Program Support Assistant (OA)

This position is located in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Field Organization, Southeast Area in Byron, GA. In this position, you will serve as a personal assistant to the Research Leader (RL) and other professional staff, coordinating a wide variety of administrative and clerical tasks essential to the program administration of the Management Unit. Providing technical and procedural advice to management and staff on administrative processes to management. Planning and organizing the work by coordinating priorities and commitments of the office in order to serve as liaison, prepare background material, and anticipate information requests. Providing training and advisory services to the Research Leader (RL) and professional staff in all program administrative procedures ensuring compliance with regulations. Preparing, maintaining, and transmitting Time and Attendance reports. Preparing travel requests and vouchers for foreign and domestic travel for office staff. Providing problem resolution in the areas of budget and accounting, agreements, travel, human resources, files management, correspondence preparation and control, time and attendance, office automation systems, and purchasing/procurement. Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. GS-06 Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. Qualifying experience for GS-06 includes one year of specialized experience at the GS-05; or its non-Federal equivalent that included experience applying guidelines involving program and administrative processes; assisting in developing and executing the annual budget (e.g. financial plans, preparing financial reports, tracking); and providing customer service to visitors and staff. GS-07 Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. Specialized experience must be described for each grade level advertised. Qualifying experience for GS-07 includes one year of specialized experience at the GS-06 grade level ; or its non-Federal equivalent that included experience applying guidelines involving program and administrative processes; assisting in developing and executing the annual budget (e.g. developing financial plans, monitoring spending, preparing financial reports, tracking); providing customer service to visitors and staff; operating a personal computer, printers, scanners, word processing, spreadsheets or presentation software and coordinating all aspects of travel for staff or supervisors. All applicants must be able to type at least 40 words per minute. 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 and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. You must be a US Citizen or US National. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt. 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 their financial institution. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit https://www.e-verify.gov/. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period unless previous federal service is creditable. During this time your employment will be evaluated, and we may consider: your performance and conduct, the needs and interests of the agency, whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government, and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.