Public Affairs Specialist

Summary

This position serves as a public affairs specialist in the Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience (ODR&R) Field Operations Center - East (FOC-E) and Field Operations Center - West (FOC-W). The primary function is to provide information to ODR&R's internal and external customers and appropriate government offices at the Federal, State and local levels concerning the SBA Disaster Assistance Program.

Duties

As a/an Public Affairs Specialist at theGS- 1035-11, some of your typical work assignments may include: Plans, organizes, and prepares material (e.g., press releases, photographs, flyers, and formal/informal presentations). Prepares and disseminates news releases and articles for the print media, selecting photographs to accompany the written material. Assists the Lead and Senior Public Affairs Specialists in communicating with program managers to determine media, governmental and public information needs of the disaster program. Assists senior Public Affairs Specialists and Field Operations Specialists in preparing for media coverage of local events. IMPORTANT NOTES: The salary listed in the vacancy announcement is from the 2026 Rest of U.S. pay table, your actual salary amount will be dependent on your final duty station location. Your primary residence is considered your official duty station. TRAVEL STATEMENT- You may be required to travel to a disaster site during increased disaster activity for extended periods with little or no advanced notice. If so, you may encounter hazardous working and/or living conditions; i.e., no water or electricity and/or minimal lodging facilities. Travel expenses are compensated based on SBA policy and Federal regulations.This position works on an as needed basis. This means that employees are in a pay and duty status only when activated to respond to workload needs, especially in response to heightened disaster activity. When not needed, employees return to a non-pay status until the next event necessitates additional staff. However, depending on the workload and/or level of disaster activity, your work schedule may be changed to full-time. Subsequently, if the workload decreases, you may be placed in a NonPay Status.Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required while on assignment (up to seven days a week and twelve to fourteen hours a day).A valid driver's license may be required. Qualifications

GS-11: One year of specialized experience, equivalent to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service, obtained in either the private or public sector: Independently planning, organizing, and preparing a variety of communications such as press releases, presentations, articles, fact sheets, photos, and flyers for dissemination to media outlets, government stakeholders, and public audiences; AND Serving as an information link or spokesperson, including responding to inquiries from congressional offices, media, and government officials; preparing and delivering presentations, talking points, or speeches; and maintaining dialogue with stakeholders during high-tempo or disaster situations; AND Monitoring media coverage, identifying and correcting inaccuracies or misinformation, maintaining comprehensive contact lists and reference files. These qualifications must be clearly referenced in your resume. OR Education: If qualifying based on education, you must submit transcripts by the closing date of this announcement, or you will not be found eligible. 3 academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education. OR Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree OR LL.M., in a field directly related to the position.Examples of related degrees include public affairs, Communications, public administration and other related fields. Education must be in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position. OR A combination experience as described in "A" and graduate level education as described in "B", when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement. Only graduate level education in excess of two full years (36 semester hours) may be used in this calculation. To compute, first determine the total number of graduate level hours that exceed 36 semester hours, and then divide that number by 18 to arrive at a percentage. Then, divide the total number of months of qualifying experience by 12 to arrive at a second percentage. Add the two percentages together. The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100% to qualify. Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on OPM's Qualifications web site:General Schedule Qualification Standards 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. Generally, time in Non-Pay status as a federal employee is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed above.All qualification requirements must be met by 11:59 pm (Eastern Time) on 10/14/2026.

Education

APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE: 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 (particularly positions with a positive education requirement.) Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Verify School accreditation. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are selected for this position and qualified based on education (i.e. basic education requirement and/or substitution of education), you will be required to provide an OFFICIAL transcript prior to your first day on duty. *** If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. *** For further information, click on: Foreign Education. How You Will Be Evaluated

Applicants meeting basic eligibility requirements will be further evaluated based on additional assessments. One of these assessment is USA Hire. Based on your application and your responses to the application questionnaire, you may be presented with instructions on how to access the USA Hire system to complete the online assessments. The online assessments must be completed within 48 hours following the close of this announcement. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation for the assessment should you have a disability covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Your USA Hire assessment results will be kept on record for one year and used toward future positions for which you might apply that require the same assessments. The assessments relate to the following Competencies required to do the work of this position: Attention to Detail Customer Service Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. One of the required assessments for this position is an online assessment that measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. Your application will be evaluated under the Category Rating method based on your assessments. You will receive a score based on the responses to the assessment questions. If, after reviewing your resume and or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience your score can and will be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities. If you meet basic requirements for the position, your application will be evaluated and placed into one of three categories: 1. Best-Qualified: highly proficient with an overall comprehensive level of knowledge, skills and abilities related to the job based on a complete review of experience, education, and training as described in an applicant's responses to the assessment questions and resume. 2. Well-Qualified: competent in the position with an overall accomplished level of knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the job based on a complete review of experience, training, and education as applicable, as described in an applicant's responses to the assessment questions and resume. 3. Qualified: an overall basic level of knowledge, skills, and abilities related to the job based on a complete review of experience, education, and training, as described in an applicant's responses to the assessment questions and resume. Candidates eligible for veterans' preference will be placed ahead of other candidates in the appropriate category for which they have been rated. Additionally, preference eligibles who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent and who meet Minimum Qualification Requirements will automatically be placed in the Best Qualified Category. Benefits

Continued from theadditional information section: Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. For additional information visit www.sss.gov. Consistent with work requirements and current SBA Policy, and all applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreement with AFGE the SBA offers employees opportunities to perform work at an alternative location (e.g. home). Telework may be available. For information on Telework visit: http://www.telework.gov/ Additional vacancies may be filled from this vacancy announcement if additional vacancies occur within 180 days of the date the certificates were issued. This announcement is a readvertisement of announcement DE-26-FOCW/E-13013294. Other Information

This is a non-bargaining unit position. This is not a (drug) testing designated position. Reasonable Accommodation Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended and Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 as amended, that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a reasonable accommodation in your online application. Requests for Reasonable Accommodations for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for Reasonable Accommodation must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for Reasonable Accommodations 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 Reasonable Accommodation, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire Career and InterAgency Career Transition Assistance Programs: Are programs that applies to employees who have been involuntarily separated from a Federal service position within the competitive service or Federal service employees whose positions have been deemed surplus or no longer needed. Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) is a program that helps "surplus" or "displaced" federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job in their current agency (intra-agency, i.e. SBA employees only). Inter-Agency Career Transition Assistance (ICTAP) is a program that helps "surplus" or "displaced" federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job at another agency (inter-agency; i.e. not applying to their current or former agency). You are eligible for CTAP/ICTAP if: 1. You are a current federal employee who meets the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee meaning you have received official notice that your job is no longer needed or that you will lose your job by Reduction-in-Force (RIF). 2. Your agency, or the agency to which you are applying, is accepting applications from within or outside of the permanent workforce. 3. The position to which you are applying MUST BE in the Local Commuting Area of the position of record from which you are being displaced. 4. You meet the qualifications and other requirements of the job for which you are applying. This includes being rated as well-qualified for the position (score of 85 or better based on your responses to the competencies and associated questions listed within the assessment). Continued in the Benefist section.