Requirements
Conditions of employment
- Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
- Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
- Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
- Direct Deposit participation required.
- Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more, visit www.dhs.gov/EVerify/.
- Must have and maintain a valid driver's license throughout employment.
- You may be required to travel overnight away from home for field work, meetings, and training as necessary.
- You are required to complete training, obtain and maintain a government credit card with travel and/or purchase authority.
- You must be at least 18 years of age or older to operate government vehicles.
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.
This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider:
- your performance and conduct;
- the needs and interests of the agency;
- whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
- whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.
Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary
period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated.
Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.
Qualifications
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-11/09/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.
To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST state either "full-time" (or "40 hours a week") or "part-time" with the number of hours worked per week to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. Failure to adequately provide information needed to determine number of hours worked in each position may result in that time not being credited when evaluating qualifying experience. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.
Basic Qualification Requirement: Archeologist: Applicants must possess the basic requirement for an Archeologist. If qualifying based on education, transcripts MUST be submitted and include your name, school name, credit hours, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. We cannot determine eligibility without this information. (A copy of your official transcripts will be required before entrance on duty, if selected). The Basic Requirement may be met in one of the following ways:
Education:
1. Degree that included 3 semester hours each in the following course areas:
- History of archeology.
- Archeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa.
- Regional archeology, archeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development.
- Theory and methods of archeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating, and analytical techniques.
- Archeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work.
-AND-
Six semester hours of related course work in:
- geography, geology, or cultural geography;
- history, historiography, or historical archeology;
- environmental studies;
- scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or
- surveying;
-AND-
Archeological field school.
2.
Related Curriculum: degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements in 1 above (including archeological field school).
-OR-
- Combination of Education and Experience: College-level education or training that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education.
-OR-
- Experience: Four years of archeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archeology. The work experience must have included archeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher grade archeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archeological project.
In addition to meeting the basic requirements listed above for this position, applicants must also meet the minimum qualifications outlined below:
Specialized Experience: To qualify at the GS-11 level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the difficulty and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped you with the particular competencies needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Examples of specialized experience may include: planning and conducting archeological investigations; conducting or overseeing work in support of historic preservation; conducting cultural resource fieldwork such as surveys and excavations; and performing field inspections, research, or assessments. You must include hours worked per week in your resume.
-OR-
Education: Successful completion of 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. To be qualifying, graduate study must have been in archeology, anthropology, or other closely related field. The total education offered to meet this provision must have provided you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the work of this position. To receive credit, you should describe how your specific course work, research projects, dissertation, theses, etc. demonstrate the ability to perform the duties of this position (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study is considered to be equal to one full year of graduate education). If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts.
-OR-
Combination of Education and Experience: Successful completion of an equivalent combination of education and graduate experience as described above. For example, an applicant with 6 months of appropriate experience equivalent to GS-9 (50 percent of the experience requirement for GS-11) and 27 semester hours of appropriate graduate education (50 percent of the education
requirement for GS-11, in excess of that required for GS-9) would be qualified for a GS-11 position (assuming that there is no evidence that the attended college or university requires more than 18 semester hours as equivalent to a year of graduate study). If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. To calculate experience, take the number of months of full-time experience and divide by 12 months. Add the percentages together. The total combination of education and experience must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.
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.
Education
You must submit a copy of your transcript(s) to support claimed education if substituting education for experience. Transcripts must include your name, school name, grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, and date the degree was conferred, if applicable. A typed list of courses, grades, semester/quarter hours, GPA, etc. will not be accepted. Non-submission may result in being rated not qualified for the position. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.
Foreign Education: To receive credit for education completed outside the United States, you must show proof that the education has been submitted to a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign educational credentials and such education has been deemed at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs. Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | U.S. Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualification
Additional information
Additional vacancies may be filled using this job announcement.
If otherwise 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. A continued service agreement may be required if it is determined you are eligible for a permanent change in duty station (PCS), recruitment, or relocation incentive.
Physical Demands/Work Environment: The majority of the work occurs in a modern office. A small percentage of time involves the need to conduct survey work and field inspections in isolated areas that could require considerable walking, climbing, stooping, and bending. Intense concentration is required during the survey phase of identifying cultural resources. There is remote potential for encountering hostile wildlife. The incumbent must be able to use standard archaeological field equipment and operate a 4-wheel drive vehicle on primitive roads.
The majority of the work is performed in an office setting. A small portion of the work is fieldwork that may involve areas located primarily in semi-arid regions of eastern Montana and mountainous areas of central and western Montana. Day-time temperature extremes are great in both winter and summer. Maximum temperatures of 100 degrees F, although not common, occur during the summer. During the winter temperatures regularly drop below zero in the mountains; on the prairie, wind chill effect can create similar temperature extremes. Terrain varies from moderately level to steep; sandy to rocky; grassy to forest; rural to urban. High winds, dust, and pollen occasionally present moderate environmental conditions. Safety precautions are adhered to, such as wearing safety shoes, hat, clothing, etc.
All Department of Interior (DOI) employees, their spouses, and minor children may not acquire or retain any claim, permit, lease, small tract entry, or other rights granted by the Department in Federal lands, with limited exceptions. Additional ethics prohibitions can be found here, https://www.doi.gov/ethics/ethics-prohibitions.
Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
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 any additional assessment(s) required for this position.
Your resume must not exceed 2 pages. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.
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 the following categories:
You will be assessed in the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):
- History and Archaeology
- Interpersonal Skills
- Technical Competence
- Writing
Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.
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 assessment(s), including a structured resume review. This assessment measures the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.
Current or former displaced Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP). To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, you must be well-qualified, score at least 85 (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry.
Providing false or misleading information on your resume or supporting documentation may result in removal from consideration or other action consistent with applicable federal hiring regulations. Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.