Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist

Description:

The Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist is based at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System and serves as the public affairs officer for the Healthcare System.

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days the closing date of this announcement, 02/27/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement : Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12 . The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.
Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Ability to plan work to be accomplished by subordinates, set and adjust short-term priorities, and prepare schedules for completion of work; ability to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the internal/external information programs, media relations and community relations programs in achieving greater understanding of the facility's mission and goals; ability to gather and evaluate information to address issues arising from external stakeholders such as congressional offices, or other federal government agencies in compliance of patient's privacy laws and guidelines; prioritizing strategies that advance strategic goals of patient experience, quality or efficiency, employee engagement, community partnership and environment of care; supporting stakeholder education through the delivery of content (e.g., printed, digital, internet, social media) that's valuable, credible and relevant.

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; religions; 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.

Note : A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ .