Summary
The ideal candidate will have experience writing, editing and publishing communications for a wide variety of audiences.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
This position is announced under FEMA's Excepted Service, Stafford Act Hiring Authority for a full-time Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) appointment. After three years of continuous service, CORE employees earn competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA. Veterans Preference does not apply to the CORE selection process.
Duties
What will I do in this position if hired?
In this Writer/Editor position, you will writer and editor of Region 4, Regional Offices.
Typical assignments include:
- Drafting and editing talking points, speeches, letters, presentations, fact sheets and other written products about FEMA programs.
- Assisting with content development, generating ideas and strategic messaging themes to support communications objectives.
- Assisting with researching, writing, editing and coordination informational materials designed to reach diverse audiences on a variety of topics.
- Assisting in designing proactive strategies to educate stakeholders on agency mission and programs.
What else do I need to know?
At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
This announcement is for a position as a CORE (Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee). CORE employees are full-time employees hired to directly support the response and recovery efforts related to disasters. Employees are hired under the Robert T. Stafford Act and are excluded from the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing jobs in the competitive service. They can be hired under a streamlined process instead of a competitive process. After three years of continuous service, Stafford Act employees may be granted competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA.
This position will be hired into a temporary 4-year, excepted service appointment. Appointments may be renewed based on workload, funding, and supervisory approval.
This position has promotion potential to the IC-11. Promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, successful performance review displaying at least one year of experience at the lower grade, the continuing need for an employee assigned to the higher level, and management approval.
FEMA is committed to ensuring that its workforce reflects the diversity of the nation. At FEMA, our workforce includes the many identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, ages, cultures, and beliefs of the people we serve. To learn about FEMA's ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, reasonable accommodation process, and the FEMA Core Values, please visit www.fema.gov.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Public Trust as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs, please visit OPM Investigations.
Conditions of Employment:
- You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
- You must successfully pass a background investigation.
- Selective Service registration required.
- You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
- You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
- Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.
Qualifications
All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
To qualify for this Writer/Editor position at the IC-09 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-07 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:
- Writing and editing news releases, talking points, speeches, presentations, fact sheets and other written products for varied audiences;
- Editing manuals and plans prepared by leadership; and
- Researching and developing responses and informational products for a variety of audiences.
OR
master's or equivalent graduate degree
OR
2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree
OR
LL.B. or J.D., if related
To qualify for this Writer/Editor position at the IC-11 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IC-09 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:
- Developing communication plans and projects for a technical and non-technical audiences;
- Developing proactive strategies to educate stakeholders on programs or agency mission; and
- Preparing and presenting agency information publicly through a variety of media.
OR
Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree
OR
3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree
OR
LL.M., if related
Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:
- Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
- Please limit your resume to five pages. If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
- Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.
Are you qualifying based on your work experience?
- Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
- Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
- Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."
- 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
- For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards
Education
Education substitution: This position permits applicants to qualify based on education (or a combination of education and experience), as outlined in the "requirements" section. If you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) with your online application. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts.
Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. Visit the Department of Education's Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information.
Benefits
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
We will review your resume, supporting documentation, and your responses to the occupational questionnaire to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements listed in the announcement. If you are qualified, you may be referred to a hiring manager for consideration.
Interview Requirement. Interviews may be required for this position. Failure to complete the interview may result in removal from further consideration.
We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process. To preview, please review: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12643479.
Required Documents
Do not include photos, personally identifying information (PII) (including birthday and social security numbers), or personal information such as age, gender, medical history, etc. Resumes that include any of this information will be ineligible for further review.
- Your resume. Please limit your resume to five pages. If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications. For resume writing guidance, please review the requirements section of this announcement or visit the USAJobs Resource Center.
- Your responses to the job questionnaire. You will be directed to the online job questionnaire once you begin the application process for this position.
- Are you a current or former federal employee? This position does not have any competitive eligibility requirements. However, you will need to submit a Standard Form (SF)-50, Notification of Personnel Action, which demonstrates your current/highest grade level. Examples of appropriate SF-50s include promotions, within-grade increases and accessions. Award SF-50's will not be accepted.
- Are you qualifying based on education? Submit a copy of your college transcripts (unofficial are acceptable) from accredited institutions. Once selected and prior to appointment, applicants must provide official college transcripts.
It is your responsibility to verify that any information entered or uploaded is received and is accurate. Determining your eligibility and qualifications is dependent on the supporting documentation and information provided, which may impact your referral for further consideration. If a document is not legible, Human Resources will not be able to view it in your application.
All application materials, including transcripts, must be in English.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from
schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
How to Apply
To apply for this position, you must complete the online application and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section above by 11:59pm (EST) on 12/24/2024.
Please note that this announcement may close sooner than the published close date if the application limit is reached.
- To begin, click the "Apply Online" button on the job announcement posting.
- Follow the directions to register or login if you have an existing account.
- Submit all required documents and complete the assessment questionnaire.
- Upon completion of your application, you will receive an acknowledgement email.
Incentives may be offered depending on funding availability, the difficulty of positions to fill, and qualifications of applicants
If you have questions about this announcement or the application process, please contact the Human Resources Specialist listed in the Agency Contact Information prior to the close of the announcement.
An employee, job applicant, or an individual acting on behalf of the employee, may request a Reasonable Accommodation by emailing fema-ocr-ra@fema.dhs.gov with "time sensitive" in the subject line.
To review the common definitions of terms found in this announcement, please visit the DHS Common Definitions page.
To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed.
To view the announcement status or your application status: Review your job status on your Application Dashboard. Your application dashboard is where you can view your application status and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application
Next steps
If you are found qualified, you may be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration. The hiring manager will review the list of qualified candidates and may conduct interviews of some candidates. Failure to complete the interview may result in removal from consideration.
If you are selected, you will be notified by phone or email with a tentative job offer. If you fail to respond, fail to meet the conditions of employment, or fail any other pre-employment requirements (such as the background investigation), we may rescind a tentative job offer.
For information on the Federal employment application process, please visit the USA Jobs Help Center. Any offers of employment made pursuant to this announcement will be consistent with all applicable authorities, including Presidential Memoranda, Executive Orders, interpretive U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance and U.S. Office of Management and Budget plans and policies concerning hiring. These authorities are subject to change.
The OPM must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.