Summary
This position is designated as SES, Career-Reserved. USDA structures its SES positions into position levels. This is a position level 2 with a salary range of $198,538-$210,220 per year. Exceptions to the salary cap may be considered in certain circumstances. SES employees are also eligible to receive bonuses and performance-based awards. Visit http://www.opm.gov/ses/ for additional information and benefits for SES employees.
Location is negotiable. Position is not eligible for remote work.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
Applications will be accepted from all qualified candidates.
Duties
- Responsible for aiding in, developing, and instituting the plans, procedures, and policies necessary to carry out the FSA's Farm Loan Programs on a nationwide basis.
- Acts as representative and alter ego to the Deputy Administrator for Farm Loan Programs when necessary.
- Directly participates with the Deputy Administrator, Administrator, and Under Secretary in developing broad plans, procedures, and policy initiatives for implantation on a nationwide basis.
- Provides advice and recommendations to the Deputy Administrator, Administrator, State Directors, and field program chiefs on program plans and policies for strengthening and preserving the family farm system of agriculture.
- Provides joint leadership in planning and implementing an integrated debt management program for farm credit program borrowers nationwide.
- Helps to maintain and manage a system which tracks the obligations of guaranteed and direct loan funds by the States.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Veterans Preference is not applicable in the Senior Executive Service.
- Initial appointments are required to serve a 1-year probationary period
- Narrative Statements for the ECQs must not exceed 10 pages
- Background Investigation required.
Qualifications
YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR RESPONSES TO THE EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs) AND TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs).
As a basic requirement for entry into the SES, applicants must provide evidence of progressively responsible executive leadership and supervisory experience that is indicative of senior executive level management capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under Executive Core Qualifications and Technical Qualifications listed below. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the GS-14/15 grade level in the federal service or its equivalent in the private sector. As such, your resume should demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully fulfill responsibilities inherent in most SES positions such as:
- Directing the work of an organizational unit;
- Ensuring the success of one or more specific major programs or projects;
- Monitoring progress toward strategic organizational goals, evaluating organizational performance and taking action to improve performance; and
- Supervising the work of employees; and exercising important policy-making, policy determining, or other executive functions.
Failure to meet the basic qualification requirement and address all Mandatory Technical and Executive Core Qualification factors will result in your application being disqualified. EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs): The ECQs were designed to assess executive experience and potential not technical expertise. They measure whether an individual has the broad executive skills needed to succeed in a variety of SES positions. All applicants must submit a written narrative to address the ECQs. Your narrative must address each ECQ separately and should contain at least two examples per ECQ describing your experiences and accomplishments/results. The narrative should be clear, concise, and emphasize your level of responsibilities, scope and complexity of programs managed, program accomplishments, policy Initiatives undertaken and the results of your actions. Applicants should not enter "Refer to Resume" to explain your answer.
The narrative must not exceed 10 pages. NOTE: Current career SES members, former career SES members with reinstatement eligibility, and SES Candidate Development Program graduates who have been certified by OPM do NOT need to address the ECQs.
1. Leading Change: This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment. (Competencies: creativity and innovation, external awareness, flexibility, resilience, strategic thinking, vision)
2. Leading People: This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organizations vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts. (Competencies: conflict management, leveraging diversity, developing others, team building)
3. Results Driven: This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks. (Competencies: accountability, customer service, decisiveness, entrepreneurship, problem solving, technical credibility)
4. Business Acumen: This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically. (Competencies: financial management, human capital management, technology management)
5. Building Coalitions: This core qualification involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals. (Competencies: partnering, political savvy, influencing/negotiating)
Fundamental Competencies: These competencies are the foundation for success in each of the Executive Core Qualifications: Interpersonal Skills, Oral Communication, Continual Learning, Written Communication, Integrity/Honesty, Public Service Motivation. The Fundamental Competencies are crosscutting; and should be addressed over the course of each ECQ narratives. It is not necessary for you to address the Fundamental Competencies directly as long as the narrative, in its totality, shows mastery of these competencies on the whole.
Applicants are encouraged to follow the Challenge, Context, Action and Result (C-C-A-R) model outlined in the guide.
Challenge - Describe a specific problem or goal.
Context - Describe the individuals and groups you worked with, and/or the environment in which you worked, to address a particular challenge (e.g., clients, co-workers, members of Congress, shrinking budget, low morale).
Action - Discuss the specific actions you took to address a challenge.
Result - Give specific examples of measures/outcomes that had some impact on the organization. These accomplishments demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of your leadership skills.
Additional information about the SES and Executive Core Qualifications can be found on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) SES Website. You are strongly encouraged to review OPMs Guide to SES Qualifications for specific examples and guidance on writing effective ECQ narrative statements.
MANDATORY TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs): All applicants must submit a written narrative response to the following TQs. You must address each TQ separately. Each TQ narrative must not exceed two (2) pages. Please give examples and explain the complexity of the knowledge possessed and the sensitivity of the issued you handled.
- Demonstrated executive level experience in identifying priorities and developing strategies for improving the quality of assistance provided to loan applicants and borrowers by working collaboratively with multiple stakeholders within and outside the federal government to develop and implement equitable and innovative solutions.
- Demonstrated knowledge and experience in developing budget proposals to accurately forecast program administrative expenses, and direct/guaranteed loan funds based on analysis of the credit market and general economy, and to develop authoritative recommendations for dealing with projected shortfalls.
Education
This job does not have an education qualification requirement.
Benefits
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.
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.
You will be evaluated on the quality and extent of your total accomplishments, experience, and education (if applicable). Your application will be rated and ranked by an Executive Resources Board (ERB) Panel, using only the information submitted within the application package. Applicants who do not demonstrate in their application sufficient possession of the ECQs & MTQs will be determined ineligible for further consideration. Unless you have already been certified by a Qualifications Review Board (QRB) in the past, your ECQs must be certified by a QRB after selection and before appointment can occur.
To view the application form, visit: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12554488
Required Documents
Current career SES Members and former SES Members who have reinstatement eligibility to the career SES should submit a SF-50 showing career SES status; OPM-Certified SES Candidate Development Program graduates should submit a copy of their Qualifications Review Board (QRB) certificate. Education (if applicable): A copy of your transcript(s) or a separate course listing showing the course title, department, hours earned (quarter or semester), and grade (if applicable). If you have completed any part of your education outside of the U.S., you must submit the evaluation of your foreign education that has been prepared by an accredited organization. The National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) can provide a list of who can evaluate your foreign education. For additional information, visit DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.
Your resume should contain information sufficient to make a valid determination that you fully meet the specialized experience requirements as stated in this vacancy announcement. It is recommended that you include the following information:
- Full name, mailing address, and day and evening telephone numbers
- Educational information, including the name, city and state of colleges or universities you attended, as well as the type and year of any degrees received
- Information about your paid and nonpaid work experience related to this position including:
- Job title (include series and grade if Federal job)
- Duties and accomplishments
- Employers name and address
- Supervisors name and phone number
- Starting and ending dates of employment (month and year)
- Salary
- Indicate if we may contact your current supervisor
- Information about honors, awards, and special accomplishments
How to Apply
YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR RESPONSES TO THE EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATIONS (ECQs) AND TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS (TQs).
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin. Failure to submit the required documentation by 11:59 pm EST of the closing date will result in loss of consideration. The following instructions outline our application process.
You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
We are available to assist you during business hours (normally 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday - Friday). Applying online is highly encouraged. If applying online poses a hardship, please contact our office during business hours well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages with supporting documents must be submitted no later than noon on the closing date of the announcement in order to be entered into the system prior to its closing. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact us if you are requesting this.
Step 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not have one) at www.usajobs.gov. It is recommended that as part of your profile you set up automatic email notification to be informed when the status of your application changes. If you choose not to set up this automatic notification, then you will have to log into your USAJOBS account to check on the status of your application.
Step 2: Create a resume with USAJOBS or upload a resume into your USAJOBS account. Customize your resume to ensure it documents duties and accomplishments you have gained that are directly related to this position in order to verify that qualifications are met. Your resume must support your responses to the online questionnaire (you may preview the online questionnaire by clicking on the link at the end of the How You Will Be Evaluated section of the job announcement).
Step 3: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the Occupational Questionnaire and attach any additional documents that may be required. You can update your application or documents anytime while the announcement is open. Log into your USAJOBS account and click on "Application Status." Click on the position title, and then select "Update Application" to continue.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
Candidates who do not submit complete application packages as indicated in this announcement will not be considered. Please be sure to remove all PII (e.g. SSN, DOB, etc.) from all documentation. Spell out Acronyms the first time used.
Applicants who cannot apply on-line may mail their applications (must be postmarked prior to the close date) or fax your application before the close date to the Agency Contact listed in the vacancy announcement.
Next steps
Applicants who meet the mandatory requirements Executive Core Qualifications, and Mandatory Technical Qualifications will be considered qualified for this position. Rating and ranking to determine the best qualified will be conducted by a panel of senior executives and will be based upon consideration of the degree to which applicants meet the mandatory requirements as described in the announcement.
The Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) of the selectee are subject to prior approval by the Office of Personnel Management Qualifications Review Board (OPM QRB). Unless you have already been certified by an OPM QRB in the past, your ECQs must be certified by an OPM QRB before your appointment can occur. When reviewing the ECQ Statements, the QRB is looking for experience as well as specific challenges, actions, and results.
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