Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist

The VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System is recruiting for a Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist. The Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist will function in the Communications and External Affairs Service. The incumbent reports to the Public Affairs Officer, who reports to the Chief, Communications and External Affairs, and represents the entire VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System Executive Leadership Team.

Qualifications:

In order to qualify for this position, you must meet the following requirements within 15 calendar days of the closing date listed on the announcement:

• 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. 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.
• Applicants must be eligible under the VA Interchange Agreement, having served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system under this interchange agreement. For more information regarding the VA Interchange Agreement please visit: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-authorities/competitive-hiring/.
• All Title 38 Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) employees must have served in their Excepted Service position for at least 90 days in order to be eligible for a position within the Competitive Service.
• Applicants who were previously selected under a Competitive Delegating Examining Office (DEO) announcement must have served in their position for at least 90 days prior to being eligible for other positions within the Competitive Service.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: ability to direct functions of the Public Affairs and Outreach Offices; knowledge of budget and fiscal information and human resource management; ability to participate in top management discussions, decisions, and policy making; ability to provide direction to other executives, managers, and assigned personnel; ability to provide input, advice, and counsel for total healthcare system communication planning, programming, budgeting and general administration; ability to perform work related to public affairs activities, such as coordinating media interviews, developing communications plans, coordinating agency information programs for internal and external audiences; knowledge of directing social media and internet information campaigns; ability to lead team in developing and implementing public affairs program strategies for highly visible agency programs and implements community, public affairs, outreach and special event programs and knowledge of formulating policy and operating procedures, ensuring compliance with VA regulations, statues, and the standards and requirements of various internal and external review bodies.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Communications and Media
• Conflict Management
• Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Creative Thinking
• Decision Making
• External Awareness
• Leadership

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: The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion such as long visits to outdoor sites in parks or forests which expose the public affairs specialist to inclement weather or require movement over rough or uneven surfaces in natural or industrial settings. Work requires specific, but common physical characteristics such as above average resistance to fatigue.

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/.

Salary : $86,520 - $112,477