Visual Information Specialist

Clarification from the agency

Open to Career/Career Conditional Employees Government-wide, including IRS and Non-IRS employees. Open to Treasury and IRS CTAP; Interagency ICTAP; Former Federal Employees with Reinstatement eligibility; Land & Base Management; Military Spouses; 30% or more disabled Veterans, Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA), Veterans' Recruitment Authority (for grades GS-11 & Below), Other Interchange Agreements, and Individuals with Disabilities Schedule A.

The following are the duties of this position at the full working level. If this vacancy includes more than one grade and you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and receive training to help you grow in this position.

• Consults with and provides assistance to managers, instructors, and functional employees related to the presentation of information through visual media within a host site
• Meets with executives and other professionals to present design concepts and techniques for use in high-level conferences, briefings, hearings, and IRS documents and publications
• Designs and produces original graphic material, develops new concepts, and incorporates current social trends or style standards. Demonstrates how published products in print and other media can be used to optimize quality or enhance communications to multiple market segments and affected stakeholders.
• Researches and determines the appropriate media, including computer hardware and software, for presenting information visually.

Conditions of employment

Qualifications

Federal experience is not required. Experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or through Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-timework 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.

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

BASIC REQUIREMENTS IOR: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- commercial art, fine arts, art history, industrial design, architecture, drafting, interior design, photography, visual communication, or other fields related to the position. Some positions may also require subject-matter knowledge of medicine, science, or technical equipment. Advanced training in a vocational school, technical institute, or art institute above the high school level in one of the fields listed above is creditable as general experience on a month-for-month basis.
OR
Experience: Experience in the actual type of work for which application is made. Unpaid experience is creditable, provided the work done was of a quality level and demonstrated the ability required for the position. This includes planning the preparation and use of photographs, illustrations, drawings, and other art work, charts, diagrams, dioramas, maps, slides, overlays, and other kinds of visual material for use in communicating information through visual means.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:
GS-7 Level: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-5 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: Experience in applying graphic design and print/electronic publishing processes using current versions of graphical software applications (in both Macintosh and Windows environments) such as Adobe Creative Suite (specifically InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator) to design and produce publications and web based designs; Experience using standard graphic design industry tools (such as color swatch books, photo libraries, image scanners and photocopiers) to develop products; Experience writing business style correspondence, such as writing narrative to explain and defend design proposals and responding to business correspondence inquires. Examples of qualifying work experience include: coordinating numerous design products/projects simultaneously and preparing them for printing (e.g., size of document, bleeds, color space, margins, fold guidelines, export PDF for printing). Independently and/or assisting others with the design, development, and execution of a wide collection of meeting/events/conference materials, exhibits, flyers, folded brochures, posters, websites, digital publications, multiple page publications (e.g., booklet, catalogue), and other campaigns involving multiple products.
OR
Superior Academic Achievement - A Bachelors degree, with one of the following: A GPA of 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all completed undergraduate courses or those completed in the last 2 years of study, or a GPA of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all courses in the major field of study or those courses in the major completed in the last 2 years of study, or rank in the upper one third of the class in the college, university, or major subdivision, or membership in a national scholastic honor society recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. Note: Grade point averages should be rounded to one decimal point. For example, 2.95 is rounded to 3.0, and 2.94 is rounded to 2.9. If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) was taken on a pass/fail or similar basis, your claim must be based on class standing or membership in an Honor Society.
OR
At least one (1) academic year of graduate education in a major field of study such as visual communication, commercial art, fine arts, art history, industrial design, architecture, drafting, interior design, photography, or other fields related to the position.
OR
A combination of qualifying education and experience equivalent to that described above.

Specialized experience for GS-9, GS-11 and GS-12 continued in Education and Additional Information Sections

AND

You must also meet the following requirement(s):

• PERFORMANCE RATING: Current federal employees must have at least a fully successful or equivalent performance rating to receive consideration.
• TIME AFTER COMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT (TACA): By the closing date (or if this is an open continuous announcement, by the cut-off date) specified in this job announcement, current civilian employees must have completed at least 90 days of federal civilian service since their latest non-temporary appointment from a competitive referral certificate, known as time after competitive appointment. For this requirement, a competitive appointment is one where you applied to and were appointed from an announcement open to "All US Citizens"
• TIME IN GRADE (TIG): Federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements. For positions above the GS-05,applicants must meet applicable time-in-­grade requirements to be considered eligible. One year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade level is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the grade you are applying for. For positions at the GS-05, you cannot advance to the GS-05 if you have held a GS-02 in the past 52 weeks. There is no TIG restriction for GS-02, 03, or 04 positions.

• MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT: Minimum age for federal employment is 18 years old, or at least 16 years old and have:
  • Graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or
  • Completed a formal vocational training program; or
  • Received a statement from school authorities agreeing with your preference for employment rather than continuing your education.

For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards.

How you will be evaluated

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

Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position. Applicants who disqualify themselves will not be evaluated further.

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

• Attention to Detail
• Business Results – Efficiency
• Business Results – Quality
• Current Business Operating Division (BOD) and Job Series
• Customer Satisfaction – Application
• Customer Satisfaction – Knowledge
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Employee Satisfaction - Employee Contribution
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Performance Appraisal
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Rating: Your application will be evaluated in accordance with the Service's Merit Promotion Plan. A quality group rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates. If qualified, you will be assigned to one of three quality level groups, Superior/Best Qualified, Highly Qualified and Qualified Category rating will be used to rank and select eligible candidates.


Referral: Eligible applicants rated in the highest quality group, may be referred to a selecting official for consideration.

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 receive a rating of Highly Qualified orbetter to be rated as "well qualified" to receive special selection priority.

If you are selected, you may be subject to all requirements listed in the Requirements, Qualifications, and Additional Information sections of this announcement which includes, Prior Employment/Tax Checks, Fingerprint/Criminal History checks.

Suitability Requirements:

• Prior IRS Employment - Former employees will be subject to a screening of their prior conduct with the Service. The Taxpayer First Act of 2019, 26 U.S. Code 7804, prohibits the IRS from rehiring certain former employees who were removed from service.
• Tax Check - Must undergo a review of income tax verification. To check the status of your tax record go to: (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript). If you are not in compliance, you will be determined unsuitable for employment with IRS.
• Fingerprint/Criminal History Check - This position requires that the successful candidate undergo personnel vetting, which includes a background investigation and enrollment upon onboarding into "Continuous Vetting." Enrollment in Continuous Vetting will result in automated record checks being conducted throughout one's employment with Treasury. The successful candidate will also be enrolled into FBI's Rap Back service, which will allow Treasury to receive notification from the FBI of criminal matters (e.g., arrests, charges, convictions) involving enrolled individuals in near real-time. For more information regarding your rights refer to Noncriminal Justice Applicant's Privacy Rights - FBI, FD-258 Privacy Act Statement - FBI, and SEAD-3-Reporting-U.pdf (dni.gov).

The following documents are required and must be provided with your application. All application materials, including transcripts, must be in English.
Incomplete or insufficient information may result in not being considered for the position, or not receiving special consideration for which you may be eligible. Please view Application Preparation or How to write a resume for federal job.

1. Resume (Failure to follow instructions, will result in not being considered.)

• Do:
  • Limit to two (2) pages. Recommend a standard 8.5x11-inch document size, a sans-serif font such as Arial or Calibri with a font size no smaller than 10-point, page margins of 0.5 inches. Applicants that attempt to circumvent the 2-page limit page limit, for example by materially reducing readability, will be deemed ineligible.
  • Include your full name.
  • Include relevant work experience - Employer Name, Job Title, Employment dates (start to end date or present), and a brief description of duties that clearly demonstrate your qualifications.
• Don't:
  • Include photographs, classified or sensitive information, SSN, encrypted/digitally signed documents, or other inappropriate content. Resumes containing prohibited information will be deemed ineligible.
  • Copy and paste duties or specialized experience from the job announcement, as this is not a demonstration of your experience.
• Additional Information:
• Pay plan, series, and grade (e.g., GS-0301-09) should be provided for all federal service jobs. Failure to do so could affect your qualification determination.
• To receive full credit for work experience, include number of hours worked per week and specific MM/DD/YYYY start and end dates for every position.
• Do not include personal information such as age, sex, religion, race, or disability.
• Do not include embedded links as they will not be opened or considered when determining qualifications.
• If you update and resubmit your application, only the most recent resume received will be considered to determine qualifications.

2. Education (if applicable) - Refer to Qualification and Education sections above for requirements

• Submit a copy of your transcript(s) or equivalent for positions with an education requirement, or if you are qualifying for this position based on education or training. An official transcript(s) will be required if you are selected.

3. Registration/License (if applicable) - Current, active registration/license

4. Performance Appraisal/Awards (required for current federal employees)?

• Submit the most recent completed annual performance appraisal.
• Submit copies of any incentive/performance awards received that may have an impact on the qualifications for the position to be filled.

5. Veteran or qualifying family members

• MUST submit a DD-214 (Member 4 copy), that shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your service which includes your rank, dates of service, character of service, and dates of impending separation.
• 10-point preference eligible - Submit an Application for 10-point Veteran Preference, SF-15, along with the required documentation listed on the back of the form if you are a 10-point preference eligible. For more information on claiming veterans' preference view here.
• Military Spouses - In addition to the documentation above you must also submit:
  • Verification of the marriage to the service member (i.e., a marriage license) AND
  • A copy of your spouse's active military orders OR Documentation of Service Connected Disability OR Death while on active duty (DD-1300/Death Certificate)

6. Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) (if applicable)

• Submit the required documentation as outlined under CTAP/ICTAP

7. IRS Reassignment Preference Program (RPP) (if applicable)

• Submit your RPP Notice and most recent performance appraisal.

8. Current and Former Federal Employees Documentation (if applicable)

• You MUST submit a copy of your most recent SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) (or equivalent) which shows your current grade and competitive service status, and Tenure.
• Provide an SF-50(s) (or equivalent) which demonstrates you meet the 52-week time-in-grade requirement (e.g., Promotion with an effective date more than one (1) year old, Within-Grade-Increase at the highest grade held).

9. Schedule A Appointing Authority for People with Certain Disabilities

• Submit a Disabilty Letter from your doctor or a licensed medical professional that proves your eligibility for Schedule A appointing authority.

Next steps

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