Clarification from the agency

MARAD Government-wide employees with competitive status only.

As a Supervisory Academic Counseling Specialist, you will:

• 1. Program Leadership and Management - Plan, organize, and direct the activities of the Academic Center for Excellence, ensuring compliance with regulations and alignment with institutional goals. Develops and implements policies, objectives, and strategies to enhance academic support services and achieve organizational priorities.
• 2. Strategic Planning and Program Evaluation - Advise senior leadership (Academic Dean and Provost) on all aspects of the Center’s programs, assesses program strengths and weaknesses, and identifies opportunities for operational improvement. Monitors, evaluates, and adjusts programs to meet evolving academic and student needs.
• 3. Supervision and Collaboration - Provide leadership and direction to staff, ensuring work is collaborative, efficient, and integrated with other departments. Promotes cross-divisional coordination and ensures staff are well-trained and adhere to established policies and procedures.
• 4. Policy Development and Representation - Develop and interpret authoritative policy guidance, conducts research on complex academic or policy issues, and represents the Center in meetings with high-level officials and external organizations. Negotiates agreements, presents program assessments, and influences implementation of institutional or agency-wide initiatives.

The ideal candidate for this position will be a professional with proven experience providing leadership and development of a comprehensive academic counseling program, which involves counseling and advisement to students who are having academic difficulties, creating plans for academic success, and acting as a liaison between students, faculty, and coaches to ensure students reach their full scholastic potential.

Conditions of employment

• Must meet specialized experience stated in Qualifications section
• Submit application and resume online by 11:59 PM EST on the closing date
• Required documents must be submitted by the closing date.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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 the 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 probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

• SELECTIVE SERVICE: Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for the Selective Service.
• PROBATIONARY PERIOD: You must complete a one-year probationary period (unless already completed).
• TIME-IN-GRADE: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade in the competitive or excepted service in the executive branch to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions contained in 5 CFR 300, Subpart F.

Qualifications

To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, you must (1) meet the Education Requirement for the series, (2) provide a copy of transcripts for verification, AND (3) meet either the education or experience qualifications for the grade at which you are requesting consideration.

To qualify for the GS-14, you must have at least one year of experience equal or equivalent to the GS-13, it must include:

• Experience directing and overseeing academic advising or student support services, assessing program effectiveness, ensuring compliance with institutional policies, and advising senior leadership on strategies to enhance academic performance and retention.
• Experience formulating and applying academic or student support policies, leading cross-departmental initiatives, and representing the organization in meetings to influence program direction and improve institutional effectiveness.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (KSAs): Your qualifications will be evaluated on the basis of your level of knowledge, skills, abilities and/or competencies in the following areas:

• Leadership – Influences, motivates, and challenges others adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations.
• Program Management - Plans, organizes, and manages resources for achieve specific goals.
• Oral and Written Communications – expresses information effectively to individuals or groups.  Writes in a clear, concise, organized, and convincing manner.

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.

For additional information about applying to Federal positions, please click on the following link:  https://www.opm.gov/frequently-asked-questions/employment-faq/federal-hiring/how-do-i-apply-for-federal-jobs/

All applicants must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE: PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume/ application does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s). Your resume must contain sufficiently detailed information upon which to make a qualification determination. Please ensure that your resume contains specific information such as position titles, beginning and ending dates of employment for each position, average number of hours worked per week, and if the position is/was in the Federal government, you should provide the position series and grade level. 

Eligible Federal employees also seeking consideration for noncompetitive reassignment for this position, must indicate interest in the assessment. Noncompetitive federal candidates must have competitive status on a SF-50, meet minimum qualifications, have served at the same grade or higher, and held or exceeded the promotion potential of this position.

Your application will be reviewed in two phases determine how you move forward in the hiring process.  Phase I: Your resume will be reviewed to determine your technical qualifications for this position based on the required specialized experience. ONLY two (2) pages of your resume will be reviewed. Additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume) will not be reviewed.  Applicants passing “Phase I” will move on to the “Phase II” of the assessment process where your application will be reviewed and rated based on the KSAs/Competencies listed in the vacancy announcement by a Subject Matter Expert (SME).

• your most recent performance appraisal,
• the proof of eligibility letter from the Agency, and
• your most current SF-50, displaying current series and grade. 
• YOU MUST SUBMIT ALL 3 documents and meet the well qualified standards for this vacancy (meeting minimum requirements for position and scoring at least an 80) to be considered under CTAP.

Displaced employees may be eligible for CTAP priority consideration. For more information, please review the OPM Employee's Guide to Career Transition.

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 and ensure you have submitted all appropriate documents.  Uploading documents to USAJobs does NOT ensure inclusion with your application to our system.

 

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