Natural Resources Conservation Service Logo
Position Title
Supervisory Soil Scientist
Agency
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Announcement Number
23-IMP-12108587-JM Opens in new window
Open Period
Thursday, September 21, 2023 to Wednesday, September 27, 2023
For preview purposes only. To apply, please return to the USAJOBS announcement and click the Apply button.
Eligibilities
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS CAREFULLY. Your answers will be used to determine your eligibility to apply to this job opportunity announcement. You will be considered under the eligibility option(s) to which you answer YES. Select YES to all eligibility options for which you want to be considered. If you respond NO to meeting the criteria for all the eligibilities, you will not be considered for the position(s) under this announcement.

NOTE: You must submit the required supporting documentation to receive consideration for EACH selected eligibility. Failure to provide the required documents will result in an ineligible rating and your application will be excluded from consideration. Please refer to the announcement for additional information. If you still have questions concerning your eligibility for consideration, you may reach out to the contact in the announcement prior to the announcement closing. You must submit a complete application by the close of the announcement to be considered.
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1. Are you a current or former federal employee displaced from the agency hiring for this position? If yes, confirm:
  • you are located in the same local commuting area of the vacancy; AND,
  • you are applying to a position that is at or below the grade level of the position from which you were or will be separated; AND,
  • you are applying to a position that does not have greater promotion potential than the position from which you were or will be separated; AND,
  • your last performance rating of record is at least fully successful or the equivalent.
For more information, review the USAJOBS Help Center

To verify your eligibility, you must submit supporting documentation such as a Reduction in Force (RIF) separation notice or a Proposed Removal/Separation notice to include your latest performance rating (if the notice does not have this information included, you must submit a copy of your most recent performance appraisal) and a copy of your latest Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50.
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2. Are you a current or former permanent Farm Service Agency County employee? 

To verify your eligibility as a current or former permanent Farm Service Agency County employee, you must submit a copy of your Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50) or equivalent personnel action form reflecting your status.
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3. Are you currently employed with the agency/department specified in the announcement as a Federal civilian employee in the Competitive Service AND can you respond "yes" to at least one of the two below statements?
  • The grade level or at least one of the grade levels I am applying for is higher than I have previously held or currently hold? 
  • The stated full performance level of this position is at a higher grade level than any of my previous or current position's stated full performance level(s)?
To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50) or equivalent personnel action form reflecting your permanent, competitive status. Your SF-50 should document how you meet the above requirements including grade levels and full performance levels of current/past positions. You may need to submit more than one SF-50. Your SF-50 (or equivalent personnel action form) must also reflect:
  • career or career-conditional (Tenure field is 1 or 2); AND,
  • status in the competitive service (Position Occupied field is 1). 
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4. Are you currently employed with the agency/department specified in the announcement as a Federal civilian employee in the Competitive Service and you have held a permanent position at the same or higher grade level as this position with the same or higher promotion potential?

OR

Are you currently employed with the agency/department specified in the announcement as a Federal civilian employee in the Competitive Service and you have held the full performance level of this position on a permanent basis?

To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50) or equivalent personnel action form reflecting your permanent, competitive status. Your SF-50 should document how you meet the above requirements including grade levels and full performance levels of current/past positions. You may need to submit more than one SF-50.Your SF-50 (or equivalent personnel action form) must also reflect:
  • career or career-conditional (Tenure field is 1 or 2); AND,
  • status in the competitive service (Position Occupied field is 1).
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Preferences
1. In the last five years, based on the closing date of this announcement, have you served or are you currently serving as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee? You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed.
  • A political appointee is an appointment made by the President without confirmation by the Senate (5 CFR 213.3102(c)) OR an assistant position to a top-level federal official if filled by a person designated by the President as a White House Fellow (5 CFR 213.3102(z)).
  • A Schedule C appointee occupies a position excepted from the competitive service by the President, or by the Director of OPM, because of the confidential or policy-determining nature of the position duties (5 CFR 213.3301 and 5 CFR 213.3302).
  • A Non-career SES appointee is approved by the White House and serves at the pleasure of the appointing official without time limitations (5 CFR 317 Subpart F).
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Assessment 1
Thank you for your interest in the Supervisory Soil Scientist, GS-0470-13 position with the Federal government. Note: Your application materials must support your responses to the following questionnaire. (limit characters)
1. Select the one statement that best describes how you meet the basic requirement for the Supervisory Soil Scientist, GS-0470-13 position. (limit characters)
2. Select the one statement that best describes the experience you possess that demonstrates your ability to perform Supervisory Soil Scientist, GS-0470-13 position. (limit characters)
For each item, select the one response that most accurately describes your current level of experience and capability using the scale below. (limit characters)
3. Develop plans and strategies to improve the use of available resources while meeting program objectives.
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4. Manage available staff resources by preparing business plans for staff activities.
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5. Prepare and monitor Digital Soil Mapping projects to ensure they are compliant with National Cooperative Soil Survey guidelines. (limit characters)
6. Control work products so plans are in conformance with existing laws, rules, regulations, guidelines, and policy.
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7. Ensure that soil surveys and other services are responsive to the needs of the various users.
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8. Collaborate with staff on digital soil mapping to improvement processes and increase efficiency. (limit characters)
9. Support Team in ordering, inventory and tracking of reagents, instruments, and tools to improve quality of work within the office.
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10. Provide technical leadership for performing inventory, spatial inference, sampling, and classifying soils. (limit characters)
11. Manage digital soil mapping survey timelines to meet annual and long-range soil survey needs. (limit characters)
12. Collaborate with other scientists and leaders to coordinate soil survey or other integrated project work.
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13. Provide training and technical guidance in digital soil survey techniques to staff members. (limit characters)
14. Give advice or instructions to employees on technical and administrative issues.
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