This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center (GVSMVAMC), Office of the Director, Public Affairs Office, Jackson, MS. The primary reason for this position is to provide full assistance in the administrative and technical responsibility for the planning, organizing, directing, the day-to-day operations of public affairs and medical media programs for the Health Care System and its Community Based Outpatient Clinics.

Duties

Serve as a spokesperson with news media, congressional offices, and veterans service organizations. Assist the Public Affairs Officer and Management in planning, developing and implementing various programs and projects to meet special needs of Veterans organizations, affiliated educational institutions, and other audiences that require public relations intervention. Produce feature stories for internal and external use to promote facility accomplishments, employee achievements, etc. Prepare, organize and/or coordinate internal Medical Center ceremonies and writes speeches for the Medical Center Director. Interacts with Top Management by attending management meetings to gain a clear understanding and develop a proactive position on potential public relations issues. Initiate Public Affairs correspondence, prepares information packages, plans/conducts tours and other related tasks for special visitors and dignitaries. Maintain liaison with Public Affairs staffs of related health and educational organizations, service, civic and fraternal organizations on behalf of the Medical Center to maintain goodwill and information, and facilitate joint projects, information gathering, and publicity. Coordinate news media interviews with staff, and oversees arrangements with media representatives involving organization activities: provides supporting materials as required. This position prepares a variety of written material, including news releases, news articles and other material. Gathers and receives verbal or written information and converts into material appropriate for a variety of publication venues. This position plans and executes information campaigns that disseminate results of successful projects in stimulating adoption of their impact or information disseminated. Generate solid relationships by keeping media informed, being responsive to their requests, obtaining resources for media on various issues and programs, and by otherwise creating goodwill. This position is covered by AFGE bargaining unit. Per the AFGE Master Agreement, the Area of Consideration will be: 1st Area of Consideration - Current Facility and CBOC employees; 2nd Area of Consideration - VA Nationwide applicants; 3rd Area of Consideration - Other Status candidates VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: HR Specialist Total Rewards Work Schedule: 8AM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday; subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Public Affairs Specialist/PD843190 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/26/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS 11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 9. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS 9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience managing, planning, developing, and implementing communications programs. Plans events, coordinates media interviews. Manages social media platforms coordinating day to day operations of a comprehensive public affairs program. Interacts with community agencies. Interacts with congressional representatives, media and the community. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a 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 (transcripts required). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond Graduate education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications and MediaCustomer ServiceOral Communication 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Work is usually performed sitting at a desk, in news conferences, briefings, meetings, etc., or riding in an automobile or public transportation. where Work is usually performed sitting at a desk, in news conferences, briefings, meetings, etc.; or riding in an automobile or public transportation. There may be occasional brief visits to industrial or construction sites, national parks or forests, military equipment test sites, etc.; however, no special physical demands are involved in performing the work. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address GV Sonny Montgomery VAMC 1500 East Woodrow Wilson Drive Jackson, MS 39216 US
• Name: April Hightower
• Phone: 228-337-7346
• Email: [email protected]