The VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System is recruiting for a Public Affairs Specialist. The Public Affairs Specialist will function in Communications & External Affairs Service. The Public Affairs Specialist will be expected to independently plan, coordinate, and execute work related to public affairs and communication activities.

Duties

The Public Affairs Specialist duties include, but are not limited to: Establish and maintain proactive contacts with media outlets, veteran service organizations, and healthcare affiliates. Pitch and place stories with media outlets. Establish and maintain good working relationships with local media representatives in publicizing various medical, research, and human interest activities within the VANEOHS region. Responsible for independently writing and editing news releases, media advisories, public service announcements, and fact sheets for the local and national news media. Write and edit news releases and articles about medical, research and scientific issues. Research appropriate historical, technical and factual information of all materials to ensure accuracy. Coordinate media interviews with subject matter experts or program directors within the healthcare system, as well as patients or volunteers, providing technical guidance and assistance as needed. Assist with media events. Provide onsite public relations coverage. Serve as editor or backup editor of the VANEOHS Weekly Update and other publications to include gathering articles, editing content, writing articles for the publication, taking photographs, gathering items of interest and designing/formatting the newsletter. Participate in execution of an internal public affairs program designed to enhance employee knowledge of and pride in the healthcare system. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday; 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: Ad hoc Schedule Available; 1-2 days per pay period Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Public Affairs Specialist/PD93073A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

In order to qualify for this position, you must meet the following requirements within 15 calendar days of the closing date listed on the announcement: 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. Applicants must be eligible under the VA Interchange Agreement, having served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system under this interchange agreement. For more information regarding the VA Interchange Agreement please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/. All Title 38 Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) employees must have served in their Excepted Service position for at least 90 days in order to be eligible for a position within the Competitive Service. Applicants who were previously selected under a Competitive Delegating Examining Office (DEO) announcement must have served in their position for at least 90 days prior to being eligible for other positions within the Competitive Service. 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 include but are not limited to: Ability to develop new ways of gathering input from a variety of individuals and groups, ability to independently plan and carry out assignments in conformance with accepted policies and practices, ability to research, coordinate and conduct interviews with subject matter experts, ability to write content, edit and format text from other sources, ability to support and guide implementation of innovative web information dissemination solutions, ability to incorporate other media resources to provide information via the Intranet, including streaming video, and skill in presenting information on a wide variety of subjects using the full array of written and oral presentation formats and techniques. OR Education: Applicants must possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have combination of specialized experience and education as described above. Combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience may be used to meet total qualification requirements. This may be computed by first determining the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the applicant's 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 in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at the GS-11. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Communications and Media Creative Thinking Decision Making External Awareness Interpersonal Skills Critical Thinking 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: The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion such as long visits to outdoor sites which expose the public affairs specialist to inclement weather or require movement over rough or uneven surfaces in natural or industrial settings. Work requires specific, but common physical characteristics such as above average resistance to fatigue. 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 VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System 10701 East Boulevard Cleveland, OH 44106 US
• Name: Karrie Kole
• Phone: (269)873-3563
• Email: [email protected]