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Summary The incumbent serves as the Public Affairs Officer of the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center. The incumbent plans, directs, and programmatically manages the medical center's public affairs office which is inclusive of the Veteran Engagement Office (VEO), Visual Information (VI) services, and one secretary. The incumbent plans, directs, and programmatically manages, public affairs, Veteran engagement, and audiovisual/media services. Responsibilities In this role, the incumbent coordinates, maintains and integrates public affairs; Veteran engagement; visual information; congressional relations; media relations; community and affiliate relations; event management and internal/external communications that include the development and maintenance of both an internet and intranet site, and multiple social media outlets. S/he serves as the spokesperson for the medical center, which entails representing the Director at events of public, civic, or social nature and participation in a variety of events dealing with improving the perception of the VA, VHA, and JHQVAMC. The incumbent is knowledgeable of overall department, medical center and VISN goals, missions and priorities when it involves serving the Public Affairs Office. The program includes comprehensive public affairs, marketing, and patient centered care programs that communicate externally with a full range of agency stakeholders. Stakeholders include individual members of the Community Veteran Engagement Boards (CVEBS), general public, local communities, state and local governments, congressional/legislative committees and staffs, and the media. The position is based at the Mountain Home campus in Johnson City, Tennessee, and occasional travel will be required to the JHQVAMC VA outpatient clinics. Major duties include but are not limited to: Public Affairs The incumbent serves as the senior Public Affairs Officer for JHQVAMC and provides leadership and direction for the public affairs and marketing program, to include supervision and management for public affairs, Veteran engagement program, visual media within the health care system, and one secretary. The Public Affairs Officer is responsible for planning, developing, and communicating the organization's programs, policies and activities to the regional public and congressional offices while displaying tact, common sense, diplomacy, initiative, and solid professional judgement. The goal of the position is to increase internal and external awareness of VA programs, services, special events and projects, technologies, and personal, and research accomplishments for the Veteran population in the East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Eastern Kentucky areas. Evaluates and advises management officials on specific courses of action to follow in making public announcements, particularly on policy statements which inform the public on medical facility positions. Cultivates and maintains contacts with institutions, state and city officials, community organizations, industry, and other centers of influence to improve the public's understanding and awareness of medical facility activities. Analyzes and evaluates comments, proposals or suggestions from local community, employees and media outlets before developing recommendations for management concerning the medical facility's impact on the community. Initiates and prepares responses to inquiries concerning policies and activities of JHQVAMC from interested groups, the general public, and legislative offices to include Congressional/Senatorial inquires, and White House Hotline. Supervisory Responsibilities The incumbent provides direct supervision of three employees performing work at the GS-6 through GS-12 levels performing a variety of duties supporting the public affairs office at JHQVAMC. This responsibility includes development of performance standards, writing position descriptions, evaluating work performance, and counseling of employees whose performance is marginal or unsatisfactory. Incumbent is responsible for providing guidance, direction, and supervision to the staff in the Public Affairs Office. The Public Affairs Office personnel directly support medical center leadership in the day-to-day management of the healthcare organization through specific activities aimed to communicate with stakeholders, seek feedback, and improve operations. The incumbent plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, set and adjust short-term priorities, and prepare schedules for completion of work. This includes ensuring work assignments are carried out in an accurate and timely manner. He/She assigns work to subordinates based on priorities, selective consideration and the difficulty of the work and the capability of the employees. Reviews and administers serious disciplinary actions involving nonsupervisory subordinates; hear and resolve complaints of employees, referring group grievances and more serious unresolved complaints to higher level supervisor. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 7:30am to 4:30pm Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist/PD604580 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: : May be authorized for a highly qualified applicant with a 2 year service agreement Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Approved PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Approved Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/19/2024. 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 and/or education 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: Specialized experience is defined as experience performing public relations type work for a medical center to include experience planning, organizing the day-to-day operations of public affairs and medical media programs for a medical center; experience cultivating and coordinating relationships with a variety of stakeholders including high-ranking officials from state and local government, Veterans Service Organization representatives, local and regional media representatives, area business organizations, and public affairs directors from nearby hospitals and other private sector businesses to develop and maintain mutually beneficial partnership efforts; and experience Coordinating events, crisis communications, and responding to Congressional Inquiries; identifying communication needs and developing informational materials to inform internal and external stakeholders of policies, programs, services and activities; Skill in written and oral communication, analysis, and interpersonal relations is necessary. Providing authoritative guidance and advise to top management officials or stakeholders on the possible public and media reactions to proposed public affairs policy statement or agency actions; experience independently carrying out broad public affairs activities. Specialized experience also includes experience where you were responsible for applying advanced communication and analytical practices, methods and techniques to the solution of complex public affairs problems; planning, developing, and producing a variety of materials and publications (including print, visual, Web-based, multimedia, and video materials) to achieve understanding of various points of view or concepts; advising leadership on the development of communication plans and strategies; establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with local media representatives and community groups; and coordinating and implementing special events, ceremonies, outreach campaigns, tours, and other activities to generate public awareness of organization's mission. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Communications and Media Customer Service External Awareness Organizational Awareness Political Savvy Writing 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. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary with some walking, bending, standing and carrying of light objects. Objects are not expected to exceed 50 pounds. Work Environment: The work is performed in an office setting with some travel required to VA clinics within the JHQVAMC catchment area. 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/. Education There is no educational substitution at this grade level. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.