Customer Service Representative

Other Agencies and Independent Organizations - Small Business Administration · Location Negotiable After Selection

Company

Other Agencies and Independent Organizations - Small Business Administration

Location

Location Negotiable After Selection

Type

Full Time

Job Description

You will serve as a Customer Service Representative for the Small Business Administration (SBA), US Small Business Administration, Field Operations Center East - FOCE or Field Operations Center West - FOCW. This position provides assistance to individuals and business owners with completion of their disaster loan application(s), including financial documentation required in support of each application.

Learn more about this agency

Conditions of Employment

U.S. citizenship is required.
You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government travel credit card.
Favorable background investigation and credit check are required.
You may be required to complete a one-year trial period.
This is not a bargaining unit position.
A valid driver's license may be required.
Mandatory Overtime: In order to respond quickly and efficiently to disaster survivors, substantial compensated overtime hours may be required while on assignment (up to seven days a week and ten to fourteen hours a day).

Qualifications

Generally, time in Non-Pay status is not creditable towards the specialized experience requirement listed below.

You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement. You may qualify based on experience, education or a combination of both.

Experience: To receive credit, you must indicate the month and year as well as the average hours worked per week for each employer. Average work hours must be stated on resume to quantify each period of work experience or that experience will not be credited toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. You must address the specific specialized experience required for each grade level of this position on your resume or application or you will be rated "Ineligible" for that grade level.

GS-09: To qualify you must have at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-07 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position. This experience may have been gained in a Non-Federal service position. In addition, this Specialized Experience must demonstrate the following:

Responding to a variety of business-related customer inquiries and providing program information to the public; and
Working with financial documents: such as, tax returns, income (profit and loss) statements, schedules of liabilities, balance sheets, etc; and/or
Working as a member of a team or group to achieve goals, objectives or metrics to produce deliverables; and
Knowledge/proficiency of word processing programs, spreadsheets, email platforms and/or other automated software communication tools such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

GS-11: To qualify you must have at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the GS-09 level in the Federal service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skill, and ability to perform successfully in this position. This experience may have been gained in a Non-Federal service position. In addition, this Specialized Experience must demonstrate the following:

Responding to a variety of customer financial inquiries and/or providing financial information to the public; and
Working with various financial documents such as tax returns, income (profit and loss) statements, schedules of liabilities and balance sheets for individuals or businesses; and
Leads a team and provides oversight of the quality of work, while further developing staff, and assures adherence with established policies and procedures; and
Knowledge/proficiency of word processing programs, spreadsheets, email platforms and/or other automated software communication tools such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualifications Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions. It is available for your review on OPM's Qualifications website:

General Business and Industry Series 1101b (opm.gov)

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.

OR

Education

If you do not meet the specialized experience requirements, you may also qualify with education. You MUST submit transcripts (official or unofficial) with this application if you wish to qualify based on education.

GS-09: Master's degree or equivalent, LL.B. or J.D., in a related field, from an accredited college or university or two full years (36 semester hours or equivalent) of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a related field.

GS-11: Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree, or LL.M., in a related field, from an accredited college or university or three full years (54 semester hours or equivalent) of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a related field.

OR

A combination of experience and education as indicated above. Qualification Standards: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/#url=Group-Standards

For example, an applicant who has 1.5 full years of Ph.D. level education (i.e. 50% of education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position.

APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE: 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 (particularly positions with a positive education requirement.) Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Verify School accreditation. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. *** 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, click on: Foreign Education.

Additional information

If selected for this position, you will be eligible for benefits. The above link is provided for your reference to explore the major benefits offered to most Federal employees.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here: https://help.usastaffing.gov/Apply/index.phptitle=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire

Career and InterAgency Career Transition Assistance Programs:
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) is a program that helps "surplus" or "displaced" federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job in their current agency (intra-agency, i.e. SBA employees only).

Inter-Agency Career Transition Assistance (ICTAP) is a program that helps "surplus" or "displaced" federal employees improve their chances of finding a new job at another agency (inter-agency; i.e. not applying to their current or former agency).

Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service System, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. For additional information visit www.sss.gov.

Telework may be available. For information on Telework visit: http://www.telework.gov/

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.