Duties

The Administrative Specialist performs the following major duties:

• Records Management:
  • Maintains records for the assigned organization in accordance with the agency's records management program and systems. Maintains and tracks copies, electronic or otherwise, of signed/approved/cleared documents. Maintains the filing system and document tracking database of the office as per established nomenclatures and control systems. Keeps other offices apprised of the whereabouts of documents awaiting clearance.
  • Manages correspondence services. Reviews all incoming and outgoing documents to ensure appropriate procedures and clearances have been obtained and are in accordance with agency policies, as well as align with the views of the supervisor.
  • Maintains a sophisticated action tracking system, and follows up with subordinates, and supervisors to ensure that assignments have been completed.
  • Independently requests, receives, and disseminates program and project documentation. Handles, tracks, screens, and abides by the controls for, highly sensitive correspondence such as those found regularly within a legal, congressional, executive, or other similar office.
• Administrative Support:
  • Under supervisory direction, performs and monitors established administrative management requirements for the assigned organization.
  • Determines the scope and nature of actions required to resolve customer service problems and process transactions, based on experience and past practice. Reviews applicable guidelines to consider options. Provides advice and counseling to customers regarding a variety of issues that require different and unrelated processes to answer.
  • Assists visitors, manages the General Counsel's calendar, and determines whether persons seeking appointments should be placed on the calendar or referred to other members of the staff.
• Special Projects:
  • Participates in special projects and activities as assigned. Uses standard approaches to perform a variety of duties related to special projects involving administrative or program issues. Conducts extensive research and compilation of data from diverse sources. Extracts and assembles information, conducts analysis and develops reports or presentations.
  • Serves as fact-finder and problem solver in a variety of matters, including confidential and sensitive projects. Assembles reports and publications into finished, comprehensive document.
  • Develops background information and prepares outlines for papers, correspondence, and reports.
  • Serves as a certified contracting officer's representative (COR).

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Please read this announcement in its entirety prior to submitting your application for consideration.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen and meet the requirements of the program.
• You must be at least 18 years of age.
• If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System or are exempt from having to do so. For additional information, see www.sss.gov.
• All Federal employees are required to have federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• Telework eligible positions do not guarantee telework. As a reminder - If you are selected for a position, you are responsible for reporting to your designated POD (location) on the negotiated start date or as directed by management.
• You must complete a Declaration for Federal Employment to determine your suitability for Federal employment, at the time requested by the agency.
• Applicants must go through a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) process that requires two forms of identification from the Form I-9 . Federal law requires verification of the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires in the U.S. These documents must be unexpired original or certified copies.
• Applicants must successfully complete a background security investigation with favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet this requirement will be grounds for employment termination.
• This position requires a public trust background investigation.
• This is a non-bargaining unit position.
• A one year trial period is required.
• Additional hiring needs may be filled through this vacancy.

Peace Corps Information

• This is a Federal civilian job in the Excepted Service. Peace Corps employees are paid on the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale.
• Initial appointment of employment cannot exceed five years.
• All new employees are required to certify and submit a state of understanding acknowledging adherence to the Peace Corps condition of employment prior to day 1 of employment with the Peace Corps.
• Qualified internal applicants will be given full consideration.

Qualifications

All qualification requirements must be met by 11/22/2023 (the closing date of this announcement). Qualification claims will be subject to verification.

This vacancy is being announced at 2 grade levels:

FP-7
FP-07 (Equivalent to the GS-7) To be minimally qualified for this position at the FP-7 level, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower level in the normal line of progression, FP-8 or GS-6 level which is in or directly related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as: Knowledge of various office automation systems to establish and maintain database records, produce documents, charts, correspondence, and reports. Ability to gather/extract data, and generate information and reports. Ability to communicate orally and in writing to obtain and provide information related to organizational programs and administrative matters. Knowledge of standard procedures to conduct a variety of interrelated or non-standard procedural assignments and administrative assistance, and resolve non-technical routine problems.

FP-5
FP-5 (Equivalent to the GS-9) To be minimally qualified for this position at the FP-5 level, you must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower level in the normal line of progression, FP-7 or GS-7 level which is in or directly related to the line of work of the position to be filled and which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as: Experience maintaining and tracking copies, electronic or otherwise, of signed/approved/cleared documents; Experience managing correspondence services; Experience performing administrative tasks which require great attention to detail and compliance with time constraints; Experience reviewing all incoming and outgoing documents to ensure appropriate procedures and clearances.

Please note: Peace Corps employees are employed using the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale. The FP pay plan does not follow the same structure as the GS pay plan. In the FP pay plan, as the grade-level numbers decrease the level/pay for the position increases (e.g., the FP-09 is the lowest entry-level pay and the FP-01 is the highest senior-level pay).

~OR~

If qualifying based on Education please review the Education section below.

Additional information on qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on the OPM web site at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/

~AND~

Time-in-Grade Requirements:

You must meet applicable TIG requirements to be considered eligible. To meet TIG for positions above the GS-05 grade level, you must have served at least one year (52 weeks) at the next lower grade (or equivalent) in the normal line of progression for the position you are applying to. The experience may have been gained in the public sector, private sector or Volunteer Service. One year of experience refers to full-time work; part-time work is considered on a prorated basis. To ensure full credit for your work experience, please indicate dates of employment by month/year, and indicate number of hours worked per week, on your resume. For more information on qualifications please refer to OPM's Qualifications Standards .

Note: All current or former Federal employees (including internal employees) must provide a copy of their SF-50 (you may need to submit more than one), "Notice of Personnel Action" that indicates proof of status and time-in-grade eligibility. The SF-50 must include your position, title, series, grade, step, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted).

Please note: Peace Corps employees are employed using the Foreign Personnel (FP) pay scale. The FP pay plan does not follow the same structure as the GS pay plan. In the FP pay plan, as the grade-level numbers decrease the level/pay for the position increases (e.g., the FP-09 is the lowest entry-level pay and the FP-01 is the highest senior-level pay).

Education

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: (Add specific degree requirements identified by series)

Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in any field leading to a bachelor's degree, in an accredited college or university, meets the GS-5 level requirements for many positions. One full academic year of graduate-level education is creditable for GS-7; 2 years or a master's or equivalent graduate degree is creditable for GS-9; and 3 years or a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree is creditable for GS-11.

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Superior Academic Achievement S.A.A. (S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership. The full provision for Superior Academic Achievement (S.A.A.) is described in the OPM General Schedule Operating Manual .

Class standing--Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses.

Grade-point average (G.P.A.)--Applicants must have a grade-point average of: 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. Grade-point averages are to be rounded to one decimal place. For example, 2.95 will round to 3.0 and 2.94 will round to 2.9.

Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society--Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies listed below. These honor societies are listed in the Association of College Honor Societies: Booklet of Information (1992-95) and/or Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities (1991). Agencies considering eligibility based on any society not included in the following list must ensure that the honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies. Membership in a freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this provision. (UNOFFICIAL OR OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

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) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.

Foreign Education: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html

Additional information

Intelligence Background Information

Peace Corps Manual Section 611 is applicable to this position. This section prohibits the employment of certain persons previously engaged in intelligence activities or connected with intelligence agencies within the past 10 years. If you have ever worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), you are not eligible for employment at the Peace Corps in any capacity, and you should not apply for employment.

Acceptance of employment with Peace Corps precludes employment by certain intelligence organizations for a specific period of time, determined by the employing agency, after Peace Corps employment ceases.

Applicants who are found to be otherwise qualified will be required to submit upon request in the future a completed Intelligence Background Questionnaire, or narrative signed statement, indicating whether the applicant has been involved in or has had any connection with intelligence activities or related work and, if so, the nature and dates of his or her involvement. Failure to meet this requirement will result in the applicant being rated ineligible for further consideration. If you have any other type of possible intelligence connection, your application will not be further considered until you submit this form. Except when the CIA or the National Security Agency (NSA) is involved (see below), if your connection with an Intelligence Agency involves an immediate family member who works or has worked in intelligence, the immediate family member should complete the form, not the applicant. Usually relying on memory is sufficient to answer most if not all of the questions.

If you have an immediate family member who works or has worked for the CIA, you should not give them this form to complete. Please contact your relative in person-not by phone, email, social networking, or any other means that is not in person- and ask him or her to contact the Office of General Counsel at the CIA.

If you or an immediate family member have been employed by or associated with the NSA, you or your family member must contact the NSA Prepublication Review Office at 443-634-4095.

The reflected salary on this announcement does include locality pay

**Peace Corps does not offer any additional benefits beyond that which the Federal employee is already receiving.

Peace Corps uses E-Verify, an Internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify , including your rights and responsibilities.