Job opening: Program Assistant
Salary: $39 576 - 57 354 per year
Published at: Mar 06 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
This position is located in U.S, Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Pennsylvania State Office.
The purpose of the work is to provide Farm Bill administrative and technical program support evaluating and ensuring the efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity of Farm Bill contracts, applications, payments, and other technical service requirements.
Duties
Tracks Farm Bill contracts and technical service provider projects.
Use agency-specific software program to enter contract data and prepare reports.
Assist staff with planning workload by developing customer files and attributing land base in customer service toolkit.
Assist with securing information from appropriate staff members and assuring that activities are properly tracked, documented, and recorded or filed.
Schedule regular visits to field offices and develops a quality review process for use by field offices to assist landowners.
Requirements
- You must be a US Citizen or US National.
- Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
- Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. If selected you will be sent instructions on obtaining fingerprints. Please note we are not able to reimburse any fees incurred for fingerprints.
- Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
- Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
- Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/.
- Must possess and maintain a valid state motor vehicle operator's license for the type of vehicle(s) operated to perform the duties of this position.
Qualifications
Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience and/or education for the respective grade level(s) in which you are applying:
Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes [insert examples of specialized experience]. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-04).
Tracking and filing contracts or other business and financial information;
Reviewing paperwork to ensure documents are complete; AND
Utilizing computers and software to create and generate reports.
OR
Education: Four years of education above the high school level obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university.
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of education beyond two years (total semester hours minus 60) by 60. Add the two percentages.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS for the GS-06: To be considered minimally qualified for this position, you must demonstrate that you have the required specialized experience for the respective grade level in which you are applying.
Specialized Experience: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service that included:
Tracking and filing contracts or other business and financial information;
Reviewing requests for payments and verifying payment documents;
Reviewing paperwork to ensure documents are complete;
Utilizing computers and software to create and generate reports; AND
Drafting a variety of documents to include correspondence, bulletins, and instructional materials.
(Your resume must CLEARLY demonstrate this experience)
IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).
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; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
The OPM Qualification Standards for this position can be found at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=List-by-Occupational-Series
This position may be eligible for telework within the local commuting area of the position and other flexible work arrangements. Other flexibilities are possible dependent upon availability and/or the position and its associated duties. Employee participation is at the discretion of the supervisor.
If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied nor guaranteed.
Education
You must submit a copy of your college transcripts or a list of college courses with credit hours, dates completed, and grades received to verify all education requirements (i.e. substitution of education and/or basic education requirement). If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g. special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Please note that qualifications determinations are based solely on the information submitted for each particular vacancy announcement. You must document all requirements on every vacancy; we cannot use previous determinations as a basis for rating. All required information must be received by the closing date of this announcement, and non-submission of all required documents/documentation will result in non-consideration. Unofficial transcripts will be accepted. This information must be received by the closing date of this announcement. Non-submission of these documents will result in non-consideration. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications.
Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit:
https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html
Contacts
- Address Natural Resources Conservation Service
1400 Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20250
US
- Name: Midwest Services Branch
- Phone: 8164265706
- Email: [email protected]
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