Training Specialist

This position is located in United States Fire Administration (USFA), Emmitsburg, Maryland. The ideal candidate for this position will be an experienced training specialist skilled in adult learning, curriculum development, and contract oversight for fire and emergency programs; able to analyze needs, address training gaps, manage specialty areas, and improve courses/materials.

Major duties

What will I do in this position if hired? In this position, you will serve as Training Specialist. Typical assignments include: Developing education programs for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) audiences, including courses, instructional materials, publications, and related training products, using adult learning theory and instructional systems design principles. Implementing and evaluating training programs by coordinating course delivery, reviewing instructional effectiveness, analyzing learner and program outcomes, and revising content to address emerging national fire service and EMS issues. Serving as a functional area expert and program manager for assigned US Fire Administration/National Fire Academy (USFA/NFA) specialty or curriculum areas, providing technical guidance and ensuring training programs support national fire service and EMS education needs. Conducting curriculum assessments and analyses by collecting stakeholder input, identifying program strengths, weaknesses, shortfalls, and training needs, and coordinating the development or revision of courses and educational systems. What else do I need to know? At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

Qualifications

Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement. To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:

1. Operating desktop computers applicable software to generate reports, update databases, and produce text-documents/briefing slides, AND
2. Utilizing education principles, techniques, and theories to meet the workforce requirements, AND
3. Continuing education to oversee career-related and professional development education and programs, AND
4. Working knowledge of theory, principles, and practices of curriculum development to plan, develop and implement technical professional development programs.

AND Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR)- In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must meet the following requirements to be considered qualified for the position Teaching or instructing in an adult education program, secondary school, college, military installation, or industrial establishment in the appropriate field(s). Supervising or administering a training program. Development or review of training/course materials, aids, devices, etc., and evaluation of training results, Work in the occupation or subject-matter field of the position to be filled that required training or instructing others on a regular basis. 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 two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages. Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience. 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 grade level, occupational series 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

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. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that interferes with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment, you may request a RA in your online application. Requests and supporting documentation for a RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Assessment. Decisions for a RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If your RA request is approved and you meet minimum qualifications, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Assessment. If you receive the USA Hire URL link after the close of the announcement, you must complete all assessments within 48 hours. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Requirements

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 Public Trust - Moderate 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. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office. Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below. Key Requirements:

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
• You must successfully pass a background investigation.
• Selective Service registration required.
• Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
• You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.

Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.