Summary
This position is located in the Office of Student Experience and Aid Delivery, Product Management, Design and Delivery Directorate, Customer Outreach Division and is responsible for content creation and management; in-person outreach efforts; and digital communications, along with engagement campaigns.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
This announcement is open to current U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid employees. This is an excepted service position. This position is not in the competitive service and grants no eligibility to move to the competitive service.
Duties
As a Writer Editor, AD-1082-00, GS-12 equivalent you will be responsible for:
- Writing, updating, or reviewing content to reflect changes in law or regulations or as a response to customer feedback, analytics data, writer recommendations, or other internal/external recommendations.
- Reviewing user research, customer feedback, internal and external recommendations, website best practices and overall content strategy, and analytics data in order to inform content planning and strategy.
- Managing development of assigned content, including planning/managing the publication schedule for resources and website content.
- Following established procedures for the design, delivery, and posting of content as appropriate.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Must be a US Citizen
- Males 18 and over must be registered with the Selective Service.
- May be required to successfully complete a two-year trial period.
- Must be determined suitable for federal employment.
- This position is eligible for telework.
- This position is considered non-essential for purposes of reporting to work during federal government closures.
- This position does not require financial disclosure.
- This position is included in the bargaining unit (American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252).
Qualifications
ALL QUALIFICATIONS MUST BE MET BY THE CLOSING DATE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: All applicants must meet the qualification requirements outlined below to be considered minimally qualified for this position. The qualification requirements are in accordance with the OPM Qualification Standards.
Specialized experience for the AD-1082-00, GS-12 equivalent is demonstrated by performing one year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in at least two (2) of the following three (3) duties or work assignments:
- Experience writing about Title IV federal student aid programs, policies, and processes.
- Experience developing written materials on higher education for a variety of audiences in plain English.
- Experience writing and editing website content following best practices for writing for the web.
Writing Samples: Writing samples may be requested of the candidates who are selected for interviews. Candidates will be asked to provide any representative legal memo, administrative action notice, compliance report, white paper, or similar document (not to exceed 10 pages) that demonstrates writing style and analytical ability in articulating legal requirements and their applicability to the matter at issue. The sample should be written entirely by the candidate, light editing by others, if any. This will be considered as part of the overall candidate assessment.
We strongly recommend you send a Cover Letter highlighting your relevant skills and experience, describing your interest in enforcement issues generally and pertaining to higher education such as Title IV compliance or investigative work, misrepresentations or misconduct by higher education institutions, borrower defense, or Title IV administration specifically (if applicable), and explaining how your professional experiences relate to the qualifications listed above.
Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service program (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.
Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. You must include months, years and hours per week worked to receive credit for your work and/or volunteer experience.
For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected.
Education
Education cannot be substituted for experience for this position and grade level.
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.
FSA is a great place to work. We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including paid vacation and sick leave, federal holidays, health and life insurance, and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), including the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). As an FSA employee, you will also benefit from our family-friendly work environment. As part of our commitment to maintain a productive balance between work and home, we offer excused leave for Parent/Teacher Conferences (3 hours); excused leave for annual health screenings (4 hours); and matching leave for community volunteer service. Other flexibilities that may be available to you, may include teleworking and alternative work schedules.
For more information about the many benefits available to Federal employees, please visit: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/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 use a multi-step process to review and evaluate applicants:
1. Eligibility and Minimum Qualifications: Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will review your submitted resume and documents to determine if you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, including any required education, experience, and/or selective placement factors. You will be rated as ineligible if you are outside of the area of consideration (i.e., who may apply) or your application is missing any required documents. You will be rated as not qualified if you do not possess the minimum qualification requirements.
2. Rating and Ranking: If you are found to meet both the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements, we will assess the quality of your experience and the extent to which you possess the required competencies by comparing your submitted resume and documents against your responses to the assessment questionnaire. Your application may be referred to a subject matter expert or panel of subject matter experts for further evaluation. Based on the outcome of this evaluation, you will be placed into one of three categories: Best Qualified, Well Qualified, or Qualified. Best qualified candidates will be referred if all required supporting documentation has been provided. If your responses to the assessment questionnaire are not substantiated by your submitted resume, you may be eliminated from receiving further consideration.
Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your responses to the online assessments completed during the application process. You will be assessed on the following Competencies (see The OPM Website for definitions):
- Writing
- Problem Solving
- Planning and Evaluating
- Standards
Application of Veterans' Preference: Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles will be ranked ahead of qualified non-preference eligibles within each category for which they are qualified. Qualified veterans’ preference eligibles with a compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more (CPS and CP) will be placed at the top of the Best Qualified category, except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-9 grade level or higher.
3. Referral and Selection: If you are referred to the selecting official, you may receive an invitation to participate in a structured interview, check your references, and request that you submit a writing sample or complete a written assessment or exercise to further evaluate your qualifications for this position. You may preview questions for this vacancy.
Required Documents
A complete application package includes a resume, required documents and completion of the vacancy announcement questionnaire. Please see this guidance: What to include in your resume (https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/application/documents/resume/what-to-include/)
1. At a minimum, your resume must indicate: job title(s) (include job series and grade, if federal); duties description; education; starting and ending dates (month and year); and either full-time or hours worked per week. If a part- time work schedule is reflected, the hours must be annotated to ensure proper crediting of specialized experience. If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade. We recommend using the USAJobs Resume Builder to ensure you do not miss any information; however, it is not required. Your resume should describe your specialized experience and support your answers to the vacancy announcement questionnaire.
2. Veteran's documentation: If you are requesting consideration under Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) or Veterans Readjustment Act (VRA) you must submit the Member 4 copy of your DD-214 stating disposition of discharge or character of service or other valid proof of eligibility (i.e., statement of service that shows service dates AND character of service) and/or any other required supporting documents (VA Letter). http://www.opm.gov/staffingPortal/Vetguide.asp#VeteransEmploymentAct1998
Active Duty Service Members: You must submit a statement of discharge/certification of release or an official written document from the armed forces that certifies you are expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions no later than 120 days from the date the announcement closes. Enlisted Record Briefs and military identification do NOT qualify as official documentation. If the appropriate information is not submitted to confirm the discharge status, dates of service, etc., you will not be considered for this job opportunity under Veteran Preference procedures. To gain access to your DD-214 online please visit http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records (http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records)
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
Step 1: Create a USAJOBS account (if you do not already have one) at www.usajobs.gov.
Step 2: If desired, create a resume using the USAJOBS resume builder. Ensure that your resume demonstrates your education, experience, training, and accomplishments as it relates to the qualifications for this position and substantiates your responses to the assessment questionnaire.
Click here for USAJobs Help with "How to create an application"
Step 3: Upload any required documents into your USAJOBS account (must be less than 3MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, or Word (DOC or DOCX)).
Step 4: Click "Apply Online" and follow the prompts to complete the assessment questionnaire and attach any required documents. Verify that uploaded documents from USAJOBS transfer into the agency's hiring system. You will have the opportunity to upload any additional required documents in the agency's hiring system. Click “Finish” to submit your application.
NOTE: You may update your application or required documents at any time while the announcement is open by logging into your USAJOBS account, clicking on "Application Status," clicking on the position title, clicking "Update Application,” and following the prompts.
In order to receive consideration for this position, you must submit your complete application, including all required documents, by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on the closing date of the vacancy announcement. If the vacancy announcement has an application limit, we recommend that you submit your complete application at the time of initial application. We will not accept any required documentation after the closing date of the vacancy announcement.
Next steps
As an applicant, you may check your application status through your USAJOBS account at any time. We will also notify you via email of your application status at three key stages in the recruitment process.
- Once the vacancy announcement closes, we will inform you that your application has been received.
- After we review your submitted resume and supporting documentation, we will inform you if you are eligible and qualified, if your application was referred to a subject matter expert or panel of subject matter experts for further evaluation, and if you were amongst the most highly qualified candidates referred to the selecting official.
- Finally, we will inform you if and when a selection is made.
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