Clarification from the agency

1. U.S Citizens or U.S. Nationals; no prior federal experience is required. 2. ICTAP/CTAP eligibles.

HUD's Mission
The mission of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is to foster strong communities by supporting access to quality, affordable housing, expanding the housing supply, and unlocking homeownership opportunities for the American people. The Department is committed to furthering the promise of self-sufficiency in every American while promoting economic development to revitalize rural, tribal, and urban communities across the country.

This position is located at Housing and Urban Development (HUD), within the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of Policy Planning & Training, in the Training & Employee Development Division. The incumbent will work in the Talent Development and Workforce Planning (TDWP) group. The mission of TDWP is to enrich all HUD employees and offices to ensure a capable, engaged, and mission ready workforce. TDWP delivers the mission by managing the design and delivery of employee, career, and leadership learning and development programs for HUD.

As a Personnel Research Psychologist, you will:
-Consult with and advise Program Offices on ways to improve or sustain the effectiveness of organizations and implement strategies for major organizational/operational changes to achieve desired outcomes, including how to manage expected and unexpected resistance.
-Formulates, directs, and guides research and development of surveys, assessments and other activities for Human Resources programs. This includes all activities necessary for maintaining, evaluating, assessing and improving existing testing instruments and other materials, as well as the development and evaluation of new methods and techniques for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of human capital programs.
-Develop competency models, as well as selection and assessment tools (e.g., structured interviews, situational judgment tests) to assess competencies required for effective job performance.
-Collect qualitative and quantitative data through surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups.

Conditions of employment

Candidates will be selected for a job assigned to one of the official duty stations listed in this announcement. Failure to report to duty at the location for which the candidate is selected may be grounds for a disciplinary action, including removal.

Washington D.C. is among the possible duty locations for this position. The Washington, D.C. office is anticipated to relocate to Alexandria, Virginia. Applicants selected for the Washington, D.C. duty location may be required to report to the Washington, D.C. office upon entry on duty and subsequently transition to reporting to the Alexandria, Virginia location.

Key Requirements:

• Must be U.S. Citizen or U.S. National.
• A one year probationary period may be required. Continued employment is contingent upon supervisory certification that continued employment will benefit the Federal Service; the certification will occur no less than 30 days before the end of the probationary/trial period.
• Must successfully complete a background investigation.
• Public Trust - Background Investigation will be required.
• Complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• Have your salary sent to a financial institution of your choice by Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer.
• If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so.
• Go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form i-9. Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S.
• Please refer to "Additional Information Section for additional Conditions of Employment."

Qualifications

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Specialized Experience: For the GS-13 grade level, you must have one year (52 full weeks) of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized Experience for this position includes:

-Developing and implementing assessment tools for hiring and other human resources activities; AND
-Providing advice and consultancy to a variety of officials and management; AND
-Applying research to solve organizational challenges.

The experience may have been gained in either the public, private sector or volunteer service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/day/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week on your resume.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your application includes your resume, responses to the online questions, and required supporting documents. Please be sure that your resume includes detailed information to support your qualifications for this position; failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.

Rating:
Eligible and qualified applicants will be evaluated based on the competencies listed below, considering experience, education, training, performance appraisals, and awards relevant to the duties of this position. The review will be conducted by subject matter expert(s) of the position as a formal assessment.

Competency 1 - Creative Thinking - Uses imagination to develop new insights into situations and applies innovative solutions to problems; designs new methods where established methods and procedures are inapplicable or are unavailable.
Competency 2 - Customer Service - Works with clients and customers to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
Competency 3 - Self Management - Sets well-defined and realistic personal goals; displays a high level of initiative, effort, and commitment toward completing assignments in a timely manner; works with minimal supervision; is motivated to achieve; demonstrates responsible behavior.
Competency 4 - Technical Competence - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.

To be considered for final selection, applicants must demonstrate highly qualified experience in these designated competencies in the application review.

Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level categories: Best (highest quality category), Better (middle quality category), or Good (minimally qualified category) depending on your responses to the online questions, regarding your experience, education, and training related to this position. Your rating may be lowered if your responses to the online questions are not supported by the education and/or experience described in your application.

Veterans' preference is applied after applicants are assessed. Preference-eligibles will be listed at the top of their assigned category and considered before non-preference-eligibles in that category.

Referral: If you are among the top qualified candidates, your application may be referred to a selecting official for consideration. You may be required to participate in a selection interview.

If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee (eligible for the Career Transition Assistance Plan(CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP)) you must be assigned the middle category or better to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

A complete application includes:

1. A resume: All applicants are required to submit a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one of their own choosing. (Cover letters are optional.)

• USA Jobs restricts resume uploads to a maximum of 2 pages. Resumes attached in other sections (such as "Documents" or "Other") will not be considered in the determination of specialized experience. If multiple resumes are submitted, the resume submitted last (based on time stamp) will be the only one reviewed as a part of your application. To ensure readability, resumes must be formatted using an easy-to-read font (such as Lato, Calibri, or Arial) with a minimum font size of 10-points and margins no smaller than 0.5 inches. Failure to follow these formatting guidelines may result in disqualification from further consideration.
• To receive full credit for relevant experience, please list the month/date/year and number of hours worked for experience listed on your resume.
• For resume writing guidance, please visit USAJOBS Help Center - How do I write a resume for a federal job?

2. Vacancy question responses: All applicants are required to complete vacancy question responses by clicking the apply online button of this vacancy announcement.

3. Submission of any required documents identified below, if applicable: Please note that if you do not provide all required information, as specified in this announcement, you may not be considered for this position (or may not receive the special consideration for which you may be eligible).

• VETERANS' PREFERENCE DOCUMENTATION: If you are claiming veterans preference, please see applicant guide for required documentation.
  • In order to be considered for veterans preference, you must submit all required documentation as outlined in the applicant guide.

• CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (CTAP) OR INTERAGENCY CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (ICTAP) DOCUMENTATION: If you are a displaced or surplus Federal employee, click CTAP/ICTAP for eligibility and a detailed list of required documents you must submit in order to be eligible.
• EDUCATION DOCUMENTATION:
  • For positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position by substituting education or training for experience, you MUST submit a copy of your transcripts or equivalent. An official transcript will be required if you are selected. A college or university degree generally must be from an accredited (or pre-accredited) college or university recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. For a list of schools which meet these criteria, please refer to Department of Education Accreditation page. If you are qualifying based on foreign education, you must submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to the OPM instructions.

Next steps

Additional locations