The position is located at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, West Los Angeles, California, in the Office of Communications and External Affairs. The primary purpose of the position is to provide public affairs communication functions for the organization. The goal of the position is to increase internal & external awareness of VA national programs, services, special events and projects, social media, internet and website content, technologies, personnel, and research accomplishments.

Duties

Duties include but are not limited to: Serves as a facility spokesperson advisor for the facility including responding in writing and orally to questions about criticism of the agencies activities or policies. Handles communication efforts when controversial and high-level issues impact the VA, at times during a crisis and emergency situations. Creates, plans, and executes special events, coordinates high profile visits, and supports outreach efforts for Veterans not enrolled in the VA healthcare system. Develops budgets, writes issue briefs, directs, and manages activities of supporting staff and contractors. Serves as a member of GLA's internet website, content and design management Web Team. Responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of social media engagement strategies, policies and plans integrated within existing communication campaigns supporting VA's mission to better serve Veterans. The incumbent utilizes the existing social media framework, and may propose new methods, to position GLA as a strong community partner. Tracks, measures, and analyzes social media performance goals. Monitors activity and makes recommendations based on strategy and trends. Works with internal groups to ensure social media activities are consistent with internal procedures while supporting their efforts. Evaluates information from a variety of sources and provides constructive feedback to senior management regarding public affairs trends and stakeholder attitudes to assess program effectiveness and make improvements. Supports GLA's internal information program with responsibility for informing all employees about departmental, facility and community activities and news. Supports and organizes employee dialogue sessions throughout the healthcare system. Makes news and feature article assignments to writers and reviews and edits copy upon completion; reviews photographs and artwork for quality and composition and selects the most newsworthy for inclusion in the installation's newsletter. Reviews page layouts for weekly editions of the paper assuring that copy is prepared properly for type of composition required by the printer. Works cooperatively with contracted printer, overseeing layout, and approving final copy prior to printing. Assist personnel assigned to the newsletter as reporters, writers, editors, photographers, and illustrators. Incumbent serves as the content manager and design manager of GLA's internet website and SharePoint site. Incumbent will coordinate information from all levels of GLA staff to be placed on the GLA Intranet or SharePoint site determining overall design and structure. Graphics will be produced using professional graphics and photo authoring software. Incumbent will monitor functionality and integrity of Intranet and SharePoint services; coordinating efforts with IT staff to troubleshoot and resolve technical problems with the delivery of information. collecting and analyzing Intranet services usage and performance statistics; evaluating new internet services and technologies; providing technical advice to internet content providers and GLA leadership; and remaining abreast of the rigorous applications of information security/information assurance policies, principles and practices in the delivery of Intranet services. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday from 8:00am-4:30pm 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. Position Description/PD#: Public Affairs Specialist/PD11288O Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/26/2023. 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-09. 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Assisting with public affairs and social media tactics, techniques, procedures and effective courses of action to support and amplify mission and organizational objectives; Working knowledge of how to properly upload content to social media, intranet and Sharepoints to include use of metadata and marketing to appropriate audiences; Incorporating knowledge of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to publicize facility activities; and Organizing and coordinating print and broadcast media interviews with staff members, and overseeing all arrangements with the media involving organization activities. 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 an LL.M. if related. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience experience (less than one year equivalent to the GS-9 level or pay band in the Federal Service) and successfully completed graduate level education (more than 2 years but less than 3 years). To compute, first determine your total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determine your education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for that grade level. Only graduate education beyond the second year may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-11. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications and MediaMining EngineeringMultimedia TechnologiesWriting 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 primarily sedentary with some minor physical activity during information gathering visits. Assignments regularly involve extended periods of walking, standing, bending, and stooping to execute logistics for special events or to accompany media crews or other special groups. Incumbent is also required to regularly pick up at least ·15 pounds such as boxes of newspapers and other literature, and to push carts of supplies. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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 Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System 11301 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90073 US
• Name: Hugo Lopez
• Phone: (858) 552-8585 X7748
• Email: [email protected]