Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current and former Federal employees in the Competitive Service, Veterans, VEOA, Schedule A candidates, CTAP and ICTAP employees.

As a Personnel Psychologist (Industrial Organizational Psychologist), GS-0180-13, your typical work assignments may include:

• Developing measurement assessments, tools and methods for measuring and evaluating experience, employment references, current job achievement, employee morale and attitudes, etc.,
• Conducting environment scans, monitors workforce trends, staffing and competency assessments to verify that recruitment, retention, and human capital policies and initiatives address current and future strategic human capital needs.
• Developing cognitive ability assessments, personality inventories, structured interviews, and climate assessments, and advises on focus groups, interviews, strategic planning and action planning sessions with stakeholders;
• Planning and working on study/research projects including developing the project plan, objectives and milestones, implementing the plan, controlling scope, meeting milestones, overcoming barriers and obtaining support and cooperation with stakeholders.
• Identifying best practices in organizational assessments and methodologies to support employee engagement and organizational culture action planning and facilitate implementation of best practices and action recommendations from study findings.

Conditions of employment

• U. S. Citizenship Required.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service.
• This is not a remote position.
• Relocation expenses are not authorized.
• This is a Competitive Service position.
• This position is not part of the Bargaining Unit.
• This is a positive education position. Applicants are required to provide a transcript with their application package.
• You may be required to complete as applicable, a new one-year probationary period or two-year trial period if appointed.
• If you are a current status federal employee, you may be required to complete another one-year probationary period if selected.
• Subject to a background investigation prior to appointment.
• Submit complete application package online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date.

Qualifications

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

IDEAL CANDIDATE STATEMENT
The ideal candidate for the Personnel Psychologist (Industrial Organizational Psychologist) position will have experience applying psychological principles and quantitative methods to workforce planning, recruitment, employee engagement, and organizational development. The candidate should demonstrate strong analytical skills, including experience with data analysis, research design, and interpreting workforce metrics to inform decision-making. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are essential to effectively collaborate with stakeholders, facilitate assessments, and present findings to leadership. The ideal candidate will also be detail-oriented, able to manage multiple projects, and skilled in using data-driven insights to improve organizational performance and employee outcomes.

BASIC REQUIREMENT
Education: Applicant must demonstrate the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study or specific course requirements in Psychology.

Major or equivalent in psychology for all specializations except clinical psychology and counseling psychology. These two specializations have additional educational requirements, as stated below:

• Clinical psychology: For positions at grades GS-11 and above, satisfactory completion of all the requirements for the doctoral degree (Ph.D. or equivalent) directly related to full professional work in clinical psychology is required.
• Counseling psychology: For positions at grades GS-9 and above, satisfactory completion of 2 full academic years of graduate study directly related to professional work in counseling psychology, or satisfactory completion in an accredited educational institution of all the requirements for a master's degree directly related to counseling psychology is required.

Transcripts must be submitted at the time of application.

In addition to the BASIC REQUIREMENT, applicants must also meet the following:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Applicants must have one year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-12 grade level, which has provided them with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the Personnel Psychologist (Industrial Organizational Psychologist), GS-13 grade level.

Specialized experience includes:

• Experience developing measurement concepts, tools and methods for measuring and evaluating experience, employment references, current job achievement, employee morale and attitudes, etc.; and
• Experience participating in climate assessments, focus groups, interviews, strategic planning and action planning sessions with stakeholders.; and
• Experience planning and working on study/research projects including developing the project plan, objectives and milestones, implementing the plan, controlling scope, meeting milestones, overcoming barriers and obtaining support and cooperation with stakeholders.

This experience must be fully supported and articulated in your resume to receive consideration. Please do not cut and paste the specialized experience from this announcement into your resume, as this will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

NOTE: 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.

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 (e.g., resume, supporting documents) and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

You will be assessed on the following competencies:

• Human Factors
• Research
• Workforce Planning
• Organizational Performance Analysis
• Technical Competence

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials may result in your removal from consideration.

To preview the application questionnaire, click the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12959272

Optional Four Essay Questions
At the time of application, applicants will be provided with four short, free-response essay questions designed to ascertain their dedication to public service for the hiring manager and agency leadership (or designee) to review. Responses are not required and will not be scored. If applicants choose to provide a response to the essay questions, they will be required to certify that they are using their own words and did not use a consultant or AI (such as a large language model [LLM]). The responses to each question cannot exceed 200 words per question.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.

For evaluating the quality of applicants for referral to the selecting official, a four-phased process will be used.

Phase 1: Applicants resume and supporting documents are reviewed by Human Resources (HR) to ensure they meet the basic qualification requirements.

Phase 2: Applicants who are minimally qualified will be advanced to a Structured Resume Review assessment conducted by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel. SME will review your resume to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience.

Phase 3: Applicants passing the Structured Resume Review assessment will be advanced to a Structured Interview conducted by a Subject Matter Expert (SME) panel. SMEs will assess your ability to perform the required competencies.

Phase 4: A final score which combines the scores from all assessments will be determined. The scores will be used to identify the top-rated applicants. The top-rated applicants will be referred to the selecting official for consideration and may be required to participate in one or more interviews as part of the hiring process.

Please submit the supporting documents listed below for your claimed eligibility status.

RESUME
In compliance with Executive Order 14170, Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service resumes must not be longer than two pagesin length. The resume must address minimum qualifications and other requirements listed in the job announcement. If the two-page resume criteria and/or the resume formatting requirement is not met, candidates will be rated as ineligible and will not be referred for hiring consideration.

Resumes must include all of the following information outlined below:

Contact Information: Name and how best to contact you, including email address and phone number.

Relevant Work Experience

• Job Title and Employer (including series and grade for any Federal positions)
• Start and end dates with month/year (e.g., 05/2019 -08/2022 or present)
• The number of hours you worked per week

Ensure work experience descriptions are aligned with the job announcement and address all required qualifications. Brief descriptions should demonstrate your ability to perform the tasks at the required level stated.

TRANSCRIPT
An unofficial copy of your transcripts is sufficient for this application package. The unofficial transcripts must be verifiable; contain the name of the institution, applicant's name, list of completed courses (with grades), semester hours, and GPA. If the position has a positive education requirement as indicated under the "Education" section, the unofficial transcripts must show type of degree and degree date received (conferred). If selected, an official copy of the transcripts is required and must be received before employment.

OTHER DOCUMENTS (if applicable). For more information, please click on the applicable link.

Most Recent Performance Appraisal. (Current/Former Federal Employees). If performance appraisal is not dated within the last 18 months or if you are unable to provide a performance appraisal, an explanation why must be provided. Please include a document in your application package explaining why the performance appraisal is not available.

Notification of Personnel Action (SF-50). (Current/Former Federal Employees). Most recent SF-50 showing current grade, tenure, and highest (permanent) grade ever held, if different from your current grade. Performance Award, Realignment/Reassignment, Name Change and Detail SF-50s will not be accepted as proof of grade and tenure. If applying for a higher grade, provide a SF-50 or SF-50s which show the length of time in current/highest grade (i.e. Promotions, Within Grade Increases, and SF-50s with dates that show proof of you holding the grade for at least a year) to support meeting time-in-grade requirements. As a current or previous Career or Career Conditional employee in the Competitive Service, you may determine your current status by checking block 24 on your SF-50. The block must reflect "1" or "2". Also, block 34 must reflect "1". A copy of your SF-50 must be provided for verification.

Schedule A - Disability Letter
Veterans - DD-214 (Member Copy 4) Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty
Disabled Veterans - DD-214, SF-15, and proof of disability, Department of Veterans Affairs letter dated 1991 or later.
Certain Military Spouses - Copy of service member's PCS order authorizing the spouse to accompany the service member AND Proof of marriage to the service member; OR Proof the service member was released or discharged from active duty due to a service-connected disability AND documentation of the service member's 100% disability AND proof of marriage to the service member; OR Proof of the service member's death while on active duty AND proof of marriage to the service member.
Family Member Preference (Derived Preference)
Reinstatement
Former Peace Corps or VISTA Volunteers
Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP)
If requesting consideration under the Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), you must meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting the minimum requirements for the position and scoring at least an 85) and provide all of the following documents:

• your most recent performance appraisal; AND
• the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency; AND
• your most current SF-50 displaying current series and grade.

Failure to submit any of the required documents by the closing date of the vacancy will result in your removal from consideration for this position. Please review your application prior to final submission to ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents. Uploading documents to USAJOBS does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system. You must verify that the documents are in the system with your application prior to final submission.

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