Human Resources Specialist

Summary This vacancy is for a Human Resources Specialist in the Office of the Secretary within the Department of Commerce. Responsibilities As a Human Resources Specialist, you will: Provide advisory services on complex recruitment, staffing, and classification issues and makes recommendations to resolve issues and improve hiring processes. Prepare job opportunity announcements, job analysis, and crediting plans. Review applications/resumes and determine qualification and appointment eligibility. Prepare certificates of eligibles, adjudicate veterans' preference, and refer applicants in accordance with Federal rules and regulations, and Department of Commerce (DOC) policies. Establish rates of pay and prepare job offers. Provide guidance on competitive, non-competitive and excepted service appointing authorities, recruitment, relocation, and retention (3Rs) incentives, student loan repayments, creditable service for annual leave accruals. Audit certificates and recruitment case files. Provide advisory services on position classification. Provide guidance on classification actions including the application of Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and DOC classification standards covering General Schedule (GS), Federal Wage System (FWS), and Commerce Alternative Personnel System (CAPS) positions. Assist in the development and/or classification of position descriptions and position evaluation statements. Interprets Office of Personnel Management (OPM) policy issuances, standards, and classification decisions for potential impact on position management principles and classification of positions. Keep abreast of current policies, regulations, emerging trends and technological changes to coordinate the application and implementation of new guidance and assure general consistency in interpretation and delivery. Participate in identifying process improvements, resolving operational deficiencies, and providing guidance to staff performing talent acquisition work. Keep TA management team apprised of emerging/significant program and/or operational issues and present solutions to resolve issues. Develop and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to document talent acquisition operational activities. Provide guidance on recruitment, staffing and classification functions/activities ensuring established procedures are followed and adhere to regulatory and DOC policy requirements. Participate in identifying process improvements and resolving operational deficiencies. Establish and maintain a cooperative working relationship with Talent Acquisition and other OHRM staff, customers and vendors to ensure human resource operations activities are executed in line with DOC policies, procedures, and guidance. Provide expert customer service to TA customers, ensuring prompt and effective response to their needs and concerns, facilitating the resolution of issues, and coordinating interactions with providers where required. This Job Opportunity Announcement may be used to fill other Human Resources Specialist ZA-0201-4, FPL: 4 positions within the Department of Commerce in the same geographical location or local commuting area with the same qualifications and specialized experience. This JOA is also being advertised at the ZA-3 under OS-OHRM-ST-26-13042141, which is open to Merit Promotion eligible applicants. The ZA-3 position has a full performance level to the ZA-4 level. If you wish to be considered for both the ZA-3 and ZA-4 positions, you must apply to both. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position. You must successfully pass a background investigation. This may include a credit check, a review of financial issues, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs. A probationary or trial period may be required. Selective Service: Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see 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. All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing. Bargaining Unit Position: No Confidential Financial Disclosure Report (OGE form 450): No Permanent Change of Duty Station (PCS) Expense: Will not be paid License required: No Drug Test Required: No Time-in-grade/band requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement unless eligible for special hiring authority, reinstatement eligible, non-current Federal employee applying as a VEOA eligible which do not require time-in-grade/band. Qualifications Qualification requirements in the vacancy announcements are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards Handbook, which contains federal qualification standards. This handbook is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website located at: Applicants must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular competencies/knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. This experience need not have been in the federal government. 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 can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. This position is being filled under the Department Of Commerce Alternative Personnel System (CAPS). Under CAPS, positions are classified by career path and pay band. The ZA-04 is equivalent to the GS-13/14 grade levels. To qualify at the ZA-04 level: SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZA-03/GS-12 in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as experience: Interpreting and applying Federal rules and regulations and providing technical advice and guidance on complex staffing, recruitment, classification and pay setting issues; Developing vacancy announcements, job analysis, certificates of eligibles, and reviewing merit promotion and delegated examining recruitment files for compliance with Federal rules regulations, and agency policies; Applying classification principles, practices, and concepts to interpret and adapt classification standards to review requests and provide advisement to management to ensure compliance and resolve issues; Developing narrative and statistical reports to track and document results of recruitment and placement and classification actions, and Identifying and recommending process improvements for HR programs and services. Education There is no positive education requirement for this position. See Qualifications Above. NOTE: Special Instructions for Foreign Education: Qualifying education from colleges and universities in foreign countries must be evaluated in terms of equivalency to that acquired in U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants educated in whole or in part in foreign countries must submit sufficient evidence, including transcripts, to an accredited private organization for an equivalency evaluation of course work and degree. You MUST provide a copy of the letter containing the results of the equivalency evaluation with a course by course listing along with your application. Failure to provide such documentation when requested will result in lost consideration. Additional Information The following links provide information on various hiring authorities that do not fall under competitive examining procedures; however, they may enable you to apply through merit assignment procedures, or be eligible for a non-competitive appointment. Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) Military Spouse Non-Competitive Hiring Authority Veterans Recruitment Act (VRA) Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) 30% or more disabled veterans Persons with disabilities ICTAP and CTAP Eligibles: CTAP and ICTAP candidates will be eligible if it is determined that they have exceeded the minimum qualifications for the position by attaining at least a rating of 85 out of 100. Information about ICTAP eligibility is on the Office of Personnel Management's Career Transition Resources website at: Employee Guide to Career Transition Military Spouse: The spouse of a member of the armed forces seeking eligibility under the non-competitive hiring authority of certain military spouse MUST submit various required documentation by the closing date of the announcement in accordance with one of the three below eligibilities: Spouse of a member of the armed forces serving on active duty, Spouse of service member who incurred a 100% disability, or Un-remarried widow or widower of a service member killed while performing active duty. Please review the "Required Documents" Section for specific documents pertaining to each of the above eligibilities that MUST be included with your application, if you are applying as a Military Spouse. Current or Former Political Appointees: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES, or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office. Reasonable Accommodations (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.