Recent Graduate - Mathematical Statistician

Clarification from the agency

Open to applicants who have graduated, within the past two years, (with an associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, diploma, vocational, technical degree, or certificate, etc.) from a qualifying educational institution or career or technical education program (including registered Apprenticeship Programs, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, Climate Corps). NOTE: Students who will meet the education requirements at the end of Summer 2026 may apply.

The duties described are for the GS-09 level. At the GS-07 level, assignments will be of more limited scope and performed with less independence and complexity. Duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide technical support for the development and implementation of statistical methodology for BLS OEUS Programs, including survey design planning and evaluation, creation of sampling frames, sampling design and sample selection, estimation and variance estimation appropriate to sample design, statistical validation of survey results, and quality measurement and control.
• Participate in research and evaluation studies to address issues in survey design, estimation, variance estimation, and other statistical issues.
• Participate in the development and implementation of a broad spectrum of sample and survey designs for the establishment and household surveys.
• Participate in the development and implementation of monitoring systems for estimates and variances.
• Prepare drafts of technical statements of statistical findings, evaluations, and recommendations regarding survey design and estimation processes.

Conditions of employment

• Must be at least 16 years.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.
• The entire duration of the Recent Graduate Appointment constitutes a trial period.
• Appointees must sign a DOL Pathways Recent Graduate Program Participant Agreement.

Qualifications

Applicants must have graduated, within the past two years, (with an associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, diploma, vocational, technical degree, or certificate, etc.) from a qualifying educational institution or career or technical educational program including registered Apprenticeship Programs, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, Climate Corps).

You must meet the Basic Requirements and the Specialized Experience to qualify for Recent Graduate - Mathematical Statistician, as described below.

Basic Requirement
Mathematical Statistician, 1529: A) Degree: that included 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, of which at least 12 semester hours were in mathematics and 6 semester hours were in statistics.

OR

B) Combination of education and experience -- at least 24 semester hours of mathematics and statistics, including at least 12 hours in mathematics and 6 hours in statistics, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Evaluation of Education: Courses acceptable toward meeting the mathematics course requirement of A or B above must have included at least four of the following: differential calculus, integral calculus, advanced calculus, theory of equations, vector analysis, advanced algebra, linear algebra, mathematical logic, differential equations, or any other advanced course in mathematics for which one of these was a prerequisite. Courses in mathematical statistics or probability theory with a prerequisite of elementary calculus or more advanced courses will be accepted toward meeting the mathematics requirements, with the provision that the same course cannot be counted toward both the mathematics and the statistics requirement.

Evaluation of Experience: The experience offered in combination with educational courses to meet the requirements in B above should include evidence of statistical work such as (a) sampling, (b) collecting, computing, and analyzing statistical data, and (c) applying known statistical techniques to data such as measurement of central tendency, dispersion, skewness, sampling error, simple and multiple correlation, analysis of variance, and tests of significance. Without other indications of statistical experience, work required in the processing of numerical or quantified information by other than statistical methods is not considered appropriate qualifying experience.

Specialized Experience
Specialized experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level.

GS-07: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-05 grade level.

Qualifying specialized experience includes:

• Working on the design of a quantitative study that included addressing the following: identifying which data may address the phenomena being measured, identifying what statistics need to be produced, identifying how estimates will be calculated, and identifying how data will be analyzed; OR
• Reviewing collected quantitative data to ensure its statistical accuracy (internal and/or external validity) or reliability (precision); OR
• Producing estimates and outputs. Examples include means, medians, rates, percentiles, totals, and indexes. This may have involved executing computations and/or creating or editing graphs/visualizations of estimates using statistical software.

OR

Education Substitution:
GS-07: 1 year of graduate-level education or superior academic achievement. Superior Academic Achievement is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership.

1. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses.
2. Grade-point average (G.P.A.) -- Applicants must have a grade-point average of: 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
3. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society. A list of acceptable honor societies can be found at Association of College Honor Societies

Qualifying specialized experience includes:

• Making decisions regarding which persons or businesses to obtain or collect data from, and/or which statistical method(s) to use. This may have included assisting with activities such as identifying the sampling unit and gathering and preparing sampling frames OR assisting in the study, selection, or execution of a sampling method to draw samples from a sample frame, such as probability sampling (e.g. probability sampling may include utilizing cluster, simple random, proportional to size, stratified, systematic, or a combination of sampling methods (i.e. multi-stage sampling)); OR
• Completing the preparation of data to include, but not limited to, performing statistical processes for weighting data and/or addressing sampling error, non-sampling error (i.e. non-response error or response error); OR
• Drafting portions of technical papers that explain statistical requirements or statistical methods; OR
• Performing statistical research that may have included, but not limited to, the following topics: evaluating new sampling techniques, analyzing frame data, evaluating alternative estimators, evaluating alternative variance computation techniques, testing better approaches for obtaining survey data, evaluating non-response bias, evaluating seasonal adjustment procedures, evaluating imputation procedures, researching regression trees and estimators, OR systems development and/or testing to document statistical requirements/specifications or test software according to statistical requirements/specifications.

Education Substitution:
GS-09: 2 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree.

OR

Combination of Education and Specialized Experience:
GS-09: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your evaluation will be based on how well you meet the qualifications outlined in this vacancy announcement, as demonstrated through your resume and supporting documentation.

Click Application of Veterans Preference for more information.

You may preview application questions for this vacancy here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13014644

If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be evaluated against the evaluation factors below and will be placed into a category based on your vacancy question responses.

Category A - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in applying critical competencies required by this position to work of increased levels of difficulty and complexity.

Category B - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the critical competencies required by this position.

Category C - Meets the specialized experience described in the minimum qualification requirements section of this announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the basic competencies.

Clickhere for Evaluation details.

USA Hire

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

GS-07:

• Attention to Detail
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Reading Comprehension

• Attention to Detail
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Reasoning
• Teamwork

The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, and volunteer, as it demonstrates the competencies or skills required for the position to be filled. Your evaluation may include an interview, reference checks, or other assessment conducted by HR specialists, subject matter experts, or panel members and may include other assessment tools (ex. interview, structured interview, written test, work sample, etc.).

The following documents must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on the vacancy closing date.

The following documents are required from ALL applicants (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY):

• Resumes are required: Provide a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or upload one from their computer and USAJOBS profile. To receive full consideration for relevant and specialized experience, please list the month, year, and number of work hours worked for the experience listed on your resume. We also suggest that you preview the vacancy questions, and confirm that your resume supports your question responses.
• Proof of Eligibility: Academic transcript, a copy of a diploma, certificate, industry-recognized credential awarded from a qualifying career or technical educational program, or other official documentation from the qualifying educational institution showing that you meet the eligibility requirements for a Recent Graduate appointment, as described in the Qualifications and Education sections of this announcement. (The Department of Labor Career One Stop offers a certification finder to help identify a variety of industry-endorsed certifications.)
• If you are claiming extended eligibility due to military service performed during the two-year period following graduation, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing the dates of such service. (For active duty service members expecting to be honorably discharged or released within 120 days, click Active Duty).
• Proof of Qualifications: Academic transcripts are sufficient to demonstrate that you meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, as described in this announcement, where you are seeking to qualify, at least in part, on the basis of your education. See Qualifications and Evaluations.

The following documents are required if applicable:

• Veterans Documents (if applicable): To be considered as a 5-point (TP) preference eligible, you must submit a copy of your DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. Your DD 214 must show the type of discharge and dates of active duty. To claim 10-point (CP/CPS, XP) preference, you must submit a copy of your DD214 and the proof of entitlement of this preference, which is normally an official statement, dated 1991 or later, from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability. In addition, a Standard Form (SF-15) should be included, but is not required. (For active-duty service members expecting honorable or general discharge or release within 120 days, click Active Duty). For more information, go to Feds Hire Vets - Veterans Preference.
• Unofficial Transcript(s) (in English): If you are using education as a basis for qualifying for this position, you must submit all applicable academic transcripts demonstrating that you meet the qualifying educational requirements (ex. BA/BS, MA, JD, Ph.D., etc.). If specific coursework is required to qualify, you must supply an unofficial transcript from each academic institution in which the required courses were taken in order to receive credit. You may upload your unofficial transcript(s) as one document with a maximum size limit of 5 MB.

NOTE: The OFFICIAL Transcript(s) MUST BE RECEIVED if you are selected, and prior to receiving the firm offer with a start date.

Cover Letters are not mandatory and will not be used to verify experience but may be submitted.

Reference the Education Section for College Transcript and Evaluation of Foreign Education.

Do not upload password-protected documents.

Applicants selected for employment who are not current DOL employees will be required to provide proof of citizenship, and the E-Verify system will be used to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

- your performance and conduct;
- the needs and interests of the agency;
- whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
- whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Next steps