Duties

Summary

This position is being announced under FEMA's Incident Management Cadre of On-call Response/Recovery Employee (IM-CORE) Program. This is a temporary appointment in the Excepted Service, not to exceed 2 years, with the option to extend based on workload and funding availability. Veterans Preference does not apply in selections of IM-CORE employees.

View common definitions of terms found in this announcement.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

When disaster strikes, America looks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Now FEMA looks to you. Join our team and use your talent to support Americans in their times of greatest need. FEMA prepares the nation for all hazards and manages Federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. We foster innovation, reward performance and creativity, and provide challenges on a routine basis with a well-skilled, knowledgeable, high performance workforce. Please visit www.fema.gov for additional information.

EMERGENCY ASSIGNMENT: Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

In this position, you will oversee the actions of the Disaster Emergency Communications Group in support of the Operations Section of an Interim Operating Facility or Joint Field Office. Typical assignments include:

• Identifying and reporting critical communications assets and infrastructure in danger of failing which would affect the national/security/emergency preparedness and public safety stakeholders.
• Ensuring the development and maintenance of a communications Common Operating Picture (COP)
• Providing technical assistance and expertise in solving federal, state, tribal or local governments or other organizations public safety communications systems.
• Supports projects and designed to improve operations, plans and exercises with emphasis on the effective use of command, control and communications systems to meet organizational needs.

Travel Required

76% or greater - IM-CORE employees are hired to work on temporary duty assignments in deployed positions anywhere that FEMA responds to a disaster declaration. FEMA has established 300 days per year as the targeted number of days of disaster duty assignments.

Supervisory status
Yes

Promotion Potential
NA

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to be considered for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Travel will be required.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
• Selective service registration is required for males born after 12/31/59.
• Please review "Other Information" section for additional key requirements.

Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.

Qualifications

The qualification requirements listed below must be met within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

You qualify for this position at the IT-03 level (starting hourly rate $47.53) if you possess the following: One full year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade (IT-02) in the Federal Service. This experience may have been gained in the federal government, a state or local government, a non-profit organization, the private sector, or as a volunteer; however, your resume must clearly describe at least one year of specialized experience. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to:

• Restoring telecommunications infrastructures and services to insure public safety operations; and
• Reviewing, analyzing or resolving telecommunications issues; and
• Managing and reviewing the work of subordinates.

AND

Individual Occupational Requirements: In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirement(s) to be considered qualified for the position:

Education:

Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- electrical or electronic engineering, mathematics, physics, public utilities, statistics, computer science, telecommunications management, information systems management, business administration, industrial management, or other fields related to the position to be filled.
Other Education: Communications/electronics or automatic data processing training in technical institutes or business schools above the high school level or in Armed Forces schools that included advanced instruction in addition to basic courses, may be substituted for general experience on a month-for-month basis.

OR

Experience:

General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Experience that provided a basic knowledge of telecommunications functions, problems, and/or solutions.

Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Experience in evaluating, analyzing, developing, managing, or improving communications systems, procedures, and requirements that demonstrated knowledge of current developments and trends in communications concepts and technology.

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; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills, and provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Your application must show that you meet all requirements for this position. You may be found "not qualified" if you do not possess the minimum competencies required for the position.

NOTE: Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD//YY to MM/DD/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume. For a brief video on How to Create a Federal Resume, click here.

Current or former FEMA Reservists/DAE employees: To accurately credit your experience for these intermittent positions, make sure to list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of each deployment, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment. Failure to provide this information may result in disqualification.

Education

Additional information

• To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Public Trust clearance as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined ( Mythbuster ), review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs. For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit the OPM website at https://www.opm.gov/faqs/topic/investigate/?cid=56d6e92e-6e27-4b6a-8969-4a7a1bfba76d .
• 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 , and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.
• DHS 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.
• This announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.
• STAFFORD ACT EXCEPTED SERVICE APPOINTMENTS: Cadre On Call Response Employee (CORE) is an appointment type granted under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Section 306 (b), which authorizes FEMA to appoint such temporary employees as necessary to accomplish work authorized under the Act. Appointments under this authority within FEMA are made to the excepted service and are nonpermanent in nature.
• All candidates must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time. Deployments may include working in excess of eight hours a day, or in excess of 40 hours per week, including weekends and holidays, and under stressful, physically demanding, and austere conditions. When activated and deployed, you serve in a federal travel status and are entitled to lodging, transportation and per diem reimbursements for authorized expenses in accordance with federal travel regulations.
• If selected for this position, you will be required to complete FEMA's onboarding program and a subsequent orientation program. Additional orientation information will be provided post selection.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the occupational questionnaire. If you are qualified, you will be referred to a selection panel for consideration.

We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process.

Interview Requirement. Interviews are required for this position. Failure to complete the interview may result in removal from further consideration.

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

Your resume.

Your responses to the job questionnaire- You will be directed to the online job questionnaire once you begin the application process for this position.

Are you a current or former federal employee? Submit a copy of your most recent SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, that verifies the Federal service indicated on your resume e.g., length of time you have been in your current/highest grade (examples of appropriate SF-50s include promotions or within-grade/range increases); your current promotion potential; proof of permanent appointment, etc.

Are you qualifying based on education? Submit a copy of your college transcript (unofficial is acceptable) or a list of coursework with hours completed. Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet Federal qualification requirements if you can show that your foreign education is comparable to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States. For example, specific courses accepted for college-level credit by an accredited U.S. college or university, or foreign education evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Department of Education as education equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. college or university. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence with your application. See Recognition of Foreign Qualifications for more information.

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.