• A background investigation will be required for this position. Continued employment will be subject to the applicant’s successful completion of a background security investigation and favorable adjudication. Failure to successfully meet these requirements will be grounds for termination.
• Throughout the recruitment and hiring process we will be communicating with you via email; therefore, it is imperative that the email address you provide when applying for this vacancy remains active. Should your email address change, please notify the point of contact identified in the vacancy announcement as soon as possible so that we can update our system.

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: https://www.opm.gov/policy.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
DRIVERS LICENSE REQUIREMENT: Position requires driving a government vehicle for field work, movement of equipment and/or supplies between buildings, acquisition of supplies, or meetings at other locations. Must be able to obtain and maintain a valid state driver’s license to operate a government vehicle in performance of tasks (e.g., site visits, field research, etc.).

This position may require regular travel to scientific study sites and/or performance of duties onboard a vessel.

EDUCATION:

IOR
Degree: biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

OR

Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: This position has a positive Education Requirement in addition to at least one year of Specialized Experience OR substitution of education for experience OR combination (if applicable) in order to be found minimally qualified. Transcripts must be submitted with your application package. You MUST meet the following requirements:

In addition to meeting the basic requirements, you must meet:

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: 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.

To qualify at the ZP-02 (GS-07/09) grade level:
Applicants must possess one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the ZP-1 (GS-05) in the Federal service. Specialized experience MUST include all of the following:

• Assisting with fish husbandry or sampling of salmonids (trout and salmon) or marine fish (e.g. sablefish, cod, etc.); and
• Participating in running laboratory assays (such as immunoassays or gene expression) for blood or other tissues from aquatic animals.

OR

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: Completion of 1 year of graduate-level education.

OR

SUPERIOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT (S.A.A): S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership:

• Class standing — Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses.
• Grade-point average (G.P.A.) — Applicants must have a grade-point average of: 2.9 or higher out of a possible 4.0 (“B” or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 (“B+” or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. Grade-point averages are to be rounded to one decimal place. For example, 2.95 will round to 3.0 and 2.94 will round to 2.9.
• Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society — Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies listed below. Agencies considering eligibility based on any society not included in the following list must ensure that the honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies. Membership in a freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this provision.

OR

COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A combination of education and experience as described above.