Clarification from the agency

U.S. Citizens, Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP), Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP)

Initial Cut-off Date: This is an open continuous announcement in which applications are collected over several months, and have multiple cut-off dates. Applications will be considered throughout the open period of the announcement. ** The first cut-off date for early referral is January 16, 2026. ** Referral certificates will be issued when a hiring official exhausts current certificate and/or additional vacancies need to be filled.

The purpose of this position is to perform human-wildlife conflicts management in Shenandoah National Park. The incumbent performs as a field assistant to park biologists and a Lead Biological Technician to implement a human-wildlife conflict/ aversive conditioning program (primarily black bear). Major duties include:

• Educate the public about human/wildlife conflict to prevent wildlife habituation.
• Assess habituated or food-conditioned black bear and white-tailed deer behavior in developed areas.
• Perform basic aversive conditioning on habituated bears and deer throughout the park's developed areas.
• Basic aversive conditioning includes the ability to safely use air horns, paintball guns, and projectile noisemakers for the purposes of hazing primarily habituated black bear and deer.
• Conduct (or assist with) food-conditioned bear culvert-trapping and will assist with relocations.
• Assist with food-conditioned bear free-range capture work (including tagging and collaring).
• Live-trap nuisance raccoons and skunks.
• Conduct surveillance for potential chronic wasting disease (CWD) positive deer and conduct opportunistic CWD surveillance by sampling road-killed deer throughout the park.
• Maintain wildlife management equipment.
• Use standardized software for preliminary wildlife data entry, analysis, and summary.
• Report natural resource-related violations to law enforcement staff.
• May assist with other wildlife monitoring, forest pest management, peregrine falcon restoration work and park search and rescue operations.

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
• Direct Deposit: Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
• Driver's License: You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
• You may be required to complete training and operate a four-wheel drive vehicle.
• May require lifting/moving heavy materials/equipment.
• Government housing may be available.
• Uniform: You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
• Applicants must be at least (1)18 years old or (2) at least 16 years old and: (a) Have graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or (b) Have completed a formal vocational training program; or (c) Have received a statement from school authorities agreeing with their preference for employment rather than continuing their education; or (d) Be currently enrolled in a secondary school and either work only during school vacation periods or work part-time during the school year under a formal student employment program.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-03/06/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.

To qualify for this position at the GS-05 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: conducting wildlife inventory, monitoring, or management activities. GS-5 Level: conducting field surveys to document and assess mammal presence, abundance, reproduction, and/or population dynamics using established protocols and standard scientific equipment; conducting or assisting with nuisance black bear management culvert trapping and/or aversive conditioning; conducting white-tailed deer management in a professional work or research setting. You must include hours per week worked.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study or 24 semester hours of course work in a related field of scientific or technical study, such as biology, wildlife ecology, wildlife management, zoology, entomology, botany, animal husbandry, wildlife survey techniques, mammalogy, ornithology, dendrology, or natural resources management. At least 6 semester hours of courses must be in wildlife ecology, wildlife management, wildlife survey techniques, mammalogy, or wildlife biology (or other course work that is directly related to the specialized focus of this position - wildlife management). You must include transcripts.
-OR-
Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. NOTE: Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. For example, I have 6 months of the specialized experience described above (50% of the experience requirement), and 3 years (90 semester hours) of college study that included at least 12 semester hours of the required courses (50% of the qualifying education/coursework). The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

To qualify for this position at the GS-06 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: conducting field surveys in remote locations to document and assess mammal presence, abundance, reproduction, and/or population dynamics using established protocols and standard scientific equipment; conducting food-conditioned black bear culvert trapping (or free-range capture) and habituated black bear aversive conditioning; conducting white-tailed deer management including Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance/sampling in a professional work or research setting. You must include hours per week worked.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least one full year of graduate education in an accredited educational institution (18 semester hours) directly related to the work of the position such as biology, wildlife ecology, wildlife management, zoology, entomology, botany, animal husbandry, wildlife survey techniques, mammalogy, ornithology, dendrology, or natural resources management. You must include transcripts.
-OR-
Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. For example, I have 6 months of specialized experience (50% of the experience requirements for this position and grade level) combined with 9 semester hours of graduate education, (50% of the education required to qualify) directly related to this position. Examples of education directly related to the position are: biology, wildlife ecology, wildlife management, zoology, entomology, botany, animal husbandry, wildlife survey techniques, mammalogy, ornithology, dendrology, or natural resources management. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

To qualify for this position at the GS-07 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-06 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: leading crews managing wildlife inventory, monitoring, or management activities on mammals/wildlife; researching and compiling natural resource/wildlife data; conducting field surveys in remote locations to document and assess mammal presence, abundance, reproduction, and/or population dynamics using established protocols and standard scientific equipment; conducting food-conditioned black bear culvert trapping (or free-range capture) and habituated black bear aversive conditioning; conducting white-tailed deer management including Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance/sampling in a professional work or research setting; independently resolving problems; selecting the best course of action for planning and executing work; etc.. You must include hours per week worked.
-OR-
EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least one full year of graduate education in an accredited educational institution (18 semester hours) directly related to the work of the position such as biology, wildlife ecology, wildlife management, zoology, entomology, botany, animal husbandry, wildlife survey techniques, mammalogy, ornithology, dendrology, or natural resources management. You must include transcripts.
-OR-
Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. For example, I have 6 months of specialized experience (50% of the experience requirements for this position and grade level) combined with 9 semester hours of graduate education, (50% of the education required to qualify) directly related to this position. Examples of education directly related to the position are biology, wildlife ecology, wildlife management, zoology, entomology, botany, animal husbandry, wildlife survey techniques, mammalogy, ornithology, dendrology, or natural resources management. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must include transcripts.

Volunteer Experience: 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), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Assessment Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score will be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you can lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions can affect your rating.

Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. You may only submit one resume. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

• Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
• Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
• Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.

• Firearms
• Leadership
• Oral Communication
• Technology Application
• Wildlife Biology

The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 03/06/2026:

1. Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, dates specified in month and year format, and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade. Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. The minimum font size is 10-point for all body text. Headers may be slightly larger but must remain legible. All resumes must maintain a minimum 0.5-inch margins on all sides to ensure readability and prevent excessive content compression. Including supplemental pages or attachments disguised as resume extensions are prohibited and will not be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.
2. Complete All Required Assessments.
3. Other Supporting Documents, if applicable, such as:
   • Veterans Preference Documentation:
     • If you are a Discharged, Non-Disabled Veteran, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing character of discharge (Member 4 copy), or other Documentation of Service and Separation under Honorable Conditions, as listed on the SF15. If you don't have your DD-214, you may request it after discharge from the National Archives.
     • If you are a veteran within 120 days of discharge, you must submit signed documentation from the Armed Forces certifying: 1) your expected release/retirement from active duty, 2) under honorable conditions, 3) your pay grade/rank/rate at time of discharge, 4) dates of active duty service, 5) any campaign or expeditionary medals received, & 6) dated within 120 days of your separation.
     • If you are a Disabled Veteran, Purple Heart Recipient, or Mother or Spouse of a Disabled or Deceased Veteran, you must submit all additional proof required by the SF15, and if applicable, a completed SF15. You may request a copy of your Department of Veterans Affairs letter from www.ebenefits.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to establish proof of disability.
4. College transcripts, if qualifying based on education.
5. Documentation for Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan consideration if you are a displaced Federal employee within the local commuting area. You must include: 1) Proof you are a displaced Federal employee, e.g., RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc; 2) SF-50s (Notifications of Personnel Action) showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, promotion potential and duty location; and 3) your most recent performance appraisal. To exercise selection priority, displaced or surplus Federal employees must be rated well-qualified or above 85 on the rating criteria for this position.

Next steps