You will serve as an Agriculturist or Education Specialist at the Professional Development Center (PDC). You will be responsible for designing, developing, delivering and evaluating emergency response training programs, scientific training programs, and other training and education programs for PPQ personnel, as well as other APHIS employees and partner Agencies.

Duties

The duties may include, but are not limited to: Provides guidelines, procedures, and expertise for the effective delivery of technical and scientific classroom training, maintains training records, and schedules training. Provides remedial assistance and/or builds prerequisite skills in students lacking the basic technical or scientific skills or knowledge necessary to master the areas of instruction. Delivers instruction for basic and advanced courses in the agricultural and regulatory enforcement sciences by lecturing and leading discussions using interactive training processes. Designs and implements end-of-course evaluation instruments. Utilizes the findings to assess course effectiveness and improve technical and scientific training programs. Reviews and revises the content of instructor guides to reflect the current policies and procedures, along with teaching and learning strategies appropriate to instruction. Plans, organizes, and completes work assignments independently or as a team member, within established time frames.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Individuals who were born male after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• 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 https://www.e-verify.gov/.
• All USDA employees are required to be enrolled in Continuous Vetting, which authorizes government agencies to receive notifications of criminal activity on individuals who hold low risk, public trust, or national security positions.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including time-in-grade restrictions, specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. TIME-IN-GRADE: Current federal employees applying for a promotion opportunity must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirement of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. BASIC REQUIREMENT: 0401 Series: Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. OR Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. 1701 Series: Degree: that included or was supplemented by major study in education or in a subject-matter field appropriate to the position. OR Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major in education, or in a subject-matter field appropriate to the position, plus appropriate experience or additional course work that provided knowledge comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of the 4-year course of study described above. FOR THE GS-12 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-11 level) that may have been obtained in the private or public (local, county, state, Federal) sectors which demonstrates: Experience enforcing agricultural regulations through inspection of agricultural commodities for import or export, overseeing fumigations of imported commodities, enforcing agricultural compliance, or overseeing pest survey operations. Experience communicating concepts related to agriculture regulation enforcement orally. Experience communicating biological or agricultural regulatory concepts to individuals, colleagues, management or groups of people. Note: There is no education substitution for this grade level. TRANSCRIPTS are required: This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. This education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college, or university 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.

Education

Please see above for education qualification requirement information.

Contacts

• Address Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service USDA APHIS MRPBS 250 Marquette Avenue, Suite 410 Minneapolis, MN 55401 US
• Name: MRP Human Resources
• Phone: 612-336-3227
• Email: [email protected]