Archaeologist – National Park Service, Multiple Locations
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Duties
This is a term position (more than 1 year) with an initial appointment expecting to last at least 13 months but may be extended up to a total of four years, or more based on any changes to regulations governing the number of years term appointments may last, without further competition. Term positions do not convey permanent status in the Federal service.
The National Park Service retains the right to extend the duration of this appointment after selection and/or appointment, based on changes to the regulation governing the number of years term appointments may last. This change, which may be made at the agency's sole discretion and without further competition, shall not be construed or interpreted as the granting of a right to a selectee or employee to such an extension. No extension to a term appointment shall be granted to a selectee/employee to an amount of time that exceeds the maximum number of years authorized under any present or current regulation, unless such regulation expressly allows such action.
The following park locations are included in this announcement. See information for the Term period, salary and park location below:
Buffalo National River (BUFF) - TERM NTE: 4 years. Salary Range - $57,118 - $74,250 per year.
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (KEMO) - TERM NTE: 2 years. Salary Range - $60,314 - $78,406 per year.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (MORU) - TERM NTE: 4 years. Salary Range - $57,118 - $74,250 per year.
Olympic National Park (OLYM) - TERM NTE: 4 years. Salary Range - $57,118 - $74,250 per year.
Please visit find a park for additional park information.
Some of the duties you will perform will include, but are not limited to:
- Participate in, and conduct independently, a variety of archeological and cultural resource tasks including pre-fieldwork research, consultation, survey, reconnaissance, monitoring, test excavation, data recovery excavation, analysis and reporting.
- Provide professional and technical assistance in a variety of areas related to or impacted by the archeology function, including National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106 compliance, clearance and planning, archeological assessments, evaluations, and field inspections.
- Maintain detailed records and prepare survey records (e.g., site maps, GPS, photographs, artifact analysis forms, field notes).
- Assist with preparation of correspondence and documentation for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and tribal consultation. Communicate with, and assist project leads to support compliance, monitoring and consultation requirements.
- Maintain and enter archeological and cultural resource information into various databases, forms, and integrate a variety of software applications in resource documentation.
- Create detailed maps of cultural resources and other features using ArcGIS software and perform geospatial analyses.
- Perform archeological field work necessary to assess potential impacts to cultural resources resulting from proposed undertakings. Conduct excavation and testing of archeological sites, including the careful recovery of sample materials.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- U.S. Citizenship required.
- Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
- Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
- Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
- At BUFF, KEMO, MORU and OLYM, you may be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties. Prior to your first official motor vehicle operation, and again every year thereafter (or more frequently if management determines such need exists), you will be required to sign an affidavit certifying to your possession of a valid State issued driver's license that is current and has not been revoked, suspended, canceled, or otherwise disqualified in any way to prohibit your operation of a motor vehicle. You will also submit a photocopy of your valid State issued driver's license prior to your first official motor vehicle operation, and again every year, or more frequently if management determines such need exists. Lastly, you may be required to submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that discloses all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you.
- At BUFF, KEMO, MORU and OLYM, you will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
- You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
- You will be required to complete a one-year trial period.
- You may be required to travel overnight away from home up to 5 nights per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
- You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
- Applicants must be at least (1)18 years old or (2) at least 16 years old and: (a) Have graduated from high school or been awarded a certificate equivalent to graduating from high school; or (b) Have completed a formal vocational training program; or (c) Have received a statement from school authorities agreeing with their preference for employment rather than continuing their education; or (d) Be currently enrolled in a secondary school and either work only during school vacation periods or work part-time during the school year under a formal student employment program.
Qualifications
Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.
To qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following basic requirements:
BASIC REQUIREMENTS:
Degree: Must have obtained the education described in A through C in this paragraph: A) Bachelor or higher degree that includes 3 semester hours each in the following 5 course areas: 1) History of archaeology; 2) Archaeology of a major geographical area such as North America or Africa; 3) Regional archaeology, archaeological cultures, or sites in a specific part or portion of a major geographical area to acquire or develop a foundation for regional specialization for professional development; 4) Theory and methods of archaeology. Methods include, but are not limited to, typology, classification, sampling, cultural evolution, diffusion, dating and analytical techniques; 5) Archaeological field school, to provide a basic understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to research design implementation, field preservation techniques, and report preparation by participation in actual field work. B) IN ADDITION, must have taken six semester hours of related course work in: geography, geology, or cultural geography; history, historiography, or historical archaeology; environmental studies; scientific writing (nonfiction English composition); and/or surveying. C) AND must have completed archaeological field school. Field school must be documented in your transcripts or resume. You must include a copy of your transcripts to qualify for the education requirement.
-OR-
Related Curriculum: I have a degree in a related curriculum: Degree in anthropology (with emphasis on ethnology, physical anthropology, or scientific linguistics), history, American studies, or a related discipline may be accepted as satisfying in full the educational requirements, provided the curriculum supplied academic course work sufficiently similar to the requirements stated in A above, including archaeological field school. Field school must be documented in your transcripts or resume. You must include a copy of your transcripts to qualify for the education requirement.
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Combination of Education and Experience: I have a combination of education and experience (college-level education or training) that provided knowledge equivalent to that described in A above, plus appropriate technical experience or additional education. You must include a copy of your transcripts and hours worked per week in your resume.
-OR-
Experience: I have four years of archaeological work experience that demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and theories of professional archaeology. The work experience must have included archaeology field experience, which may include that gained in an archaeological field school. Field experience should have included a combination of professional experience in archaeological survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, and preparation of written materials. Applicants with such field experience should, after additional experience under the direction of a higher-grade archaeologist, be able to demonstrate the ability to be a crew chief, directing the work of others at a single location as a part of a larger archaeological project. You must include hours worked per week in your resume.
In addition to meeting at least one of the basic requirements listed above, to qualify for this position at the GS-09 grade level, you must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:
EXPERIENCE: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-07 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). This experience includes activities such as: conducting archeological surveys, data recovery excavations and monitoring of projects; planning and performing field inspections, research and testing, and project resource assessments; reviewing cultural resource permits and fieldwork plans; utilizing computerized systems to process and analyze archeological data; writing archeological reports on field investigations; and writing Determinations of Eligibility and National Register Nominations for archeological properties. You must include hours worked per week on your resume.
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EDUCATION: Successful completion of at least two years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree that is directly related to the position being filled. You must provide copies of your transcript.
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Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 18 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. You must provide copies of your transcript and the hours worked per week on your resume.
Volunteer Experience: 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.
Education
To qualify based on education, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.
If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.
Additional information
A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.
A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR §575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive.
A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another.
At MORU only - Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will be paid if the person selected for the position is from outside the local commuting area and is otherwise eligible for reimbursement of relocation expenses under the Federal Travel Regulations.
Employer paid and reimbursed relocation expenses are considered taxable income. The NPS does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. Employees should consult professional tax, legal and accounting advisors regarding concerns about the financial implications of a Permanent Change of Station (PCS).
Travel, transportation, and relocation expenses will not be paid for KEMO, BUFF or OLYM.
At MORU and OLYM, the National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for occasional telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval depending on park location.
At KEMO and BUFF, the National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework only during an emergency or natural disaster.
Government Housing may be available at KEMO and OLYM.
Government Housing is not available at MORU or BUFF.
Physical Demands: The position may require strenuous physical activity including periods of standing, walking, climbing, and lifting and carrying heavy objects. Some activities will occur in physically dangerous areas or settings. Documentary research and report writing work are sedentary, which entails the ability to concentrate and write for long periods of time.
Working Conditions: Work is performed both indoors and outdoors in all types of weather. Assignments may be performed in potentially hazardous areas including steep slopes, rocky terrain, volcanoes, caves, firelines, arctic environments, swamps, deserts, and forests. Flying in fixed-winged aircraft and helicopters is possible.
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 based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), the responses you provide on the application questionnaire, and the result of the additional assessments required for this position. A review of your resume and supporting documentation will be made and compared against your responses to the Assessment Questionnaire to determine if you are qualified for this job. If your resume is incomplete or does not support the responses provided in the Assessment Questionnaire, or if you fail to submit all required documentation, you will be rated 'ineligible', 'not qualified', or your score will be adjusted accordingly. If a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications or experience, you can lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully; errors or omissions can affect your rating.
Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:
- Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
- Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
- Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.
- History and Archaeology
- Planning and Evaluating
- Research
- Teamwork
- Technical Competence
- Technology Application
In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process.
Required Documents
The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 06/20/2023:
- Resume which includes a list of all significant jobs held and duties performed, dates specified in month and year format, and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. If military or civilian, please include your rank and/or grade.
- Complete All Required Assessments.
- Other Supporting Documents, if applicable, such as:
- Veterans Preference Documentation:
- If you are a Discharged, Non-Disabled Veteran, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing character of discharge (Member 4 copy), or other Documentation of Service and Separation under Honorable Conditions, as listed on the SF15. If you don't have your DD-214, you may request it after discharge from the National Archives.
- If you are a veteran within 120 days of discharge, you must submit signed documentation from the Armed Forces certifying: 1) your expected release/retirement from active duty, 2) under honorable conditions, 3) your pay grade/rank/rate at time of discharge, 4) dates of active duty service, 5) any campaign or expeditionary medals received, & 6) dated within 120 days of your separation.
- If you are a Disabled Veteran, Purple Heart Recipient, or Mother or Spouse of a Disabled or Deceased Veteran, you must submit all additional proof required by the SF15, and if applicable, a completed SF15. You may request a copy of your Department of Veterans Affairs letter from www.ebenefits.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to establish proof of disability.
- Veterans Preference Documentation:
- College transcripts, if qualifying based on education.
- Documentation for Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan consideration if you are a displaced Federal employee within the local commuting area. You must include: 1) Proof you are a displaced Federal employee, e.g., RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc; 2) SF-50s (Notifications of Personnel Action) showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, promotion potential and duty location; and 3) your most recent performance appraisal. To exercise selection priority, displaced or surplus Federal employees must be rated well-qualified or above 80 on the rating criteria for this position.
Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents. Adobe portfolio documents are not viewable by our agency's staffing offices.
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
To apply for this position: You must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. To receive consideration, the complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 06/20/2023. WE DO NOT ACCEPT HARD-COPY OR E-MAIL APPLICATION PACKAGES.
- Select Apply. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to login or create an account.
- Prompted to Start the Application Process by selecting "Start Application."
- Click here for USAJobs Help with "How to create an application"
- To PREVIEW the application questionnaire, select the following link: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/11983293
- Select or add the resume you want to use for this application. Click here on how to build a resume in USAJOBS.
- Select documents you want included in this application.
- Review package to acknowledge your documents were reviewed.
- Select if you want to include your demographic information.
- After reading and certifying the application is true and submitted in good faith, select "Continue to Agency Site."
- Follow onscreen prompts and instructions to complete your application.
- Add the supporting documents by indexing your documents with the dropdown.
- Upload any missing required documents or optional documents.
- Review and Submit Application.
- While logged in, you can check the status of your application by selecting "+" next to the job title for this position.
- You can review or revise your application at any point during the open period of the announcement.
- To update an application, you should log into your USAJOBS account and select "+" next to the job title for this position. Select "Update Application" for this job.
- Note: When you click Update Application, you will be prompted to re-select your documents from USAJOBS. Documents submitted with the first application will no longer be associated with the applicant record. So it is important that you select all documents you want to use in the re-application.
- To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a Federal job announcement includes the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to EO 14043, that requirement does not currently apply.
Agency contact information
Sarah Peterson
Email sarah_v_peterson@nps.gov
Address
NPS Inflation Reduction Act
1849 C St. NW
Washington, DC 20240
US
Next steps
Once the Occupational Questionnaire is received you will receive acknowledgement that your submission was successful. If you are among the most qualified candidates and your name is referred to the hiring official, you may be contacted directly for a possible interview. You will be notified of the status of your Application Package at the time candidates are referred for consideration, and when the selection process is complete.
Fair & Transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
Overview
- Accepting applications
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Open & closing dates
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06/13/2023 to 06/20/2023
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Salary
$57,118 - $78,406 per year
Salary will be determined based on duty station.
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Pay scale & grade
GS 9
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Locations
4 vacancies in the following locations:
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Buffalo National River Harrison, AR 1 vacancy
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Kennesaw Mountain NBP Kennesaw, GA 1 vacancy
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Mount Rushmore Nat'l Memorial Keystone, SD 1 vacancy
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