This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Mid Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), VA Health Care System (HCS), in Salem, VA. This position reports to the Chief of Customer Service and works closely with the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) on communication activities, media inquiries, speech writing, editorial writing, features and news releases as well as design and photography and videography editing.

Duties

Major duties include, but are not limited to: Provides leadership and direction for the Public Affairs program in conjunction with the Public Affairs Officer at a VA Health Care System while displaying tact, common sense, diplomacy, initiative, and solid professional judgment. Establishes and maintains proactive contacts with media outlets, legislative offices, veteran service organizations, and health care affiliates. Advises Public Affairs Officer on development of media campaigns and communication plans and strategies. Evaluates information from a variety of sources and provides feedback to Public Affairs Officer on public affairs trends and stakeholder attitudes to assess program effectiveness and make improvements. Incumbent serves as alternate to medical center Public Affairs Officer spokesman for the facility. Responds in writing and orally to Veteran submitted Congressional complaints and liaison queries. Incumbent handles communication efforts when controversial, high-level issues impact the VA Health Care System, often during crisis and emergency situations. Serves as an alternate for the Public Officer under Hospital Incident Command System during disaster and crisis communications. Incumbent prepares communications, meets with media and confers with the medical center's incident command operations and the Public Affairs Officer. Assists with the planning and execution of special events, high profile visits, and supports outreach to Veterans not enrolled in the VA Health Care System. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:45am - 4:30pm Telework: Ad-Hoc at Supervisor discretion. Position Description/PD#: Public Affairs Specialist/PD023340 and PD023330 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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, 11/06/2023. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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 for GS-09: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of public relations programs in a healthcare environment; skill in writing and editing presentations for print, broadcast or electronic/social media; editing documents. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a 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. 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 level. Specialized Experience for GS-11: 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: Experience with public relations programs in a healthcare environment; skill in writing and editing complex presentations for print, broadcast or electronic/social media; editing documents; experience working with Congressional liaisons; experience gathering and packaging working documents for senior leadership. 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 three (3) full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related, that provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position. 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 level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications and MediaCustomer ServiceInterpersonal SkillsMultimedia TechnologiesObject TechnologyPlanning and EvaluatingProblem SolvingReasoningWriting 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 mostly sedentary, but incumbent will need to work from various locations and might require walking, bending, standing, carrying light items. Incumbent will be expected to participate in facility or service events and round with various facility staff members, Government representatives, and media on a regular basis. 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 Salem VA Medical Center 1970 Roanoke Boulevard Salem, VA 24153 US
• Name: Alician Lott
• Phone: 478-272-1210 X72908
• Email: [email protected]