Overview

  • Open & closing dates

     10/27/2020 to 11/02/2020

  • Service

    Excepted

  • Pay scale & grade

    GS 3 – 7

  • Salary

    $27,800 to $43,251 per year

  • Appointment type

    Internships

  • Work schedule

    Full-Time

    Locations

    MANY vacancies in the following locations:

  • Heflin, AL
  • Eureka, CA
  • Foresthill, CA
  • Fort Collins, CO
  • Crawfordville, FL
  • Kooskia, ID
  • Ackerman, MS
  • Missoula, MT
  • Asheville, NC
  • Benton, TN
  • Big Piney, WY
  • Laramie, WY
  • Saratoga, WY
  • Location Negotiable After Selection, United States

Duties

Summary

The Internship Program is designed to provide students enrolled in a wide variety of educational institutions, from high school to graduate level, with opportunities to work in agencies and explore Federal careers while still in school and while getting paid for the work performed. This Student Trainee position will be filled as an Intern appointment. The appointment is indefinite and is expected to last for the duration of the student’s academic attendance.

Responsibilities

  • Receives training in the principles, concepts, work processes, and regulations of one or more functional areas of Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences.
  • Work assignments are usually clear-cut and designed to provide experience in a variety of activities.
  • On a scheduled basis, following the Pathways Participant Agreement, receives assignments in various Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences functions to gain an understanding of the various program concepts and operations.
  • Develop an understanding of the total mission as well as organizational/functional interrelationships.
  • Develop a foundation for more specialized application of knowledge gained from on-the-job training assignments.
  • Receives formal and on-the-job training in OPM, Department of Agriculture and Forest Service policies, rules, regulations, and procedures.
  • Is instructed on the use of personal computers, and file and data management.

Travel Required

Occasional travel – You may be expected to travel for this position.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Must be at least 16 years of age and meet education requirements.
  • Must be suitable for Federal employment as determined by a background investigation.
  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National at the time of non-competitive conversion to a term or permanent position in the competitive service.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify/.
  • The incumbents of Internship positions may be reassigned/relocated to any geographical location where the employee’s services are needed as determined by management. Mobility agreement may be required.
  • Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
  • A signed participant agreement is required for employment under Pathways.
  • Complete at least 640 hours of work experience prior to graduation
  • Maintain Pathways program eligibility for the duration of the appointment.
  • Must be in good academic standing as defined by the educational institution.
  • Must be enrolled at least half-time in a qualifying educational institution seeking a qualifying degree or certificate.
  • The candidate’s academic and career goals must be related to the position that they are appointed to.
  • May be required to successfully complete a probationary/trial period.
  • This may be a bargaining unit position represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees, IAMAW.

Qualifications

You are required to meet the eligibility requirements of the Internship program, as described below in order to be considered for this position. You must meet all the eligibility and qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, go to: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Group-Standards

INTERNSHIP PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY

You must meet the definition of a student that is, be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in an accredited technical or vocational school, two-year or four-year college or university, graduate or professional school. You must be taking at least a half-time academic course load leading to a degree or certificate. A certificate program is defined as a post-secondary education, in a qualifying educational institution, equivalent to at least one academic year of full-time study that is part of an accredited college-level, technical, trade, vocational, or business school curriculum.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

Basic Requirement:
The minimum qualification requirements for each grade level of this vacancy announcement are described below:

Note: One full academic year of undergraduate; graduate; vocational; trades; technical or high school is the number of credit hours by the college, university or school to represent one year of full-time study.

  • For GS-03: Completion of one full academic year of post-high school study
  • For GS-04: Completion of an associate’s degree or 2 academic years of post-high school study
  • For GS-05: Completion of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent degree
  • For GS-07: Completion of one full year of graduate level education

May be converted to any position with a Full Performance Level not to exceed GS-09. Conversion to a position with a full performance level of GS-09 is not guaranteed, you may or may not be offered conversion.

Education

Education completed in foreign colleges and universities may be used if it has been accredited or evaluated by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

The link to the hiring event at the Society of American Foresters (SAF) convention can be found at:https://www.fs.fed.us/forestmanagement/recruitment_saf/index.shtml and https://www.eforester.org/safconvention

This position has a positive education requirement. The student must be currently enrolled in a related degree program that will satisfy on graduation the specific requirements in the qualification standard for the position.

Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor’s or higher degree that included a major field of study in forestry; or a related subject-matter field that included a total of at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours of course work were in forestry. The curriculum must have been sufficiently diversified to include courses in each of the following areas:

Management of Renewable Resources — study of the science and art of managing renewable resources to attain desired results. Examples of creditable courses in this area include silviculture, forest management operations, timber management, wildland fire science or fire management, utilization of forest resources, forest regulation, recreational land management, watershed management, and wildlife or range habitat management.

Forest Biology — study of the classification, distribution, characteristics, and identification of forest vegetation, and the interrelationships of living organisms to the forest environment. Examples of creditable courses in this area include dendrology, forest ecology, silvics, forest genetics, wood structure and properties, forest soils, forest entomology, and forest pathology.

Forest Resource Measurements and Inventory — sampling, inventory, measurement, and analysis techniques as applied to a variety of forest resources. Examples of creditable courses include forest biometrics, forest mensuration, forest valuation, statistical analysis of forest resource data, renewable natural resources inventories and analysis, and photogrammetry or remote sensing.

OR

Combination of education and experience — courses equivalent to a major in forestry, or at least 30 semester hours in any combination of biological, physical, or mathematical sciences or engineering, of which at least 24 semester hours were in forestry. The requirements for diversification of the 24 semester hours in forestry are the same as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

The term positive education requirement refers to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) determination that the duties of a scientific, technical, or professional position cannot be performed by an individual that does not have the prescribed minimum education. For additional information on the qualification standards for the 0460 series, visit the OPM Qualifications Standard found at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0400/forestry-series-0460/

Society of American Foresters (SAF) Conference Information:

The link to the hiring event at the Society of American Foresters (SAF) convention can be found at:https://www.fs.fed.us/forestmanagement/recruitment_saf/index.shtml and https://www.eforester.org/safconvention

For additional information, please email: SM.FS.SAF-hiring@usda.gov

These positions are located in the following locations: BU = Bargaining Unit; NON BU = Non
Bargaining Unit

Position located in the following locations are BU Eligible:
Position in Eureka, CA, Missoula, MT and Kooskia, ID.

Position located in the following locations are NON BU Eligible:
Position in Foresthill, CA, Big Piney, WY, Asheville, NC, Saratoga, WY, Laramie, WY, Heflin, AL, Crawfordvil, FL, Benton, TN, Ackerman, MS and Fort Collins, CO.

Selecting the “Location Negotiable after Selection” option in addition to selecting your preferred specific duty locations, implies your willingness to accept positions to alternative duty locations that may or may not have been indicated in this announcement. Selecting this duty location option may increase your chances of receiving an offer.

Apply here: usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/582716000#