Duties

Summary

AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program that supports community-driven efforts to address poverty in the United States. Each year, the program has approximately 5,000 full-term year long members serve in the program. These members serve with nonprofit organizations and public agencies, who serve as project sponsors.

The VISTA Member Support Unit (VMSU) ensures the best service experience possible for the VISTA community by providing guidance, and ensuring member benefits service.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

The Member Support Specialist is a member of the VISTA Member Support Unit (VMSU). The VMSU is a team that focuses on providing high quality customer service by providing guidance and answering questions for our applicants, members, and other stakeholders. As part of this team, the Member Support Specialist will focus on providing a full range of pre-service (application and on-boarding), in-service (payroll, health benefits, policy guidance), and post-service (End of Service Award, service verification) technical support to members, sponsors, and staff. Additionally, the Member Support Specialist processes member actions in the member system such as activating members for service, processing project transfers, and exiting members from service.

Specific responsibilities of this position are:

• Ensures all members are eligible for service and have completed their pre-service requirements
• Provides customer support to members on areas such as: pay issues, health benefits, loan forbearance and interest payments, travel allowances, and more
• Works with field staff to address questions and provide technical assistance and policy interpretation
• Perform Administrative Actions in accordance with policies.
• Performs analysis on processes and procedures to improve business operations and mission delivery

• Performs other duties as assigned by the VISTA Member Support Unit Director or other management official(s)

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
2

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a United States Citizen A 2-year probationary period is required for new Federal employees Must be tele-work ready Satisfactory completion of a background investigation

Qualifications

Applicants must have one year of specialized experience (paid, unpaid, or volunteer work) comparable in scope and responsibility to the NY-02 pay band, which would be at or equivalent to, the GS-07 level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is that which has equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience must include all of the following:

Specialized experience must include: 1) data entry into spreadsheets or databases and system monitoring, 2) providing guidance concerning services such as VISTA member service processing, policy interpretation, records management, reporting, etc.; and 3) providing general administrative support for an organization like making travel arrangements, filing, and tracking documents.

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 can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Such experience must be clearly documented in the applicant's resume.

Education

If you are qualifying based on education alone, you must have one full year of graduate level education or superior academic achievement as defined by being in the upper third of your graduating class; or possessing a 3.0 GPA or higher over four years of education; or possessing a 3.5 GPA or higher during final 2 years of education. Such education must be from an accredited institution and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the work. You must submit an unofficial copy of your college transcript. You must submit evidence that any education completed in a foreign institution is equivalent to U.S. educational standards.

You may also qualify based on a combination of education and experience, if applicable.

Additional information

If you are a male applicant who was born after 12/31/59 and are required to register under the Military Selective Service Act, the Defense Authorization Act of 1986 requires that you be registered or you are not eligible for appointment in this agency.

Veteran's Preference: If you are claiming 5-point or 10-point veteran's preference, you must submit documentation described below in "Required Documents."

Special Employment Consideration: Persons with disabilities, disabled veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more, certain other veterans, spouses of certain members of the Armed Forces, VISTA volunteers, some Peace Corps employees and returning Peace Corps volunteers are examples of individuals who are potentially eligible for noncompetitive appointment. If you are eligible and would like to be considered for one of these noncompetitive appointments, applicable documentation that supports your eligibility must be submitted with your application package.

This Term Appointment will initially be for a two-year period, but may be extended for a total of five years. Should the need arise, this position may be made permanent without further competition.

As an employee on a Term Appointment, you will not acquire competitive status and you will not be covered by the agency's Interchange Agreement with the Office of Personnel Management, which allows for noncompetitive transfer from CNCS to other agencies in the competitive service of the federal government.

Ethics Requirement: Our Agency is committed to the highest ethical standards and, as an employee you will be covered by the criminal conflict of interest statutes (18 U.S.C. 201-209) and the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (5 C.F.R. part 2635). Additionally, you may be required to complete a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 450) or Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e) within 30 days of your appointment date and on an annual basis thereafter.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

• Customer Service
• Administration Support
• Oral Communication
• Technical competencies

Important Note: Your resume must support your answers to the job specific questions. High self-assessment on the Occupational Questionnaire that is not supported by the information in your resume or supporting documents can/will result in elimination from further consideration. If you do not answer all of the job specific questions you will not be considered. Incomplete applications (resume and required supporting documents) will be considered ineligible.

Qualified applicants will be placed in one of the following three categories:

1 - Qualified Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements as described in the Qualifications section of this announcement.
2 - Well Qualified Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and demonstrates proficiency based on the answers to the job specific questions.
3 - Best Qualified Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and demonstrates high level proficiency based on the answers to the job specific questions.

NOTE: Status candidates will be considered under the provisions of the Corporation's Human Resources system which allows for:
1) Non-competitive referral of lateral candidates; and
2) The separation of status and non-status applicants for referral purposes.

Status candidates will be referred on one selection list only, i.e., either merit promotion or non-competitive. Nonstatus candidates who are eligible for Noncompetitive referral, e.g. Peace Corps, VRA, etc., will be referred under Noncompetitive procedures only. For Noncompetitive categories, See "Special Employment Consideration" below under "Other Information."

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Other

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

• Resume showing relevant experience (cover letter optional);
• Unofficial transcript (if qualifying based on education):
• Veterans' Preference Documentation (DD-214, VA Letter, and SF-15 if claiming 10-point preference; DD-214 if claiming 5-point preference), if applicable;
• For Merit Promotion Eligibility: SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (must indicate tenure and position occupied), if applicable;
• Documentation supporting eligibility for Non-Competitive appointment, e.g., Schedule A (severely disabled), eligible veterans (VRA or 30-percent or more disabled), VISTA, Peace Corps, etc., if applicable

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.