Clarification from the agency

This position is announced under FEMA's Excepted Service, Stafford Act Hiring Authority for a full-time Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employee (CORE) appointment. After three years of continuous service, CORE employees earn competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA. Veterans Preference does not apply to the CORE selection process.

What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will serve as an Emergency Management Specialist (Response) (Operations Branch Director Type 2) who reports to the Operations Section Chief and coordinates federal support for response and recovery to disasters that result in considerable levels of damage or disruption that severely impacts the affected population and infrastructure requiring sustained federal recovery support.

When deployed, the Emergency Management Specialist (Response) (Operations Branch Director Type 2) typical assignments include:

• Ensuring information is rapidly and effectively shared throughout the incident organization and to/from the disaster start.
• Coordinating with FEMA Stafford Act program managers to ensure the delivery of programs are consistent, meets customer needs, and is implemented in accordance with Stafford Act requirements and FEMA policy.
• Developing strategies and tactics in support of incident objectives.
• Participates in exercises at the national, regional and state level and all required training with states, territories and other federal agencies.

When not deployed, the Emergency Management Specialist (Response) (Operations Branch Director Type 2) typical assignments include:

• Providing input for development of and participating in the execution and documentation of functions and plans affecting critical aspects of FEMA's mission, operational responses and programs.
• Providing basic instruction on disaster-related topics to regions, states and local authorities.
• Participating in the development of regional catastrophic planning for all-hazard responses.
• Assisting in the development of plans, goals, and objectives for new initiatives and programs.
• Evaluating and providing recommendations for improving effectiveness of existing programs and activities.

What else do I need to know?

At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. 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.

This announcement is for a position as an IMAT CORE (Incident Management Assist Team, Cadre of Response/Recovery Employee). IMAT CORE employees are full time employees hired to directly support the response and recovery efforts related to disasters. IMATs are the first FEMA personnel deployed to an incident and manage the field-level federal response and early recovery with a primary focus on critical infrastructure stabilization, especially life-saving and life-sustaining efforts. Appointments to IMAT CORE positions may be renewed based upon workload needs and funding availability. Employees are hired under the Robert T. Stafford Act and are excluded from the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing jobs in the competitive service. They can be hired under a streamlined process instead of a competitive process. After 3 years of continuous service, Stafford Act employees may be granted competitive eligibility to apply for permanent full-time positions at FEMA.

Appointments may be renewed based on workload, funding, and supervisory approval.

Conditions of employment

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 High Risk as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a 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 (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations.

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.

Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below and that you clearly describe how your experience meets these requirements within your resume.

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to be considered for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective Service registration required.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government travel card
• Travel will be required.
• You may be required to be on a 24 hour on-call work schedule during emergency response periods.
• Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.

Qualifications

All qualifications and eligibility requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

To qualify for thisEmergency Management Specialist (Response) (Operations Branch Director Type 2) position at the IT-3 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the IT-2 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:

• Developing and maintaining emergency response or recovery plans;
• Integrating or assisting with the integration of partner agencies into a unified response and/ or recovery structure in support of senior leadership priorities and intent; and
• Leading a team by engaging in activities such as providing guidance, communicating priorities, and/or delegating authority

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:

• Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
• Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

Are you qualifying based on your work experience?

• Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
• Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."
• 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
• For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume, supporting documentation, and your responses to the occupational questionnaire to ensure you meet the minimum qualification requirements listed in the announcement. If you are qualified, you may be referred to a hiring manager for consideration.

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

We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process. To preview, please review: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13113310.

Do not include photos, personally identifying information (PII) (including birthday and social security numbers), or personal information such as age, sex, medical history, etc. Resumes that include any of this information will be ineligible for further review.

It is your responsibility to verify that any information entered or uploaded is received and is accurate. Determining your eligibility and qualifications is dependent on the supporting documentation and information provided, which may impact your referral for further consideration. If a document is not legible, Human Resources will not be able to view it in your application. All application materials, including transcripts, must be in English.

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