The primary purpose of this position is to perform work involved in establishing and maintaining mutual communication between the Southern Arizona Health Care System and the general public and various other pertinent publics including internal or external audiences.

Duties

Major duties include: Serves as spokesperson for the Medical Center, and as such is the point of contact for local and national media. Serves as the liaison for veterans' service organizations (VSO), congressional staffs, community groups, professional organizations, etc. Develops and provides staff direction involving all public information, internal communications, VSO liaison, and community relations activities. Represents the Medical Center director, participating at public, civic or social events to improve perception of the Medical Center as a valued part of the medical profession, government and community. Conducts special studies involving communications, organization and operation of Medical Center functions. Analyzes internal communication needs and develops publications or other information materials for staff, patients, volunteers and others who contribute to the Medical Center effectiveness and responsiveness. Works with staff and service chiefs in identifying their information needs and assisting them with the development and dissemination of appropriate materials. Advises and makes recommendations to the Medical Center director regarding the handling of media and community issue or concerns that have possible implications on the Medical Center. Evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of the public information programs for internal communications, media relations and community relations with the ultimate goal of achieving greater understanding of their facility's mission and programs. Plans, initiates and implements comprehensive public affairs activities to enhance the understanding of the Medical Center's programs among the general public and specialized groups and organizations. Establishes and maintains professional working relationships with representatives of the news media, responding in a timely fashion to information requests from the media in writing and orally to ensure the fair representation of the Medical Center. Provides expertise in planning and implementation of special events, ceremonies, open houses, tours and other activities conducted for the purpose of generating awareness of, and interest in the mission of the Medical Center and for public awareness. Prepares briefings and slide presentations for Veterans Affairs (VA) guests from regional and central offices as well as congressional staff, veterans' organizations and all other community representatives and groups. Performs other related duties as assigned. 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, 8:00am to 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Public Affairs Specialist/PD144850 and PD144100 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): 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, 12/26/2023. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. Preferred experience: Experience in coordinating/conducting outreach events and using effective written and oral communication skills. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: To qualify at the GS-11 grade level: 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. Specialized experience is experience in serving as a spokesperson for an organization, serving as a point of contact for local or national media, and responsibility within a public affairs program. Such responsibility may include developing public information and internal communications as well as organizing community relations activities. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have one of the following: 1) Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work, 2) Three full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work, or 3) A related LL.M. that demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond a Bachelor's degree. You can have a combination of specialized experience of less than one year, and some graduate level education but less than the amounts described above. You can compute the percentage of these requirements that you meet, and then determine if the total is at least 100%. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then determine your education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then add the two percentages.) To qualify at the GS-12 grade level: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is experience in the following: serving as the spokesperson for a large organization; serving as point of contact for local and national media; designing, executing and evaluating information programs that communicate agency policies, programs, and actions to pertinent publics; and establishing and maintaining mutual communication between an organization and the general public. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationInterpersonal SkillsOrganizational Awareness 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 generally sedentary with walking required during visits and tours of the Medical Center. Flexibility is required to accommodate events and activities occurring in other than normal duty hours. Mobility is required in terms of staging and assisting staff with equipment and other required materials. 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 the GS-12 grade level.

For the GS-11 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 Tucson VA Medical Center 3601 South Sixth Avenue Tucson, AZ 85723 US
• Name: Cherie Mennel
• Phone: 520-792-1450 X6213
• Email: [email protected]