Public Affairs Specialist

Summary About the Position: This position is located at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, VA, and is responsible for public information and education; media relations; command/internal information; and community relations on behalf of the Military Treatment Facility. This is a Direct Hire Authority (DHA) solicitation utilizing the DHA for Certain Personnel of the DoD to recruit and appoint qualified candidates to positions in the competitive service. Duties

• Plan and release information on the Defense Health Agency, Defense Health Network, Medical Treatment Facility, and the installation and community organizations programs, policies, and functions.
• Devise an information dissemination and education plan for eligible beneficiaries within the assigned catchment area with a focus on those assigned to the Defense Health Agency Network.
• Participate in the preparation and publishing of material for patient educational materials.
• Coordinate photography of subjects to best present objective and subjective information for public affairs events and slide presentations.
• Provide photojournalism feature stories for online and print articles.
• Manage the Commander's public affairs and community relations efforts. Qualifications Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes 1) safeguard sensitive information through review of all public communications, 2) create press releases, articles, social media posts, or other public communications and, 3) respond to inquiries made by internal/external parties. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09). OR Education: Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Public Administration, Communications, Public Relations OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages. Education FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the 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. For further information, visit: