ICTAP eligibles; Veterans with VOW, VEOA, or 30% disability; Military Spouses; Individuals with Disabilities Schedule A; Peace Corps, Vista (AmeriCorps) eligibles; Those eligible under an OPM interchange agreement or other special appointing authority.

As an Administrative Support Specialist, some of your duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Participate with the AO in developing and carrying out a comprehensive personnel management program in matters of staffing and related personnel program. Advise internal and external stakeholders on all procedural and administrative functions, providing guidance on appropriate response to actions and preparing responses.
• Assist with researching, developing, and recommending personnel procedures to implement policies for the court; communicate human resource policy information.
• Manage a variety of administrative operations including but not limited to financial/budget administration; billing; travel and credit card purchases; training; audit and inspections; recruitment; evidence and inventory controls; property inventory; record management; and human resources management and administrative functions.
• Draft and prepare targeted media announcements, scripts, articles and brochures for public distribution. Prepare news releases, fact sheets, talking points and other material on energy and environment issues and ensure accuracy and conformance with DOE information policy.
• Develop reports, memorandums, and procedures that articulate information to help in completing tasks; responding to external audits; and detailing the need and allocation for resources. Conducts integrated plans, and schedules; analyses and modifies completed plans as required.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• This employer participates in the e-Verify program.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation.
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary/trial period. Employees serving on a probationary or trial period may be terminated at any time during the probationary or trial period for performance, conduct, or business-related reasons in the interest of Federal service.
• Limit your resume to no more than two (2) pages. If more than two pages are submitted, only the first two pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
• In accordance with Executive Order 14170, applicants are encouraged to respond to the four short, free-response, essay questions in the questionnaire. Answers to these questions are not scored or rated. Your answers will be reviewed by the hiring manager and agency leadership if you are referred for selection consideration.

Qualifications

Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: https://www.opm.gov/policy.

Specialized Experience: Applicants must possess one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. The experience need not have been in the federal government.

To qualify for the GS-9:

Applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 grade level or pay band in the Federal service. This experience includes meeting 2 of the 3 listed below:

• Applying analytical and evaluative methods to administrative and management matters to improve efficiency.
• Adapting policies and procedures to situations.
• Expertise in the proper use of grammar, spelling, punctuation, correspondence preparation and formats to reflect a variety of information.

OR

SUBSTITUTE EDUCATION: Successfully completed a Master's or equivalent graduate degree; or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.B. or J.D., if related. (You must provide a copy of your transcripts (official or unofficial) to support your claim).

OR

COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages.

To qualify for the GS-11:

Applicants must have one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level or pay band in the Federal service. This experience includes meeting 2 of the 4 listed below:

• Assisting with answering human resources related questions and resolving basic issues.
• Communicating human resource policy information.
• Preparing status reports, charts, presentations, and briefings, as required, to inform management of the actual status of program/projects/activities and progress toward accomplishment of objectives.
• Drafting and preparing targeted media announcements, scripts, articles and brochures for public distribution.

OR SUBSTITUTE EDUCATION: Successfully completed aPh.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. (You must provide a copy of your transcripts (official or unofficial) to support your claim).

OR

COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages.

"Experience" refers to paid and unpaid experience. Examples of qualifying unpaid experience may include: volunteer work done through National Service programs (such as Peace Corps and AmeriCorps); as well as work for other community-based philanthropic and social organizations. 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.

Time-in-Grade: Current career or career-conditional GS employees of the Federal government, or former career or career-conditional GS employees, who have a break in service of less than one year, are required to meet the time-in-grade restriction of one year of Federal experience at the next lower grade, with few exceptions outlined in 5 CFR 300.603(b). Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to current career or career-conditional federal employees applying for a Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: Work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. Manual dexterity is required in operation of standard office machinery.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work is performed in a typical office setting.

How you will be evaluated

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

• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date (07/10/2026) of this announcement.



To preview the Assessment Questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12994422.

To apply for this position, you MUST provide a complete application package which includes:

• Your two (2) page RESUMEshowing all relevant work experience (paid and unpaid) including: duties performed; full name and address of the each employer; start and end dates (month/day/year); work schedule (part-time, full-time, number of hours if intermittent); salary; and any completed education and training (program title, subject area, number of hours completed, and completion date).
• Transcripts, if specific educational requirements are indicated in this job announcement. Unofficial transcripts or any report listing institution, course title, credits earned (semester or quarter hour) and final grade is acceptable. It is your responsibility to provide adequate proof that you meet the educational requirements.

Submit one or more of the following to support your eligibility(s) to apply to this job announcement:

• Current and former Federal employees: Most recent non-award SF-50 (Standard Form 50 - Notice of Personnel Action). To properly verify status eligibility, your SF-50 must show the following. If you do not submit an appropriate SF-50, we cannot verify your status eligibility.
  • Full position title;
  • appointment type;
  • occupational series;
  • pay plan, grade, and step;
  • tenure code; and
  • service computation date (SCD).
  • If your current position SF50 does not indicate you have competitive service status or does not reflect the pay plan and grade of the highest position you have held in the competitive service, in addition to your current SF50, you must provide your previous SF-50s that provide the proof of competitive status and highest grade held on a permanent basis. . If you do not submit an appropriate SF-50, we cannot verify your status eligibility.
• Veterans: DD-214 Member Copy 4 showing type of discharge/character of service; current active duty members- certification of expected discharge or release from active duty under honorable conditions dated within 120 days; SF-15 Form and related documentation; VA letter. For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center & OPM CHCOC website for VOW information.
• Individuals with Disabilities: Schedule A letter from a physician, local, state or federal rehabilitation office citing your eligibility under 5 CFR 213.3102 (u). For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center.
• Certain Military Spouses: Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders authorizing you to accompany the Military member to the new duty permanent station; OR verification of the member's 100% disability (VA Letter); and/or verification of the member's death while on active duty (DD-1300 and Death Certificate) AND verification of the marriage to the service member (i.e., a marriage license or other legal documentation verifying marriage). For more information visit the USAJOBS Help Center.
• Other non-competitive or special appointing authorities: provide documentation which supports your eligibility.
• Career Transition Assistance Program/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program documentation, if applicable(e.g., Certification of Expected Separation, Reduction-In-Force Separation Notice, or Notice of Proposed Removal; SF-50 that documents the RIF separation action; and most recent performance appraisal.) For more information see the OPM Guide to Career Transition.

Failure to submit any of the above mentioned required documents may result in loss of consideration due to an incomplete application package. It is your responsibility to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

Next steps