The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has an immediate need to employ temporary local hires to assist with disaster response and recovery efforts in West Des Moines, Iowa. Local hire employees are typically local residents who aid in the recovery of their community and help their fellow citizens in the recovery process. A local hire's term of employment is 120 days. Local Hire appointments may be extended, in 120-day increments, based on the needs of the disaster.

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Duties

What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will serve as a subject matter expert in the Intergovernmental/Congressional Affairs and Private Sector.

Typical assignments include:

• Providing support on activities associated with Congressional members and representatives, governmental officials, constituency groups and other stakeholder organizations.
• Participating in various outreach opportunities with governmental organizations.
• Participating in conferences, planning sessions, meetings and briefings for a variety of external stakeholders to include assisting with the development of agendas, logistical needs, and briefing materials.
• Communicating stakeholder initiatives and concerns to program liaisons for information sharing.
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What else do I need to know?

This announcement is for a position as a FEMA Local Hire. Local Hire employees help FEMA respond to, recover from and mitigate hazards by performing a variety of emergency management functions which are not limited to disaster survivor assistance, conducting and verifying damage assessments, and providing administrative, financial and logistical support.

Local Hires are Temporary Positions. The Local Hire Program is an appointment type granted under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Section 306 (b), which authorizes FEMA to appoint such temporary employees as necessary to accomplish work authorized under the Act. Appointments under this authority within FEMA are made to the excepted service and are nonpermanent in nature. A local hire's term of employment is 120 days. Local Hire appointments may be extended, in 120-day increments, based on the needs of the disaster.

FEMA is committed to ensuring that its workforce reflect the diversity of the nation.? At FEMA, our workforce includes the many identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, ages, cultures, and beliefs of the people it serves. To learn about the ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts, reasonable accommodation process, and the FEMA Core Values, please visit?www.fema.gov.? ?

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Moderate Risk as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (please visit: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional information). For more information on background investigations for Federal jobs please visit OPM Investigations.

Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.

Key Requirements:

• You must be a U.S. citizen to be considered for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective service registration is required for males born after 12/31/59.
• Please review "Other Information" section for additional conditions.
• All candidates must be a high school graduate or possess a GED.
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Qualifications

To qualify for this Local Hire (Intergovernmental/Congressional Affairs and Private Sector Specialist) position, you must possess experience:

• Facilitating relationships with partners that are external to an organization;
• Disseminating external affairs materials and/or media to customers; and
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Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:

• Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.
• Please limit your resume to five pages. If more than five pages are submitted, only the first five pages will be reviewed to determine your eligibility and qualifications.
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Are you qualifying based on your work experience?

• Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.
• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/DAE employee? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.
• Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."
• 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
• For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards
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Education

No Educational Substitution: There is no educational substitution for this position, and you must meet the qualifications listed in the "requirements" section of this announcement.

Additional information

• Local hire positions are full time, temporary positions.
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application, prior to entry on duty. False statements on any part of the application may result in withdrawal of offer of employment, dismissal after beginning work, fine, or imprisonment.
• DHS uses E-verify, an internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities.
• Deployment travel may be required, based upon agency needs. Deployment expectations can vary and will be discussed with candidates during the selection process.
• This announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.
• During the application process you will have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
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Local Hire employees are eligible for the following benefits:

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• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Ability to earn 4 hours of paid Sick Leave per pay period
• Holiday pay
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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.