Clarification from the agency

Current Federal employees in permanent competitive service positions (status candidates) in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma, plus well-qualified surplus and displaced DOJ employees (CTAP) in the local commuting area. Internal Employees Only.

As a primary Legal Assistant in the area of Financial Litigation, you will serve as a legal assistant responsible for directly and independently supporting Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) related to complex financial litigation actions and matters. Typical work assignments will include:

• Providing substantive assistance to AUSAs in complex financial litigation matters;
• Independently developing, analyzing, and evaluating information regarding complex and/or unusual financial assets to assist AUSAs in cases;
• Providing training, guidance, and technical assistance to other legal support staff;
• Independently processing cases and legal matters by applying a thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of the office;
• Conducting extensive research or records, references, and/or historical material;
• Reviewing incoming material and determining the need for correspondence and legal documents such as motions, orders, pleadings, and subpoenas;
• Preparing a wide variety of legal documents, many of which are voluminous and complex in format;
• Obtaining and analyzing financial information on debtors to determine their present and future potential ability to pay;
• Initiating contact with debtors concerning payment of their obligations, their ability to pay, and negotiating written payment schedules to assure successful collection of debts;
• Reviewing and reconciling computerized debt collection printouts with office collection records;
• Communicating with debtors to present options for debt payments, answering questions, explaining pertinent procedures, clarifying information, and working cases to resolution;
• Providing technical processing activities associated with debt collection for criminal and/or civil debts;
• Preparing letters to referring agencies acknowledging receipt of claims; and
• Analyzing claims to determine the type of indebtedness to record and maintaining proper debtor and account information.

Responsibilities will increase, and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment adjudication. This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing. Continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
• You must be registered for Selective Service, if applicable.
• If selected, you may be required to complete a one year probationary period.
• Time-in-Grade: Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement.
• You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

GS-8: To be eligible at the GS-8 level, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-7 level.

Specialized experience: Experience that includes performing the following: applying comprehensive legal regulations, precedents, and practices related to financial litigation issues; perform assistance work requiring extensive searches of records, references or historical material and comparisons with complex, voluminous or broadly written criteria; knowledge of a wide range of office and electronic litigation software applications to prepare complex legal documents and materials; skill in communicating complex and extensive information in verbal and written form.

To be qualified, you must type at least 40 words per minute based on a 5-minute sample with three or fewer errors. (A typing test may later be required.)

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)-The CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees in the Department of Justice with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. If your Department of Justice component has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and receive a score of 85 or better on established ranking criteria. You must provide a copy of your written notification of CTAP eligibility with your application. Additional information about CTAP eligibility is at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your complete application package (resume/supporting documentation, online questionnaire, and USA Hire Competency Based Assessment) will be used to determine whether you meet the job qualifications listed on this announcement. If you are basically qualified for this job, your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses on the online questionnaire. If you rate yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your responses may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job. If you are found to be among the top candidates, you will be referred to the selecting official for employment 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 an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.

The assessment 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 and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package, which includes:

- Required: Your responses to the Online Occupational Questionnaire (This is completed automatically during the apply online process).

- Required: Your resume cannot exceed two pages - you will be deemed ineligible and receive no further consideration if your resume exceeds two pages - see USAJOBS for formatting requirements. Include relevant employment history as outlined below for each job:

• Official position title (if Federal, include series/grade),
• Employer name and contact information,
• Start and end dates (for full consideration, you must include month, day, and year),
• Indicate full-time or number of hours worked per week if part-time, and
• A list of duties performed and accomplishments.

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.

- Required if you are a current or former Federal employee: a recent copy of an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, showing title, series, grade, and full performance level (FPL); AND a copy of your most recent performance appraisal. Please note your SF-50 must include your FPL in the remark section (e.g., appointment, reassignment, promotion actions), pay adjustments and awards do not include this information so they are not acceptable.

- Required, if applicable: CTAP/ICTAP documentation (a copy of a separation notice or other proof of eligibility for priority selection; a copy of an SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, showing current position, grade, promotion potential, and duty location; AND a copy of your most recent performance appraisal.

- If you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you must submit documentation to support your request, including the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form found at: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire

- Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (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 by providing a copy of your applicable SF-50, along with a statement that provides the following information regarding your most recent political appointment:

• Position title;
• Type of appointment (Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee);
• Agency; and
• Beginning and ending dates of appointment.

Next steps