HR Assistant (Benefits)

Summary

Base salary listed - Salary is dependent upon the associated duty station which will be determined upon hire. You may look up salary listed on these locality tables OPM Locality Pay Tables based on these Locality Pay Area Definitions.

NOTE:First time hires to the Federal Government are typically hired atStep 01.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies in the advertised office or other U.S. Geological Survey offices in the local commuting area.

Learn more about this agency This job is open to

• Recent graduates
  
  

Individuals who have graduated from an accredited educational institute or certificate program within the last 2 years or 6 years for Veterans.

Clarification from the agency

Open to all qualified U.S. Citizens that meet the eligibility requirements for the Pathways Recent Graduates Program as described below.

DutiesThis is a Recent Graduate position under the Pathways Program and is open to individuals who have obtained a qualifying degree or certificate from an accredited educational institution or completed a qualifying career or technical education program within the previous two years. The program provides a one-year full-time developmental experience in federal agencies. Veterans with service obligations may apply up to six years after graduation. Additional information can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/recent-graduates. You are required to provide documentation to support eligibility.

As a Human Resouces Assistant (Benefits) within the Human Capital- Employee/Labor Relations and Benefits Branch, some of your specific duties will include:

• Reviews and completes personnel request submitted trough the federal personnel payroll system (FPPS) to determine and document the nature of action.
• Provides guidance and assistance to customers on retirement and a variety of benefits and retirement and employee relations programs.
• Completes actions, prepares documentation, and records and communicates with others in a variety of organizations withing and outside of USGS to complete assignments.
  
  

RequirementsConditions of EmploymentKey Requirements:

• Applicants must be U.S. Citizens.
• Suitable for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.
• The duration of the Recent Graduates appointment is a trial period.
• Recent Graduates will be required to sign a Pathways Recent Graduate Participant Agreement.
• More requirements are listed under Qualifications and Other Information.
  
  

Are There Any Special Requirements For This Position?

• This vacancy is limited to the first 50 applications received and will close at midnight Eastern Time on the day this application limit is reached regardless of the closing date specified in this vacancy announcement. Any application received prior to midnight Eastern Time of the day the application limit is reached will be accepted and considered. You are strongly encouraged to submit all required supporting documents at the time of application should the vacancy close earlier than stated in this announcement due to the applicant limit being reached. Supporting documents will not be accepted once the vacancy announcement closes.
• Because this position requires travel for official business, the selectee will be required to apply for a charge card within 30 calendar days of appointment. Individuals who have delinquent account balances from a previous Government charge card will be required to satisfy their existing obligation before a new card can be issued.
• The Recent Graduate Program lasts for 1 year. Participants who successfully complete the Recent Graduate Program may be eligible for conversion to a permanent appointment or a term (1-4 years in duration) appointment without further competition.
• 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.
• 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.
  
  

Qualifications

Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible for an appointment under the Pathways Recent Graduate Program you must meet the following requirements:

• You must be a recent graduate who has completed, within the previous two years, an associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution such as an accredited technical or vocational school; a 2- or 4-year college or university; a graduate or professional school (e.g., law school, medical school); or a post-secondary home school curriculum; or a qualifying career or technical education program (e.g., Registered Apprenticeship Programs, Job Corps, Climate Corps, AmeriCorps, and Peace Corps). Note: Qualifying volunteer service must be from a federally administered program indicating completion of either: at least 52 weeks of volunteer service (through one or multiple periods of service), or at least 1,700 work hours when the volunteer service period is less than one year. Note: Certificate program is defined as post-secondary education in a qualifying educational institution equal to at least one academic year of full-time study that's part of an accredited college-level, technical, trade, vocational, or business school curriculum.
• Veterans who were precluded from applying due to their military service obligation begin their 2-year eligibility period upon release or discharge from active duty; however, eligibility for these veterans cannot exceed 6 years from the date on which the degree, certificate or qualifying career or technical education program was obtained. The date of release or discharge from active duty should be later than the date the degree or certificate was obtained.
  
  

DEFENITIONS:

Undergraduate Education: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite.

Graduate Education: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

Experience: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows: 2 yrs = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.)

Qualification Requirements

GS-05: Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-5 level:

One year of specialized experience in or directly related to the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, the required specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-04 level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-4 level work may include: 1) typing vacancy announcements and arranging for printing and distribution of copies according to the area of consideration; 2) maintaining files of active position descriptions by organization; 3) processing a variety of recurring official personnel actions; 4) carrying out employee requests for changes in health or life insurance coverage; 5) assisting new hires with completion of forms related to their appointments; OR

A full four years of progressive, successfully completed education above the high school level in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is a prerequisite may be used to meet the qualification requirements for GS-5. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university; OR

Equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education, as described above, and specialized experience, as described above, may be used to meet the qualification requirements for GS-5. Only progressive education in excess of the first 60 semester hours, 90 quarter hours, or 1440 classroom hours (i.e., beyond the first two years) of a course of study is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE EDUCATION & SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE)

GS-06: Applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-6 level:

One year of specialized experience in or directly related to the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, the required specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-5 level work may include: 1) explaining merit promotion procedures, procedures for reinstatement or transfer to another Federal agency, and vacancies for which applications are being accepted; 2) determining the number of eligibles to certify for vacancies; 3) providing basic information about the classification program; 4) processing a full range of recurring official personnel actions; 5) explaining the basic features of health insurance plans and/or the amount and cost of life insurance.

GS-07: Applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-7 level:

One year of specialized experience in or directly related to the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, the required specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-06 level in the Federal service.

Examples of GS-6 level work may include: 1) applying qualification standards to determine minimum eligibility for a wide variety of occupations and grade levels; 2) interviewing supervisors to determine the adequacy of a previous vacancy announcement and the nature of changes to be made; 3) evaluating applications using specific factors to place applicants in rank order for clerical occupations; 4) assisting classifier by identifying classification criteria in standards and preparing questions for position audit; 5) investigating and developing facts concerning on-the-job injuries or illnesses; 6) regularly processing a variety of unique official personnel actions.

You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements for the position by the closing date of the announcement.

Education

Education Requirements

• 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.
• Foreign Education: Education completed in colleges or universities outside the United States may be used to meet the above requirements. You must provide acceptable documentation that the foreign education is comparable to that received in an accredited educational institution in the United States. For more information on how foreign education is evaluated, visit: https://www.usgs.gov/human-capital/how-foreign-education-evaluated-federal-jobs
  
  

Additional information

• This position is being filled under the Pathways Recent Graduate Program that affords developmental experiences in the Federal Government intended to promote possible careers in the civil service to individuals who have recently graduated from qualifying educational institutions or programs.
• Applicants who include vulgar, offensive, or inappropriate language or information in their application package will be ineligible for further consideration for this position.
• Identification of promotion potential in this announcement does not constitute a commitment or an obligation on the part of management to promote the employee selected at some future date. Promotion will depend upon administrative approval and the continuing need for and performance of higher-level duties.
• Under Executive Order 11935, only United States citizens and nationals (residents of American Samoa and Swains Island) may compete for civil service jobs. Agencies are permitted to hire non-citizens only in very limited circumstances where there are no qualified citizens available for the position.
• USGS employees are subject to Title 43, USC Section 31(a) and may not: (a) have any personal, private, direct or indirect interest in lands or mineral wealth of lands under survey; (b) have any substantial personal, private, direct or indirect interests in any private mining or mineral enterprise doing business with the United States; or (c) execute surveys or examinations for private parties or corporations.
• The application contains information subject to the Privacy Act (P.L. 93-579, 5 USC 552a). The information is used to determine qualifications for employment, and is authorized under Title 5, USC, Section 3302 and 3361.
• DOI uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.
• The Department of the Interior (DOI) places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are fundamental principles that guide the Department and allow us to successfully achieve our mission.
• THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.
  
  

Agency Benefits

• USGS has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework in accordance with the DOI Telework policy and with supervisor approval. The official worksite for the selectee is the duty station identified in this vacancy announcement. The selectee will typically report to this duty location on a regular and recurring weekly basis.
• For additional information on our internal telework policy, please reference the Department of the Interior Telework Handbook at: https://www.doi.gov/telework/policies.
• Working for the U.S. Geological Survey offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; health, life, dental, vision, and long term care insurance, flexible spending accounts, and participation in the Federal Employees Retirement System.
  
  

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.