Clarification from the agency

This vacancy is open to U.S. Citizens; Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) eligibles in the local commuting area.

Major duties of the Physical Scientist position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Applying principles, procedures, and techniques of physical science to maintain laboratories.
• Resolving quality assurance problems through incident management and preventative or correction policies and procedures.
• Applying the principles of quality assurance and quality control to all laboratory operations.
• Managing multiple tasks while tracking batches of samples through the preparation process.
• Coordinating with others to ensure timely accomplishment of team tasks. Completed work is peer-reviewed for technical soundness.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must be at least 16 years old.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.

Qualifications

The Physical Science Technician series has an Individual Occupational Requirement. All applicants must meet this requirement in order to be considered. You must meet the Individual Occupational Requirements and the Specialized Experience as described below to qualify for the Physical Scientist position.

INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENT: Work in the fields of astronomy, physics, geophysics, chemistry, hydrology, health physics, engineering, electronics, geology, oceanography, and metallurgy. Experience as a laboratory mechanic or in a trade or craft may be credited as general or specialized experience when the work was performed in close association with physical scientists or other technical personnel and provided intensive knowledge of appropriate scientific principles, methods, techniques, and precedents.

Please review the additional information about the Individual Occupational Requirement which can be found here: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/1300/physical-science-technician-series-1311/

In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR), applicants must meet the following specialized experience.

Specialized Experience: Specialized Experience is experience that 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.Applicants must have at least 52 weeks of Specialized Experience equivalent to the GS-07 or higher, to qualify for this position. For this position, examples of qualifying experience include:

Qualifying specialized experience for the GS-09 includes:

• Applying principles, procedures and techniques of physical science.
• Using knowledge of chemical and/or industrial hygiene terminology to effectively communicate with contacts throughout the agency.
• Applying knowledge of requirements for industrial hygiene sample preparation.
• Utilizing knowledge of federal regulations to determine proper packing and shipping procedures and/or methods.

Education: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position:

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this

How you will be evaluated

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

Your evaluation will be based on how well you meet the qualifications outlined in this vacancy announcement, as demonstrated through your resume and supporting documentation.

Click Application of Veterans Preference for more information.

You may preview application questions for this vacancy here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12925867

Clickhere for Evaluation details.

If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be evaluated against the evaluation factors below and will be placed into a category based on your vacancy question responses.

Category A - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in applying critical competencies required by this position to work of increased levels of difficulty and complexity.

Category B - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the critical competencies required by this position.

Category C - Meets the specialized experience described in the minimum qualification requirements section of this announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the basic competencies.

Clickhere for Evaluation details.

USA Hire

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Technical competence
• Quality Assurance
• Teamwork
• Self-Management

Evaluation Factors (Competencies) - All qualified applicants will be evaluated on the following key competencies:

• Technical competence
• Quality Assurance
• Teamwork
• Self-Management

The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, volunteer, as it demonstrates the competencies or skills required for the position to be filled. Your evaluation may include an interview, reference checks, or other assessment conducted by HR specialists, subject matter experts, or panel members and may include other assessment tools (ex. interview, structured interview, written test, work sample, etc.).

INFORMATION FOR ICTAP/CTAP ELIGIBLE(S) ONLY: If you are eligible for special priority selection under ICTAP/CTAP, you must be well-qualified for the position to receive consideration. ICTAP/CTAP eligible(s) who are category B or higher will be considered well-qualified. Be sure to review the eligibility questions to reflect that you are applying as an ICTAP or CTAP eligible and submit supporting documentation.

When Occupational Safety and Health Administration completes its hiring, the remaining list of qualified candidates may be shared with additional federal agencies. You will have an opportunity to opt-in if you would like your name, application material, and assessment results shared to be considered for employment with additional agencies. There is no guarantee of further consideration, and you can continue to explore other job opportunity announcements.

The following documents must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on the vacancy closing date.

• Resumes: Required and applicants must provide a resume either by creating one in USAJOBS or uploading one from your profile. To receive full consideration for relevant and specialized experience, please list the month, year, and number of work hours worked for the experience listed on your resume. We also suggest that you preview the vacancy questions and confirm that your resume supports your question responses.
• Veterans Documents (if applicable): To be considered as a 5-point (TP) preference eligible, you must submit a copy of your DD214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. Your DD 214 must show the type of discharge and dates of active duty. To claim 10-point (CP/CPS, XP) preference, you must submit a copy of your DD214 and the proof of entitlement of this preference, which is normally an official statement, dated 1991 or later, from the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying to the present existence of the service-connected disability and indicating the percentage of your disability. In addition, a Standard Form (SF-15) should be included, but is not required. (For active-duty service members expecting honorable or general discharge or release within 120 days, click Tentative Preference for Active Duty). For more information, go to Feds Hire Vets - Veterans Preference.
• Displaced Employee Placement Documents: Only required if requesting priority consideration under CTAP or ICTAP eligibility.
• Unofficial Transcript(s) (in English) - If you are using education as a basis for qualifying for this position, you must submit all applicable academic transcripts demonstrating that you meet the qualifying educational requirements (ex. BA/BS, MA, JD, PhD, etc.). If specific coursework is required to qualify, you must supply an unofficial transcript from each academic institution in which the required courses were taken in order to receive credit. You may upload your unofficial transcript(s) as one document with a maximum size limit of 5 MB.

NOTE: The OFFICIAL Transcript(s) MUST BE RECEIVED if you are selected, and prior to receiving the firm offer with a start date.

Cover Letters are not mandatory and will not be used to verify experience but may be submitted.

Do not upload password-protected documents.

Next steps