Program Specialist

Position description

NOTE: This is an Excepted Service position and does not confer eligibility to be converted to the Competitive Service.

This is a Term Appointment Not-to-Exceed 5 Years but maybe extended.

This announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.

The position is located in the Economic and Social Section (ECOSOC), U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN), Department of State (DOS).  The USUN serves as the United States’ delegation to the United Nations and as such is responsible for carrying out the nation’s participation in the world body. USUN staff represent the United States’ political, economic and social, legal, military, public diplomacy and management interests at the United Nations. The Mission divides these interests into several sections to administer programs and activities. The Economic and Social Affairs Office section, led by the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, ensures support and coverage of humanitarian, human rights, economic, and environmental priorities that are vital to Mission goals and objectives.

The incumbent provides administrative and analytical support to the Economic and Social Affairs Ambassador and section senior leadership, primarily through review and examination of multiple incoming requests for particular program actions as well as assistance on implementation.

Responsibilities

• Ensures the smooth functioning of the Economic and Social Affairs Office by setting up and/or maintaining administrative mechanisms and systems, assisting with the program management, and overseeing general administrative support for the Ambassador and senior leadership. 
• Analyzes and evaluates special projects and works closely with the Front Office to sync  priorities.  Researches and obtains background information for required actions through use of automated databases, historical files and review of previous or current studies/projects on related topics. 
• Reviews and examines incoming requests for Economic and Social Affairs Office action to ensure that taskings coming from the Front Office, including the Economic and Social Affairs Ambassador, are completed on time and meet quality standards. 
• Using personal computers and associated software, generates, compiles, and retrieves data and statistics on a range of functions for use by the section to ensure that all information requests from the Economic and Social Affairs Ambassador and Mission Leadership are answered immediately. 
• Uses various software programs to create, copy, edit, store, retrieve, and provide to senior staff a variety of reports; draft routine correspondence; prepares a variety of other written documents in draft or final form utilizing terminology common to the organization; and creates or maintains spreadsheets or databases in support of the organization.

Travel Required: Occasional Travel

Qualifications

Applicants must have the required experience or education as described below and meet any selective factors, when specified. All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. 

NOTE:

Applicants must meet time-in-grade requirements, by the closing date of this announcement.

Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F. All new employees to USUN (except Presidential and former USG employees who have served a trial period in the competitive service) are required to serve a one-year trial period. 

Applicants applying for the GG-09 grade level must meet one of the following requirements:

A) Have at least 1 full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service which provided you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following:

• Experience in setting up and maintaining administrative systems.
• Experience analyzing and evaluating special projects
• Experience in prioritizing taskings from management and mission officers. 

OR

B) 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. from an accredited college or university. This education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work of the position to be filled.

OR

C)Have a combination of graduate level education and specialized experience (as described above), which is equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal Service. This experience and education together meets100% of the qualification requirements for this position.

Combination of Experience and Education: When an applicant has less than one year of specialized experience as described in the announcement, he or she may combine successfully completed graduate-level education with experience to meet the total qualification requirements. Generally, 18 graduate semester hours is equivalent to 1 full time year of graduate study (your school and department determine what constitutes 1 full time year of graduate study). The percentage of specialized work experience and the percentage of graduate study must total at least 100%.

Note: All applicants WILL BE required to submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you may lose consideration for this position.

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 32 to 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.

Other Information

This position is an excepted service position covered by the United Nations Participation Act of 1945. Pursuant to the United Nations Participation Act, appointment to this position is made "without regard to the civil-service laws," which means that the selectee is not covered by many of the civil service laws that apply to civil service employees.

EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION PROGRAM (E-Verify) – U.S. law requires organizations to employ only individuals who may legally work in the United States - either U.S. citizens, or foreign citizens who have the necessary authorization. This agency utilizes E-Verify to compare information from the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm employment eligibility. If the employee’s information does not match DHS and/or SSA records, the employee is given an opportunity to resolve the problem. If eligibility cannot be verified, employment will be terminated.

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) and other characteristics that are relevant to the duties of this position and must be fully supported by information in your resume:

• Ability to prioritize
• Ability to correspond and assist with support to leadership
• Knowledge of automated databases and review of studies and projects on related topics
• Ability to research and prepare responses according to given subject
• Ability to sync and align Mission prioritizes with Ambassadors and management

Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations and must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable) as it relates to this job opportunity. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work. Your resume should include the dates of all qualifying experience (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours worked/volunteered per week.  

Applicants must meet all the qualification requirements and submit any supporting documentation by the closing date of this announcement. Your application package must contain sufficient information to make a valid determination that you fully meet the basic/specialized experience requirements as stated in this job opportunity announcement.

Conditions of Employment

1. Must be able to obtain and maintain a Top-Secret security clearance.
2. One-year probationary period, unless excepted by regulation
3. U.S. Citizenship is required.
4. Incumbent will be subject to random drug testing.
5. Verification of employment eligibility in the United States is required.

A career with the U.S. Government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.

Marketing: 

Fair & Transparent

The Federal hiring process is setup to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.

• Home | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (eeoc.gov)
• Worklife Division (sharepoint.com)  

Reasonable Accommodation Policy

Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process should follow the instructions in the job opportunity announcement. For any part of the remaining hiring process, applicants should contact the hiring agency directly. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

A reasonable accommodation is any change to a job, the work environment, or the way things are usually done that enables an individual with a disability to apply for a job, perform job duties or receive equal access to job benefits.

Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodations when:

• An applicant with a disability needs an accommodation to have an equal opportunity to apply for a job.
• An employee with a disability needs an accommodation to perform the essential job duties or to gain access to the workplace.
• An employee with a disability needs an accommodation to receive equal access to benefits, such as details, training, and office-sponsored events.

You can request a reasonable accommodation at any time during the application or hiring process or while on the job. Requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.

Learn more about Accessibility & Accommodations (OAA) (sharepoint.com)

Legal and regulatory guidance

·        Privacy Policy - United States Department of State

·        Welcome to The Privacy Office (A/GIS/PRV) (sharepoint.com)

·        False Signature on Contract: Everything You Need to Know (upcounsel.com)

·        Selective Service | USAGov

·        Probationary Period for New Federal Employees - FEDweek

Application instructions

All required documents listed below by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.

1. Resume showing relevant work/volunteer experience, education and training. Include the start and end dates (from month/year to month/year) and the number of hours per week worked/volunteered. Your resume serves as the basis for qualification determinations.
2. Transcripts, if applicable and you are qualifying based on education.  See the Qualification and Education sections of this announcement for more information. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment.
3. Current and recent eligible DOS employees (per 3 FAM 2313.4(a)(5)), including current employees applying under a non-competitive hiring authority, must submit a SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) that shows: effective date, position title, series, grade, salary, tenure, position occupied, full promotion potential, and name of agency to the following mailbox with your application: [email protected]
4. Current and recent eligible DOS employees are strongly encouraged to submit a copy of their most recent (i.e., usually within the last 18 months) final (i.e., not a mid-year review) official (i.e., signed by the rating official and in original format) annual performance appraisal for the hiring manager’s consideration. If a performance appraisal is not available, you may provide a statement and/or a statement from your supervisor explaining the reason one is not available and your servicing HR Office contact information (name, email address, phone number). Please send to the following mailbox with your application: [email protected]  

Note 1: You may be requested to provide an appraisal to the hiring official if one was not provided with your application.

Note 2: To receive a promotion, the employee’s most recent performance rating must be “fully successful” or an equivalent level or higher. Employees who are tentatively selected to receive a promotion will be required to provide performance documentation within two business days of request. Servicing HR Offices may be contacted to verify performance ratings.

Failure to provide all the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement

may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

Additional information

For reasonable accommodation at the U.S. Department of State, please contact the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations at (202) 663-3474 or [email protected]. 

If interested, please email your resume an any additional documents to [email protected].

Documents for request --- Please send all supporting documentation to [email protected]   and place Program Specialist, GG-301-09 (ECOSOC), in the subject line of the email.

• SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action
• Performance
• Appraisal Additional Documentation

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