Duties

Summary

The Internship Program is designed to provide students enrolled in a wide variety of educational institutions, from high school to graduate level, with opportunities to work in agencies and explore Federal careers while still in school and while getting paid for the work performed. This student trainee will be filled as an intern appointment. The appointment is indefinite and is expected to last for the duration of the student's academic attendance.
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Responsibilities

• Receives training in the principles, concepts, work processes, and regulations of one or more functional areas of Accounting.
• Work assignments are usually clear-cut and designed to provide experience in a variety of activities.
• Receive assignments in various Accounting functions to gain an understanding of the various program concepts and operations, develop an understanding of the total mission as well as organizational/functional interrelationships.
• Develop a foundation for more specialized application of knowledge gained from on-the-job training assignments.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
11

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Must be at least 16 years of age. If the appointment is to a position involving hazardous duties, the minimum appointment age must be in conformance with State laws.
• Must be suitable for Federal employment as determined by a background investigation.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National at the time of non-competitive conversion to a term or permanent position in the competitive service.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify/.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• A signed participant agreement is required for employment under Pathways.
• Complete at least 640 hours of work experience prior to graduation.
• Maintain Pathways program eligibility for the duration of the appointment.
• Must be in good academic standing as defined by the educational institution.
• Must be enrolled at least half-time in a qualifying educational institution seeking a qualifying degree or certificate.
• The candidate's academic and career goals must be related to the position that they are appointed to.
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary/trial period.

Qualifications

You are required to meet the eligibility requirements of the Internship program, as described below in order to be considered for this position. You must meet all the eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement. The minimum qualification requirements for each grade level of this vacancy announcement are described below:

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY

You must meet the definition of a student that is, enrolled or accepted for enrollment in an accredited technical or vocational school, two-year or four-year college or university, graduate or professional school. You must be taking at least a half-time academic course load leading to a degree or certificate. A certificate program is defined as a post-secondary education, in a qualifying educational institution, equivalent to at least one academic year of full-time study that is part of an accredited college-level, technical, trade, vocational, or business school curriculum.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Basic Requirements:
The minimum qualification requirements for each grade level of this vacancy announcement are described below:

• • For GS-04: Completion of an associate's degree or 2 academic years of post-high school study
  • For GS-05: Completion of a bachelor's degree or equivalent degree

Note: One full academic year of undergraduate; graduate; vocational; trades; technical or high school is the number of credit hours by the college, university or school to represent 1 year of full-time study.

Education

Education completed in foreign colleges and universities may be used if it has been accredited or evaluated by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

This position has a positive education requirement. The student must be currently enrolled in a related degree program that will satisfy on graduation the specific requirements in the qualification standard for the position.

Degree: accounting; or a degree in a related field such as business administration, finance, or public administration that included or was supplemented by 24 semester hours in accounting. The 24 hours may include up to 6 hours of credit in business law. (The term "accounting" means "accounting and/or auditing" in this standard. Similarly, "accountant" should be interpreted, generally, as "accountant and/or auditor.")

The term positive education requirement refers to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) determination that the duties of a scientific, technical, or professional position cannot be performed by an individual that does not have the prescribed minimum education. For additional information on the qualification standards for the 510 series, visit the OPM Qualifications Standard found at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0500/accounting-series-0510/ .

Additional information

These positions are located in Fort Worth, TX, Kansas City, MO and Washington, DC. The work schedule is part-time and may be filled at the GS-04 or GS-05 grade level with a potential target conversion position of GS-0510-07/09/11. Please contact the following hiring managers per location with any position related questions:
Fort Worth, TX: Amy Lillard at (817) 978-8783 or
amy.lillard@usda.gov

Kansas City, MO: Marisa Quinlivan 816-926-7296 marisa.quinlivan@usda.gov
Washington, DC: Lynn Johnson (202) 501-3429 lynne.johnson@usda.gov

Promotional Potential: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied nor guaranteed. Interns are on a trial period for the duration of the program.

Training/IDP: This position requires 40 hours of formal, interactive training. An Individual Development Plan (IDP) must be completed and approved by the supervisor within 45 days of appointment.

Program Requirements: Interns may be non-competitively converted to a term or permanent position in the competitive service after the successful completion of the internship program. To be eligible for conversion, the Intern must meet the following:

• Must be a U.S. Citizen at the time of non-competitive conversion to a term or permanent position.
• Complete at least 640 hours of work experience acquired through the Internship program prior to graduation.
• Complete a degree or certificate program from a qualifying educational institution.
• Receive a favorable recommendation by supervisor.
• Meet the OPM Qualification Standards for the position to which the Intern may be converted. Conversion is not guaranteed and is based on the needs of the agency.
• Meet any agency specific requirements as outlined in the Participant Agreement.
• Perform the job successfully.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

For GS-04: Please note, these positions are targeted toward students in the beginning of their undergraduate/certificate education.

For GS-05: Please note, these positions are targeted toward students in the beginning of their graduate education.

If you are graduating in the same semester or term in which you are appointed, you must be able to complete 640 work hours prior to graduation. Spring 2020 graduates will be required to provide proof of continued enrollment for Fall 2020. If no proof of continued enrollment is provided, you will be deemed ineligible for an internship.

These positions have a targeted effective date of Fall 2019. The tour of duty is part-time and may be filled at the GS-04, or GS-05 grade level with a potential target conversion position of GS-0510-7/9/11.

Before you submit an application for any of our vacancies, you should completely review the announcement and requirements. You should only apply for positions you meet the required minimum qualifications AND program requirements described in the announcement. Do not apply to a duty location if you are not willing to accept or travel to that location.

If you have reviewed the announcement and believe that you meet both the minimum qualifications and the program requirements, you should document your experience and education in your resume. Since traditional resumes do not provide all the information needed to determine your status, you should create a more detailed resume to use when applying to Federal positions.

Please ensure that your resume contains your full name, permanent address, contact phone number and email address.

If you meet the eligibility requirements of the Internship program and the basic minimum requirements established for the position, you may be referred to the selecting official for consideration. Qualified individuals with veteran's preference are listed ahead of individuals who do not have veteran's preference.

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

The following documents must be submitted for your application package to be considered complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, system failure or downtime, etc. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.

1. Cover letter - optional (one page maximum)

2. Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; vacancy announcement number, title, series, and grade of the position for which you are applying; 2) education (may include coursework relevant to the position for which you are applying); 3) detailed work experience including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series and grade (if applicable; 4) supervisor's phone number and e-mail address for each work period listed and whether or not the supervisory may contacted for a reference checks; 5) references (minimum of two); 6) other qualifications; and 8) graduation date (actual or anticipated).

3. College Transcripts - An unofficial copy is sufficient; however, if selected, an official transcript will be required prior to entering on duty. Transcripts, both unofficial and official, should include your full name, name of the school, current GPA/academic standing, past and current coursework, and degree program. If your school does not provide transcripts or the transcript does not provide all the necessary information listed above, you should include additional academic documentation from the school that meets the requirements above. This additional documentation may include a letter from the school's registrar's office or official enrollment verification. Foreign education must be evaluated by an approved organization. For additional information, refer to the U.S. Department of Education web site at http://www.ed.gov . All transcripts must be in English or include English translation.

4. Acceptance letter - If you have recently graduated or are expected to graduate in the current or next term you must also include an official acceptance letter along with your transcripts to verify you are continuing your education.

5. If claiming veteran's preference, you must submit a Certificate of Release or Discharge of Active Duty (DD-214), which shows dates of service and discharge under honorable conditions. If currently on active duty, you must submit a certification of expected discharge or release from active duty service under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is submitted. If claiming 10-point preference you must also provide proof of entitlement of this preference as listed on the SF-15 Application for 10-point Veterans' Preference. The SF-15 should be included but is not required. You will receive veteran's preference based solely on the documentation provided with your application. For more information on veterans' preference see http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/vetpref/ .

NOTE: If a document is resubmitted, it replaces the previous submission, which means the previous document is no longer available to the Human Resources Office. If you are adding to, rather than replacing a previous submission, you must upload both the old document and the new document. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded resumes must be less than 3MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG,PNG, RTF, PDF, or Word (DOC or DOCX).

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

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 .

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