Duties

Summary

This position is located in the Division of the Senior Historian (DSH) in the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (MCAHS) at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Division of Senior Historian is responsible for ensuring the historical integrity and rigor of all materials produced by the Museum and for providing historical content support to scholars, outside agencies, journalists, and the public.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

• Assist in planning and carrying out a variety of research projects in support of the scholarly research program.
• Serves as an advisor on historical projects, issues, and questions for both internal and external customers.
• Plans, coordinates and conducts historical research in both primary and secondary historical sources that pertain to the era of the Holocaust and World War II.
• Attends scholarly conferences related to the Holocaust and, on appropriate occasions, presents papers based on primary-source historical research in the Museum's collection, organizes panels of papers, and comments on the scholarship of others in the field.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - Travel is required to include overseas travel.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
13

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• On-line resumes must be received by 11:59pm EST of the closing date.
• An unofficial college transcript must be submitted to verify education
• requirements.
• All requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

*

Qualifications

Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level or 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. Coursework is qualifying if it clearly provides applicants with the background of knowledge and skills necessary for successful job performance in the position of a Historian. A combination of education and experience may also qualify you for this position.

Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

Selective Placement Factor (SPF): Failure to meet the SPF will result in your application being removed from further consideration.

1) You must have complete fluency (reading, writing and speaking) of the German language or another language relevant to Holocaust history to research and prepare professional and technical articles, reports, and background briefs.

2) You must also have knowledge of the history of the Holocaust, World War II, 20th century European history as well as post-Holocaust genocides and mass atrocities, and the Nazi regime, to plan coordinate and conduct historical research.

Education

A. Degree: history ; or related field that included at least 18 semester hours in history.

or

B. Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in history, or a major in a related field that included at least 18 semester hours in history, as shown above.

Additional information

Veterans' Preference: If you are a veteran claiming 5-point veterans' preference, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), official statement of service from your command if you are currently on active duty, or other official documentation (e.g., military orders, campaign documents such as expeditionary award citation) that proves your military service was performed under honorable conditions. If you are claiming 10-point veterans' preference, in addition to the DD-214, you must also submit a Standard Form 15 (Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference) and the documentation required by that form. For more information on veterans' preference see http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/veterans.aspx .

Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP): To receive selection priority for this position, Displaced Federal service employees must be rated 'well-qualified' or at a score of 90 and above for ICTAP consideration. For information on how to apply and what documents to submit as an ICTAP eligible, go to: http://www.opm.gov/rif/employee_guides/career_transition.asp#ictap .

E-Verify: USHMM 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. https://www.uscis.gov/e-verify .

Suitability: If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/of0306.pdf .

Noncompetitive Appointment Authorities: The following links contain information on the eligibility requirements to be considered under a noncompetitive appointing authority: http://www.opm.gov/hr_practitioners/lawsregulations/appointingauthorities/

Selective Services: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify you have registered with the Selective Services System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Services Law. See www.sss.gov

Direct Deposit: All new hires must agree to direct deposit of their paychecks to a Banking Institution. Employees will have up to two (2) pay periods from the date they enter on duty to arrange for their direct deposit transaction. If you make a false statement in any part of your application, you may not be hired, you may be fired after you begin work, or you may be fined or jailed.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Once the application process is complete, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will occur to determine if you meet the basic qualification requirements. Your application and occupational questionnaire will be evaluated and rated under Category Rating and Selection Procedures . Category rating combines the applicant's total qualifying experience and education/training into a single quality category. If you meet the basic qualification requirements, we will further evaluate your entire application package to determine the quality and extent of your experience, education, training, and other characteristics, for placement in one of the following categories:

1. Best Qualified - Meets the Minimum Qualification Requirements and excels in most requirements of the position;

2. Well Qualified - Meets the Minimum Qualification Requirements and meets most requirements of the position;

3. Qualified - Meets the Minimum Qualification Requirements, but do not possess the relevant competencies to a substantive degree.

Please note that your answers to the questions in the occupational questionnaire must be supported in your resume. Therefore, it is important to support your answers by providing examples of experience in your resume. Failure to do so will result in your scores being adjusted and you may be eliminated from the best-qualified status or result in a lowered score.

The Category Rating Process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher .

A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Qualified), provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs) and other characteristics:

1. Knowledge of historical documentation and sources on the history of the Holocaust, World War II, twentieth-century European history, as well as a sound knowledge of post-Holocaust genocides and mass atrocities, and the Nazi regime, to plan, coordinate and conduct historical research.

2. Knowledge of concepts, methods, and techniques and skill to conduct historical research, using resourcefulness, creative thinking, and organizational skills to collect, evaluate, analyze, and interpret historical facts.

3. Knowledge of and skill to research and prepare professional and technical articles, reports, and background briefs.

Additional details on the application process can be found in the "How to Apply" section of this announcement. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility. We recommend that you preview the questions for this announcement before you start the application process.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Confidential

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Required Documents: The following documents should be included with the application package:

1. Résumé

2. Responses to the Occupational Questionnaire

3. Supplemental Documents: (only submit if applicable to you)

- An Unofficial college transcript to verify education requirements.
- Veterans' Preference or VEOA documentation (if applicable)

- Proof of Status (SF-50 showing current grade and tenure and SF-50 showing highest (permanent) grade ever held, if different). U.S. Holocaust Museum employees do not need to submit their SF-50.

- CTAP/ICTAP documentation (Must have a score of 90 or above to be "Well Qualified"), if applicable - Noncompetitive appointing authority documentation (See Noncompetitive Appointing Authorities under "Other Information")

You can submit "required documents" by "document upload/download" or "fax" using the instructions below. Whichever method you choose, please include the vacancy announcement number with your documents. To protect your privacy, we encourage you to remove your social security number (SSN) from any documents that you submit. All supplemental materials must be received by the closing date of the announcement.

Document Upload/Download: You may upload/download supporting documents in one of two ways:

1. Once you finish answering the questions in the job announcement, you will be prompted to upload your document(s) to your application. You will be given the choice to either upload/download the document as part of the application process or you can select a document that you've already loaded on USAJOBS; or

2. You can download a document to an existing application by logging into your USAJOBS account profile. Click on "My Applications" and search for the vacancy. Once you've located the vacancy, click on the vacancy and select "Apply Online." Move through your existing application to the Documents page and select Upload in order to add a document to your application. Be certain to review your complete application for confirmation that the document uploaded. In the Application Review section, you may verify acceptance of your documents in Hiring Management if you see them listed on the "Vacancy Documents" screen. Then, click on "Finished" to be returned to USAJOBS.

Fax: Create a fax cover-sheet in the USHMM Hiring Management System by following the "Faxing Supporting Documentation" instructions. The fax number will be on the cover-sheet.

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.