This position is located in the Farm Service Agency, Pennsylvania State Office, District 2, located in Whitehall, Marion County, West Virginia. Direct Hire Authority: This position is being filled through the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Direct Hire Authority for this occupation.

Duties

Assists the Farm Loan Chief, Farm Loan Branch specialists, Farm Loan Team managers, and District Directors on farm loan program procedural matters. Provides training to individuals and groups in the preparation and processing of loan documents and on loan procedural changes. Provides technical assistance to the Branch in processing bankruptcy and farm foreclosure cases.

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 instruction 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 https://www.e-verify.gov/.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements of the announcement including the following specialized experience and/or education, as identified. For the GS-5 level: Four years of education above high school in an accredited business, secretarial or technical, junior college, college or university in any field in which high school graduation or the equivalent is a prerequisite; OR Applicant must have one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-4 level in the Federal service or private sector equivalent applying office methods and procedures to provide clerical and limited technical support to any program; OR 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. For the GS-6 level: A half year (i.e., 9 semester hours) of graduate level education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: finance, business administration, economics, accounting, engineering, mathematics, banking and credit, law, statistics, or other fields related to the position, such as agriculture, agricultural economics, farm, livestock or ranch management, or rural sociology; OR Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-5 level in the Federal service or private sector equivalent applying office methods and procedures to provide clerical and limited technical support to process and service loans or agricultural programs; 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 the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 9. Add the two percentages. For the GS-7 level: One full academic year (18 Semester hours) of graduate education in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: finance, business administration, economics, accounting, engineering, mathematics, banking and credit, law, statistics, or other fields related to the position, such as agriculture, agricultural economics, farm, livestock or ranch management, or rural sociology; OR Applicant must have one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the GS-6 level in the Federal service or private sector equivalent applying office methods and procedures to provide clerical and limited technical support to independently perform a full range of farm loan program processes; 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 the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages. For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/Standards/group-stds/gs-admin.asp? 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

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

You must submit a copy of your transcripts to include course number, title, completion and grade. 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. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. 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.

Important: 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. Click on this link for more information.

Failure to provide all of the required documents/information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

Contacts

• Address Farm Service Agency 1400 Independence Ave SW Washington, DC 20250 US
• Name: Katya Bou-Sliman
• Email: [email protected]