Clarification from the agency

All Candidates who are: Current excepted service federal employees qualifying as Status Candidates.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Selectee must meet/maintain suitability and security requirements, as determined by a background investigation.
• This position is ineligible for inclusion in a bargaining unit.
• You may be required to serve a two-year trial period, if the requirement has not been met.
• The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires the applicant selected for this position to submit a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) within 30 days of appointment and annually thereafter.
• You must be an active member in good standing of the bar of a U.S. state, territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Qualifications

Basic Requirement: You must have earned a professional law degree (J.D. or LL.B.) from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, be an active member of the BAR, and have three years of professional legal experience with at least one year being equivalent to the GS-13 level.

Specialized Experience: Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/qualifications to successfully perform the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

Specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level includes:

• Analyzing complex facts, ascertaining relevant laws, regulations, and policies, giving opinions and stating facts on legal issues;
• Applying and interpreting legal principles and identifying alternative courses of action;
• Conveying legal analysis and information orally through briefings, meetings, and presentations.
• Regulatory/Policy: Ability to analyze and draft notices of proposed rulemaking, and final rules. (Knowledge of government personnel rules is a bonus); and
• Legal: Experience as Labor & Employment attorneys and strong writing ability.

Time in grade: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.

You must also have experience demonstrating each of the five competencies listed below.

Administrative Law - Knowledge of state and federal administrative laws, including procedures, regulations, guidelines, and precedents related to case preparation and settlements.

Labor Law - Knowledge of state and federal employment laws, regulations, guidelines, and legal precedents related to hiring practices, equal employment opportunity, and wage and hour restrictions.

Legal, Government, and Jurisprudence - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, legal practices and documents, Government regulations, Executive orders, agency rules, Government organization and functions, and the democratic political process.

Manages and Organizes Information - Identifies a need; gathers, organizes, and maintains information; determines its importance and accuracy, and communicates it by a variety of methods.

Planning and Evaluating - Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes.

Your resume must have complete information. Please ensure your resume accurately reflects the duties and responsibilities under each position you have held with each employer. In describing your experience, please be clear and specific. It is your responsibility to make sure your resume states complete information for each job entry (beginning and ending dates of employment stated as MM/YYYY; and total hours worked per week). If your resume does not provide enough information regarding your work history for us to make a creditable qualification determination, your application package may be rendered disqualified and you will no longer be considered for this position.

Part-time or unpaid experience: Credit will be given for appropriate unpaid work on the same basis as for paid experience. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. To receive credit for such experience you must indicate clearly the nature of the duties and responsibilities in each position held and the number of hours per week spent in such employment.

Qualifications must be met by the Closing Date: You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements by 11:59pm EDT on the closing date of this announcement.

To preview the Questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12933112.

How you will be evaluated

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

Selection(s) will be based on the judgment of the selecting official as to which applicant is best qualified to perform the duties of the position. Once this announcement closes, candidates will be evaluated based on the application package submitted. An oral interview may be conducted with some, none, or all candidates, depending upon the relative qualifications of the applicants.

Basis for Rating: The rating panel will evaluate applicants' resume, then place them into one of the following categories: Highly Qualified, Well Qualified and Qualified.

Highly Qualified - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and has extensive skills and experience in most of the job related competencies above.

Well Qualified - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and has a moderate amount of skills and experience in most of the job related competencies above.

Qualified - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but may have a limited amount of experience in several of the job related competencies.

Required documents to be submitted online:

1. Resume clearly stating your experience related to this position as described in the Duties and Qualifications sections--include specific dates (MM/DD/YY - MM/DD/YY) so we can determine that you have the required amount of experience (if applicable). Your experience description needs to be clear/specific (we may not make assumptions regarding your experience). Resume must not exceed 2 pages. If you do not submit a resume that is 2 pages or less, you will be ineligible for further consideration.
2. Notification(s) of Personnel Action (SF-50) that includes Position Title, Grade or Level, and Duty Station. NOTE: Eligibility is based on your current position of record (if you are on a temporary promotion, the temporary promotion position is your position of record).
3. Most recent completed annual performance appraisal dated within the last 18 months (if it is not dated within the last 18 months or you have not received a performance appraisal, you must upload a signed/dated explanation why). Your submitted performance appraisal must show the overall rating and manager/supervisor's signature that certifies the rating at the time it was given. If your performance appraisal was conducted virtually, a supervisory email certifying your end-of-year review/rating was completed and date it occurred is acceptable documentation in lieu of the supervisor's signature on the performance appraisal document; the overall rating must also be provided on either the email or performance appraisal document.
4. Transcript: Official transcripts must contain the applicant's name, the name of the school, the degree awarded, date conferred, and all required courses as required by the position.
5. Bar Membership: Proof you are licensed and a member in good standing with the bar of the highest court of a State, U.S. commonwealth, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia. Proof is a "certificate of good standing" issued by your state of licensure within 6 months of the date of application or a screenshot of your bar status taken from your state of licensure website dated within 6 months. If there is no date on the screen shot, you must provide a statement signed by you on the date that the screen shot was created.
6. Veterans' Preference: Attorney positions with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) are in the excepted services, therefore, there is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference to mediator appointments. FMCS, however, considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in the hiring process. If you are eligible for veterans' preference in hiring, you are encouraged to include that information in your application along with supporting documentation, e.g., SF15, DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, or other supporting documentation. (if applicable)
7. Writing Sample: Legal briefs, memorandum, and/or letters. Regardless of the number of writing samples submitted, the page count of all writing samples combined cannot exceed 10 pages in length. Extracts of selected sections of larger documents are acceptable.

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