Duties
What will I do in this position if hired?
In this position, you will serve as an Emergency Management Specialist. Typical assignments include
- Managing, and coordinating with other entities the response to unintentional and/or unintentional crises, disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, hazards, or natural and man-made/technological incidents.
- Maintaining national situational awareness of the Agency's operational status and monitoring emerging incidents or potential incidents with possible operational consequences.
- Serving on a Watch Team that maintains a 24-hour regional situational awareness to conduct analysis, determine possible impacts, identify potential and occurring incidents within their respective areas of responsibility, and report to the Regional Administrator while directly supporting response operations.
- Providing senior management officials with relevant information required to direct Federal responses to Local, State, Tribal, Territorial, Regional, and National emergencies.
- Providing coordination and assistance to DHS Departments, FEMA Regions, Other Federal Agencies, and other government entities to ensure the capability to continue essential functions during any event or incident.
What else do I need to know?
At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
FEMA is committed to ensuring that its workforce reflects the diversity of the nation. At FEMA, our workforce includes the many identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, ages, cultures, and beliefs of the people we serve. To learn about FEMA's ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, reasonable accommodation process, and the FEMA Core Values, please visit www.fema.gov.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Top Secret/SCI as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations.
Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.
Key Requirements:
- You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
- You must successfully pass a background investigation.
- Selective Service registration required.
- Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
- You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
- You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
- Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.
Qualifications
Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The time-in-grade and qualification requirements must be met within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.
To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:
- Delivering expert level technical advice and guidance on situational awareness monitoring and reporting; and
- Developing, reviewing, and approving reports, information papers, and briefings on emergency management operations; and
- Deploying as a Liaison to Emergency Operations Center or Initial Operating Facility type locations.
Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:
- Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
- Please limit your resume to five pages. If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
- Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.
Are you qualifying based on your work experience?
- Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
- Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
- Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."
- 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Education
No Educational Substitution: There is no educational substitution for this position, and you must meet the qualifications listed in the "requirements" section of this announcement.
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.
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.
You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials, your responses on the application questionnaire, & your responses to all assessments required for this position. You will be assessed on the following competencies:
- Attention to Detail
- Communication
- Customer Service
- Customer Service
- Decision Making
- Flexibility
- Influencing/Negotiating
- Integrity/Honesty
- Interpersonal Skills
- Learning
- Reading Comprehension
- Representing the Agency
- Self-Management
- Stress Tolerance
- Teamwork
- Teamwork & Cooperation
- Technical Proficiency
The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment. Overstating your qualifications &/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration.
If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be placed in one of the following categories:
- Best Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position & demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all Selective Placement Factors (SPF), & appropriate Quality Ranking Factors (QRF) as determined by the job analysis.
- Well Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position & demonstrates acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all SPF's & appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis.
- Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position & demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, including all SPFs & appropriate QRFs as determined by the job analysis.
If you are best qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for consideration & may be contacted for an interview.
We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process.
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12599629
Veterans: Qualified veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% are listed in the best-qualified category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level, or higher. This position is not considered scientific/professional. Other 10-point preference eligibles & veterans with 5-point preference who meet the eligibility & qualification requirements are placed above non-preference eligibles within the category in which they qualify. View information on veterans' preference.
How to Apply
Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows:
- Click the Apply Online button.
- Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation.
- Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date.
- If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice.
- Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials.
- Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended.
- Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link.
- Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused.
Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that interferes with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment, you may request a RA in your online application. Requests and supporting documentation for a RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Assessment. Decisions for a RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If your RA request is approved and you meet minimum qualifications, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Assessment. If you receive the USA Hire URL link after the close of the announcement, you must complete all assessments within 48 hours. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.
For more general information, system requirements, reasonable accommodation information, and to request assistance regarding the USA Hire Assessments, review the USA Hire Assessments Resources.
Incentives may be offered depending on funding availability, the difficulty of positions to fill, and qualifications of applicants
If you have questions about this announcement or the application process, please contact the Human Resources Specialist listed in the Agency Contact Information prior to the close of the announcement.
To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.
To view the announcement status or your application status: Review your job status on your Application Dashboard. Your application dashboard is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.
Next steps
Once you submit your application, we will assess your experience and training, identify the best-qualified applicants, and refer those applications to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interviews. We will notify you by email after each of these steps has been completed.
If you are selected, you will be notified by phone or email with a tentative job offer. If you fail to respond, fail to meet the conditions of employment, or fail any other pre-employment requirements (such as the background investigation), we may rescind a tentative job offer.
For information on the Federal employment application process, please visit the USA Jobs Help Center. Any offers of employment made pursuant to this announcement will be consistent with all applicable authorities, including Presidential Memoranda, Executive Orders, interpretive U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance and U.S. Office of Management and Budget plans and policies concerning hiring. These authorities are subject to change.
The OPM must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.