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 HR Specialist (Recruitment and Placement) at the full performance level, you will:

• Represent PMA HR SSC rendering expert and authoritative recruitment and placement advisory and technical services. Perform broad reaching, innovative, cross-functional analyses to develop human resources (HR) recommendations responding proactively to specific HR challenges.
• Manage and/or accomplish the most complex recruitment and placement work assignments, complete extremely difficult and/or complicated projects, regularly requiring identification and resolution of precedent-setting and/or highly controversial operational problems.
• Complete pre-announcement duties. Conduct recruitment conversations with hiring managers. Work with hiring managers on refining and/or developing recruitment/placement criteria to recruit for hard-to-fill highly technical, professional and/or specialized positions in areas where a shortage of qualified personnel exists.
• Consult with and expertly advise managers about internal Merit Promotion and external Delegated Examining (DE) vacancy announcements. Establish priorities for filling positions, considering the importance of vacancies to missions, and the availability of qualified internal and/or external candidates to fill positions.
• Expertly advise customers about recruitment and placement regulatory guidance and its applicability to hiring efforts (e.g., Veterans Preference, USERRA, SME utilization, DHA, etc.).
• Lead or participate in identification, design, development, and implementation of more efficient ways to deliver recruitment and staffing products and services to assigned organization managers and staff through automated information systems.

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.
• Security clearance and associated requirements - moderate risk.
• Duties may require the employee to obtain and maintain an appropriate security clearance to provide recruitment and placement advisory services and transactions involving classified information.
• At the GS-12 level, you must be able to obtain and maintain Delegated Examining certification with-in 1 year of your appointment.
• At the GS-13 level, Requirement of Delegated Examining certification at time of appointment.

Qualifications

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: A qualified candidate's online application and resume must demonstrate at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position is defined as:

At the GS-12 grade level, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in the Federal service in the following:

1. Advising management on recruitment strategies and hiring authorities including Delegated Examining (DE), Merit Promotion (MP), and government-wide special hiring authorities for excepted service and competitive service positions; and
2. Experience in all the following staffing functions: identifying competencies and conducting job analyses, creating assessment questionnaires, creating job opportunity announcements using automated HR systems, reviewing application materials for eligibility and qualifications determinations, adjudication of veterans' preference, determining appointment eligibilities, creating ranking and certificate of eligible applicant lists; and
3. Preparing, reviewing and processing a wide variety of personnel actions and ensure accuracy of information and compliance with all applicable regulations and guidelines; and
4. Providing full range of staffing/recruitment and placement consultative services to managers, employees, and applicants; and
5. Responding to human resource inquiries from internal and external stakeholders and applicants; and
6. Conducting quality control and assurance reviews to ensure recruitment and placement actions, case files, and processed personnel actions are accurate, complete, and compliant with federal requirements and agency guidelines.

At the GS-13 grade level, you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service in the following:

1. Experience serving as a subject-matter expert to management on a wide variety of complex, sensitive, and difficult HR issues, including providing authoritative interpretations of policy, regulations, and law; and
2. Proficiency in using automated personnel systems relevant to federal HR (e.g., USA Staffing, HR systems within federal agencies) to process actions, as well as the ability to independently extract, troubleshoot, and resolve difficult issues/problems requiring consideration of the total human resource management program; and
3. Proven expertise in managing the entire recruitment and staffing process for federal agencies, from developing strategic recruitment plans and crediting plans with hiring managers to managing competitive/excepted service appointments, priority placement programs (e.g., PPP, CTAP/ICTAP), and veterans' preference; and
4. A comprehensive background in applying, interpreting, and ensuring compliance with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Department of Energy (DOE) regulations. This includes experience developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and responding to audits specific to federal HR programs; and
5. Experience planning, evaluating, and leading HR projects and initiatives within a federal agency context. This involves conducting studies, developing solutions to complex problems, and creating guidance and standards for new or changing programs relevant HR operations.

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.

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.

How you will be evaluated

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

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

All qualified Non-competitive applicants and the best qualified Merit Promotion and VEOA applicants will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration.

Career Transition Assistance Programs: To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet the eligibility criteria; and 2) be rated "well-qualified".

You must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date (03/20/2026) of this announcement.

USAHire: 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 an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

Reasonable Accommodation Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a reasonable accommodation in your online application. Requests for Reasonable Accommodations for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for Reasonable Accommodation must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for Reasonable Accommodations are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a Reasonable Accommodation, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here.

To preview the Assessment Questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12905783.

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).

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