Summary
The Recent Graduates Program is a dynamic, one-year developmental program that promotes careers in the Federal Government to recent graduates. Participants in the Program receive training and professional development, complete an Individual Development Plan (IDP), and are assigned a mentor. Recent Graduates who successfully complete Program requirements may be eligible for non-competitive conversion to a term or permanent position in the civil service.
Duties
The following are the duties of this position at the GS-9. Since you are being selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform all these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position.
As a Budget Analyst, you will:
- Perform budget formulation, execution, and administration work involving the monitoring of obligations incurred and the actual expenditures of funds as well as development of budget materials.
- Monitor, track, and review obligations, expenditures, reimbursable orders, and requests for allotments, identifying and reporting differences that are not aligned with annual work plans and actions taken regarding budget requests.
- Review and perform initial analysis of budget estimates and requests for allotments submitted by managers for accuracy of format, mathematical accuracy, adequacy of supporting narrative justification, and conformance with DOE budgetary policy and guidelines.
- Review organizational historical data and/or match funding requests or projected costs of select line items with past records to determine trends in spending and forecasts annual funding needs.
- Assist in the preparation, review, and consolidation of budget formulation narratives, estimates, and justifications including requests that result from annual guidance, DOE and program decisions, and Congressional action.
- Provide assistance and guidance on performance and budgeting and related information, and conducts analyses, reviews and special studies of assigned area of DOE budget and/or related information.
- Provide advice on budget and related matters such as types of funding available, effects of budgetary changes on related activities, and status and use of funds.
Qualifications
You must meet the eligibility and qualifications within 3 months of the closing date of this announcement.
To be eligible for the Pathways Recent Graduate program you must be a:
- Recent graduate who has completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational, technical degree, or certificate from a qualifying educational institution or completed a qualifying career or technical education program that awards a recognized postsecondary credential (such as a Registered Apprenticeship Program or Job Corps).
-OR-
- Student who within 3 months of the closing date of this announcement will meet the education requirements and will graduate with a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, vocational, technical degree, or certificate from a qualifying educational institution or completed a qualifying career or technical education program. A student may not be appointed to a position until they have graduated.
-OR-
- Preference eligible veterans who have been precluded from applying due to their military service obligation begin their two-year eligibility period upon release or discharge from active duty. Eligibility for these veterans cannot exceed six years after degree or certificate completion. You MUST submit a copy of the DD214 showing the duration and dates of service that precluded you from applying due to the military service obligation.
For the GS-05: You must have 3 years of progressively responsible general experience, 1 year of which was equivalent to at least GS-4, that demonstrates the ability to:
- Analyze problems to identify significant factors, gather pertinent data, and recognize solutions;
- Plan and organize work; and
- Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-5 BASED ON EDUCATION: 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business administration, economics, or similarly related major that provided the knowledge, skills, or abilities to perform the work of this position.
OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-5 BASED ON A COMBINATION OF EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: You may qualify on a combination of education and experience, the total percentage of experience at the required grade level compared to the specialized experience requirement, as well as the percentage of completed education compared to the educational requirement must equal at least 100 percent.
NOTE: General experience may have been gained in administrative, professional, technical, investigative, or other responsible work. Experience in substantive and relevant secretarial, clerical, or other responsible work may be qualifying as long as it provided evidence of the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA’s) necessary to perform the duties of the position to be filled. Experience of a general clerical nature (typing, filing, routine procedural processing, maintaining records, or other nonspecialized tasks) is not creditable. Trades or crafts experience appropriate to the position to be filled may be creditable for some positions.
For the GS-07: You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience for this position at the GS-7 includes:
- Assisting in creating financial or budget reports.; AND
- Assisting in budget formulation or execution.
OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-7 BASED ON EDUCATION: 1 full year of graduate level education in finance, accounting, business administration, economics, or similarly related major that provided the knowledge, skills, or abilities to perform the work of this position.
OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-7 BASED ON SUPERIOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: Bachelor’s degree with superior academic achievement is defined as:(1) Class standing — You must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision based on completed courses, (2) Grade-point average (G.P.A.) — You must have 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum OR 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum, or(3) Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society — You are a member of one of the national scholastic honor societies recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies (https://www.achshonor.org/). The Bachelor degree must still show the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform in this position.
OR YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR THE GS-7 BASED ON A COMBINATION OF EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: You may qualify on a combination of education and experience, the total percentage of experience at the required grade level compared to the specialized experience requirement, as well as the percentage of completed education compared to the educational requirement must equal at least 100 percent.
Education must be obtained from an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Education
FOREIGN EDUCATION: Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the requirements. You must show proof the education credentials have been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. education program. It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying. For special instructions pertaining to foreign education and a list of organizations that can evaluate foreign education, see the Department of Education website. If you are qualifying on foreign education, you MUST submit proof of creditability of education as evaluated by a credentialing agency. Refer to OPM Instructions.
What constitutes a valid certificate program: The Pathways Programs regulation (see 5 CFR 362.102) defines certificate program as post-secondary education at either:
- A qualifying educational institution (trade or vocational school, 2-year or 4-year college or university, or graduate or professional school) equivalent to at least one academic year of full-time study that is part of an accredited college-level, technical, trade, vocational, or business school curriculum.; OR
- A qualifying career or technical education program of at least one year that awards a recognized postsecondary credential.
What types of programs would meet the eligibility criteria for a qualifying career or technical education program?
Three types of programs meet these criteria:
- Federally administered educational programs that provide rigorous academic content, technical skill proficiency, and a recognized postsecondary credential to prepare the individual for further education and/or a career in a current or emerging profession.;
- Registered Apprenticeship Programs; and
- Federally administered local, state, national, or international volunteer service programs such as Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, and similar programs. For these types of programs there is modified criteria for volunteer service programs in the definition of what is considered a qualifying career and technical education program. A volunteer must have completed either at least one year of volunteer service or at least 1700 work hours when the length of volunteer service is less than 1 year. For programs of at least a year, an applicant could meet the eligibility criteria by serving in one volunteer program for 12 consecutive months, or by completing a total of 52 weeks of service during multiple periods of service. For programs of less than a year, a volunteer would need to complete at least 1700 work hours during one or multiple periods of service. When the volunteer has participated in multiple periods of service, the periods of service do not need to be consecutive. However, the most recent period of service must have been completed within 2 years of applying for a Pathways Recent Graduate appointment.
What is a Federally administered career or technical education program?
A Federally administered career or technical education program is subject to programmatic oversight by a federal agency that includes:
- The nature and scope of work to be performed by participants,
- The type(s) and scope of training to be provided to participants,
- The types of skills participants will acquire or develop during the program (e.g., teaching, environmental, business, scientific, public health/health care, languages),
- The level and extent of mentoring participants will receive, and
- The metrics for successful completion of the program.
Programmatic oversight may be reflected in partnership or cooperative agreements.
CONVERSION REQUIREMENTS: DOE has the option to non-competitively convert a Recent Graduate to a permanent or term position upon successful completion of program requirements. This is not automatic, nor guaranteed. Conversion is at the discretion of the hiring manager and employing office. To be eligible to be converted to a permanent or term position you must:
- Be a US Citizen or National
- Be recommended for conversion by your manager or supervisor.
- Complete all training and development requirements within the 1-year appointment period.
- Successful completion of 1 year of continuous service.
- Demonstrate successful job performance of at least a “Fully Successful” or equivalent on performance appraisal.
- Meet the Office of Personnel Management’s qualification standards for the position to which the Recent Graduate will be converted (which may include a positive education requirement). General Schedule Qualification Standards
- A Recent Graduate may be converted to the highest General Schedule (GS) grade level qualified for at time of conversion.
Recent Graduates converted to a term position in the competitive service may subsequently be non-competitively converted to a career or career-conditional appointment without further competition.