Materials Handler (Motor Vehicle Operator)

Clarification from the agency

This position is announced under FEMA's Excepted Service, Stafford Act Hiring Authority for a full-time Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) appointment. After three years of continuous service, CORE employees earn competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA. Veterans Preference does not apply to the CORE selection process.

What will I do in this position if hired?

In this Materials Handler (Motor Vehicle Operator) position, you will independently perform a full range of warehouse duties to include receiving, unloading, storing, shipping, and maintaining equipment and supplies.

Typical assignments include:

• Driving trucks up to 26,000 lbs. on a regular basis. Driving trucks up to 32,000 lbs. (tractor-trailer) on a limited basis. Must be able to obtain/maintain a Commercial Driver's License.
• Assisting in the efficient storage and arrangement of materials, following Agency procedures and regulations.
• Operating a forklift to move material and equipment.
• Operating a computer terminal to record data.
• Verifying the quantity and quality of items received.

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.

This announcement is for a position as a CORE (Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee). CORE employees are full-time employees hired to directly support the response and recovery efforts related to disasters. Employees are hired under the Robert T. Stafford Act and are excluded from the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing jobs in the competitive service. They can be hired under a streamlined process instead of a competitive process. After three years of continuous service, Stafford Act employees may be granted competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA.

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 Public Trust - Moderate Risk 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.

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.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is the lead agency responsible for conducting Federal Wage System (FWS) wage surveys and issuing wage schedules. DOD's Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service maintains a website with all FWS wage schedules. You can visit the FWS wage schedules website. For specific salary information related to your location, please review the Appropriated Fund Schedules.

Conditions of Employment:

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective Service registration required.
• 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

All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

Ability to do the work of a Materials Handler (Motor Vehicle Operator) without more than normal supervision.

• Ability to perform material handling methods and techniques within a warehouse. Preparing shipping and inventory documents with required data for automated inventory systems, loading and unloading shipments from trucks using forklifts and manual and/or mechanized pallet jacks, and organizing incoming shipments for maximum space utilization, safety and damage protection.

Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standard. Although a specific length of time and experience is not required for most trade and labor occupations, you must meet any screen-out element listed, and show through experience and training that you possess the quality level of knowledge and skill necessary to perform the duties of the position at the level for which you are applying. Qualification requirements emphasis is on the quality of experience, not necessarily the length of time.

Working Conditions:
1. Performs assignments indoors in both comfortable and uncomfortable areas, and outdoors in all but most extreme inclement weather. Work areas may be hot, dusty, drafty, inadequately lighted and ventilated, etc. Is subject to cuts, abrasions, injuries from equipment, or the possibility of serious injury resulting from accidents while driving and/or loading and unloading materials.
2. Drives in all types of traffic and weather on public roads and is exposed to the danger of serious accidents. Drives in heavy traffic and at highway speeds. Commercial Drivers' License (CDL) required.
3. The fork lift operator works inside areas that are sometimes damp and drafty. Occasionally works outside in all kinds of weather.

Physical Effort:
1. Work requires standing on hard surfaces for extended periods of time; bending, stooping, and working in tiring and uncomfortable positions. May lift and carry items that weigh up to 100 pounds. Heavier items are moved with weight handling equipment or with assistance from others.
2. Light physical effort is required in reaching, bending, turning, or moving hands, feet, and legs to operate hand and foot controls to motor vehicles. Moderate physical effort is exerted in operating, turning, backing and controlling heavier vehicles.
3. Forklift operating requires moderate physical effort in operating hand and foot controls while driving, turning, starting, and stopping the forklift and raising, lowering, and tilting the loads being moved. Strain is caused by the vibration of the forklift truck.

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.

NOTE: Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume. For a brief video on How to Create a Federal Resume, click here.

Current or former FEMA Reservists/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE): To accurately credit your experience for these intermittent positions, make sure to list the dates (from MM/YY to MM/YY) of each deployment, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment. Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume, supporting documentation, and your responses to the occupational questionnaire to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements listed in the announcement. If you are qualified, you may be referred to a hiring manager for consideration. The competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform this job are:

SCREEN OUT FACTOR:

1. Ability to do the work of a Material Handler (Motor Vehicle Operator) without more than normal supervision.

JOB ELEMENTS

1. Work Practices (includes keeping things neat, clean, and in order).
2. Technical Practices (theoretical, precise, artistic).
3. Ability to Interpret Instructions, Specifications, etc. (other than blueprints).
4. Knowledge of Materials.
5. Dexterity and Safety.

We will review your resume, supporting documentation, and your responses to the occupational questionnaire to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements listed in the announcement. If you are qualified, you may be referred to a hiring manager for consideration.
Interview Requirement. Interviews may be required for this position. Failure to complete the interview may result in removed from further consideration.

We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process. To preview, please review: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13098977.

Do not include photos, personally identifying information (PII) (including birthday and social security numbers), or personal information such as age, sex, medical history, etc. Resumes that include any of this information will be ineligible for further review.

1. Your resume. Limit your resume to no more than two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages. For resume writing guidance, please review the requirements section of this announcement or visit the USAJobs Resource Center.
2. Your responses to the job questionnaire. You will be directed to the online job questionnaire: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13098977 once you begin the application process for this position.
3. Are you a current or former federal employee? This position does not have any competitive eligibility requirements. However, you will need to submit a Standard Form (SF)-50, Notification of Personnel Action, which demonstrates your current/highest grade level. Examples of appropriate SF-50s include promotions, within-grade increases and accessions. Award SF-50's will not be accepted.

Next steps