Job Description

Summary

This position is located within a National Forest. The primary purpose of this position is to provide a wide range of logistical and administrative support functions.

This job is open to

The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Duties

• Participates in the management of the organization by performing routine administrative and miscellaneous clerical duties.
• Answers and screens all emergency calls, personal telephone inquiries relative to the activities of the dispatch office when the information required can be supplied from own knowledge of departmental operations or located in office files or records.
• Refers calls to other personnel or component organizations as appropriate.
• Maintains office files, searches for and withdraws material when requested.
• Compiles statistical data reports, charts or records.
• Extracts data from documents and posts or tabulates.
• Verifies accuracy of computations or computer quantities.
• Receives, sorts, routes incoming mail or correspondence and makes distribution.
• Uses standard computer hardware/software programs and procedures to input, update, review, and/or retrieve data.
• Utilizes special computer programs within dispatch in assisting personnel before and when on an emergency scene.
• Compiles information in appropriate computer software.
• Provides critical logistical support information to supervisor and makes recommendations concerning the efficient use of available resources.
• Shares pertinent information with cooperators and other interested entities.
• Gathers information for the development and maintenance of the dispatch mobilization guide and internal dispatch operating guides.
• Transcribes and maintains all telephone and two-way radio transmissions in appropriate communication logs.

Requirements

Conditions of employment

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Direct Deposit Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of your choosing.
• Must be 18 years of age.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-Verify.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.


Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.



GS-05: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-4 grade level; OR a bachelor's degree or 4 years of successfully completed education above high school; OR combinations of successfully completed post-high school education (in excess of the first 60 semester hours) and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university.



Examples of specialized experience include: Performed general clerical and administrative work such as mail and files, answering and screening emergency calls. Used standard computer hardware/software programs and telecommunications equipment to maintain records, generate reports, and process requests. Informed supervisors of logistical support activities and made recommendations concerning the efficient use of available resources (i.e. equipment, resources, and supplies). Gathered information for the development and maintenance of the dispatch mobilization guide and internal dispatch operation guides.


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.


To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Additional information

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy is being used to fill positions for FY2026 Temporary Employment Hiring season. The expected start date for this position will be between April 19, 2026 to June 14,2026.


By selecting the "Location Negotiable" option during the application process, implies your willingness to be considered for any official duty location listed on this announcement and/or those duty locations not listed for this Regional announcement. Pay rates vary depending on location. The salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.


This position is temporary, has a Not-to-Exceed date and will be filled for up to 6 months or as a not to exceed (NTE) 1 year, however an extension of the appointment may be possible without further competition. The appointment may also end early due to lack of work or lack of funds.


Applicants who apply under this job opportunity announcement agree to have their application, associated documents and applicable personal information shared with other groups within the Region who have vacancies within the same occupational series, grade, full performance level and in any of the geographic location(s) listed on the announcement. Applying to this announcement does not replace the need to apply to other job opportunity announcements for which you wish to receive consideration.


The duty station for this position will be at one of the duty locations listed in this announcement. Salary range as shown is the locality pay Rest of U.S. (RUS). Pay rates vary by location. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for additional information on pay rates.


The USDA Forest Service has legislative authority to recruit and fill Permanent (Career/Career-Conditional), Temporary, and Term Appointments under the USDA Demonstration Project. Under this authority, any U.S. citizen may apply.


Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/ICTAP candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP/ICTAP eligible must meet the agency's definition for a quality candidate as provided in the How You Will Be Evaluated section of this announcement to be considered.


If you are retired from the Federal Government and are selected for this vacancy, your retirement annuity may be offset from your pay.


This position is not eligible for telework.

Availability of government housing and federal day care facilities will vary by location.


Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated in accordance with the category rating procedure as defined in the USDA Demonstration Project Plan. Applicants who meet the basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be placed in the Eligible category. Eligible applicants will be further evaluated against criteria for placement in the Quality category. This evaluation is based on the level of your experience, education, and/or training as determined by your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire. Applicants with veterans' preference are listed ahead of applicants who do not have veterans' preference within each category.


Applicants who meet the minimum qualification requirements established for the position will be referred to the selecting official.


Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your abilities, or you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.

Required Documents

The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.

• Resume that includes: Personal Information: name, address, contact information; Education ; Work Experience related to this position as described in the major duties including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); other qualifications . Resume cannot exceed 2 pages .
• If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application if it includes your name and the necessary course information; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. For a list of private organizations that evaluate education, visit the NACES website. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
• Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), current performance appraisal with rating of at least "Fully Successful" or equivalent, and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.


Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.


Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages.


This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis; contact the Agency Contact to request this.


To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents.


Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration.


Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.

Agency contact information

HRM Contact Center

Phone

1-877-372-7248 X2

Email

HRM_Contact_Center@usda.gov

Address

USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US

Next steps

Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS account to check your application status.


You must choose to turn on email notifications in your USAJOBS profile if you want to receive important email notifications that may impact your applicant experience (e.g. If you start an application and do not submit it prior to the closing date, USAJOBS will send an email reminder that the closing date is approaching and your application is in an incomplete status).


Multiple positions may be filled from this announcement.


Under the Fair Chance Act, agencies are not allowed to request information about an applicant's criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has been made, except as allowed for access to classified information; assignment to national security duties or positions; acceptance or retention in the armed forces; or recruitment of a Federal law enforcement officer. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information related to an organization's alleged noncompliance with the Fair Chance Act. The complaint must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged noncompliance. To make a Fair Chance Act inquiry or complaint, send an email with the appropriate information to sm.fs.hrm_elr@usda.gov, subject line: Fair Chance Act.

Overview

Accepting applications

Open & closing dates

10/15/2025 to 10/29/2025

Salary

$19.33 to - $19.33 per hour

Pay scale & grade

GS 5

Locations

Many vacancies in the following locations:

Grand Junction, CO

Montrose, CO

Location Negotiable After Selection

Rapid City, SD

Remote job

No

Telework eligible

No

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

Appointment type

Temporary

Work schedule

Full-time

Service

Competitive

Promotion potential

None

Job family (Series)

• 2151 Dispatching

Supervisory status

No

Security clearance

Other

Drug test

No

Financial disclosure

No

Bargaining unit status

No

Announcement number

26-TEMP3-R2-FS2855-5DT-GD

Control number

848033300

Job Tags

Hourly pay, Permanent employment, Full time, Temporary work, Part time, Work experience placement, Work at office, Relocation, Monday to Friday,

Similar Jobs