Personnel Research Psychologist
Summary
As a recent graduate in industrial/organizational psychology, if hired, you may develop, implement, and evaluate hiring assessments; develop and administer surveys; conduct job analysis/competency modeling, gap analysis, and/or program evaluation for Federal agencies.
Human Resources Solutions has many job openings at various levels and locations. View them here: https://www.usajobs.gov/Search/Results?mco=OPM-HRS
This job is open to
Duties
Typical work assignments may include under supervision:
- Leading and/or participating on project teams to develop and/or contract for innovative assessment tools.
- Conducting Government-wide and/or agency job analyses.
- Developing and implementing competency models, workforce gap assessments, and leadership assessments.
- Helping agencies identify, evaluate, and solve organizational problems using customer action planning, satisfaction surveys, employee surveys, and focus groups.
- Establishing project objectives, activities, timelines, budgets, and staffing plans.
- Advising agencies and internal senior management on implementing assessment strategies.
- Evaluating training, candidate development, or other human resources programs.
About the organization: These positions are in one of five groups in the Assessment and Evaluation (AE) organization. AE is in Human Resources Strategy and Evaluation Solutions (HRSES), Human Resources Solutions (HRS), U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
HR Solutions provides transformative human capital solutions that enable the Federal Government to solve the nation's toughest challenges. We take pride in our agile and diverse teams bringing expertise and human capital technology to create evidence-based solutions and offering a work environment based on integrity, excellence, agility, inclusion, and service.
Our nationwide cadre of human resources (HR) specialists, psychologists, faculty, management analysts, and program managers partner to shape and advance excellence in the Federal Government through our reimbursable human resources products and services. We partner with agencies to offer customer-focused, optimal solutions to meet their human resources needs in areas including staff acquisition, recruitment and branding, HR strategy, leadership training, workforce planning, and much more.
Assessment and Evaluation delivers rigorous assessment solutions that help select candidates with the right competencies, maximize the performance of the workforce and its leadership, and assess and evaluate organizational performance to foster the right culture and customer experience by conducting basic, applied, and innovative research encompassing the full gamut of human capital management, with a specific focus on individual, organizational, and outcome assessment. AE comprises five groups:
Hiring Assessment - Professional and Administrative (HAPA) - Focuses on the development, validation, and administration of cognitive and non-cognitive competency based, skill assessments for professional and administrative occupations. Assessments may be used for selection or promotion purposes. This includes job analysis, written and non-written tests, job knowledge tests, performance tests, and computer simulations.
Hiring Assessment - Public Safety and Intelligence (HAPSI) - Focuses on the development, validation, and administration of cognitive and non-cognitive competency based, skill assessments for public safety and security occupations. Assessments may be used for selection or promotion purposes. This includes job analysis, written and non-written tests, job knowledge tests, performance tests, and computer simulations.
Hiring Assessment - Leadership (HAL) - Focuses on the development, validation, and administration of cognitive and non-cognitive competency based, skill assessments for supervisor, manager, and executive occupations. Assessments may be used for selection or promotion purposes. This includes competency modeling, job analysis, written and non-written tests, job knowledge tests, performance tests, and computer simulations.
Leadership and Employee Development Assessment (LEDA) - Focuses on the development, validation, and administration of leadership and workforce planning assessments to assess leader and employee effectiveness and support leader and employee development. These assessments target competencies, personality, and leadership potential. Also, LEDA conducts gap analysis for workforce training and development.
Employee and Customer Experience Assessment (ECEA) - Focuses on the development and administration of organizational assessments to assess climate and organizational outcomes, including organizational climate, employee experience, customer experience, exit, and custom surveys. Also, ECE conducts program evaluations and develops organizational effectiveness indices.
Areas of research and specialization are not limited to the above. All groups are responsible for conducting research and applying innovative assessment procedures and technologies to develop practical solutions to human resource management problems, and for providing technical assistance to departments and agencies in their areas of expertise. Group managers also strive to build reimbursable interagency partnerships to maximize the use of governmental resources.
RequirementsConditions of Employment
- Must be a U.S. Citizen or National
- Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
- Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
- May be required to successfully complete a probationary period
- Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment, if required.
- This position is eligible for inclusion in the bargaining unit.
- if the duty station is finalized in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, employees in this position will be represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 32. (BU Code - 1131)
- if the duty station is finalized outside of the Washington, DC metropolitan area, this position will not be represented by a bargaining unit. (BU Code - 7777)
Qualifications
Basic Requirement For the GS 11/12: You must have successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited or pre-accredited academic institution leading to a bachelor's or higher degree with a major or equivalent in psychology to receive further consideration.
To qualify for this position at the GS-11 grade level: In addition to the basic education requirement, you MUST meet one requirement below:
A. Education: Completed all requirements for a master's degree (or equivalent) in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology or related field (e.g., applied, social, or applied social psychology, or organizational development); OR
B. Education: Completed all requirements for a Ph.D. (or equivalent) in I/O Psychology or related field; OR
C. Experience: Completed at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the Federal Government GS-09 grade or pay band. Specialized experience must demonstrate ALL the following:
- drafting and implementing research plans; AND
- conducting multivariate statistical analyses; AND
- assisting in the collection of quantitative and qualitative data using principles, theories, and methods of I/O psychology; AND
- assisting with assessment projects requiring the application of principles, theories, and methods of I/O psychology in organizational settings; OR
D. Combination of Education and Experience: Less than the graduate education described in "A" or "B" and less than the experience described in "C" but have a combination of the type of education in "A" or "B" and type of experience in "C" totaling 100% of the required qualifications. (To determine the combination, first determine your total number of graduate semester hours, and divide that number by 18. Next, divide the total number of months of qualifying experience by 12. Then, add your percentage of education and experience. The two percentages must total at least 100% for you to qualify based on your combination of education and experience. Only graduate education exceeding one year (i.e., 18 semester hours) may be combined with experience.)
To qualify for this position at the GS-12 grade level: In addition to the basic education requirement, you MUST meet one requirement below:
A. Education: Completed all requirements for a Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology or related field (e.g., organizational development; applied social, or applied social psychology);
OR
B. Experience: Completed at least 1 full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the Federal Government GS-11 grade or pay band. Specialized experience must demonstrate ALL the following:
a) Leading/managing part of a project or serving in a primary role on projects involving at least one of the following areas:
- (i) developing tests/assessment tools for selection or promotion consistent with professional and legal requirements (e.g., Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures); OR
- (ii) conducting job analysis or organizational competency modeling; OR
- (iii) designing and administering assessments of organizational climate, culture, or effectiveness; OR
- (iv) designing and administering assessments to evaluate and provide feedback on leader or employee effectiveness, developmental needs, or skills gaps; AND
b) Using knowledge of the principles, theories, and methods of I/O psychology or related fields (e.g., applied social psychology, applied research/evaluation) to develop practical solutions to assessment problems, including experience with assessment development and validation methods; AND
c) Applying knowledge of statistics and statistical tools (e.g., R, SPSS, Python) to analyze individual or organizational data;
OR
C. Combination of Education and Experience: Less than the graduate education in "A" and less than the experience in "B" but have a combination of the type of education in "A" and type of the experience in "B" totaling 100% of the required qualifications. To determine the combination, compute experience as a percentage of experience in "B", determine education as a percentage of education in "A"; add the 2 percentages. Total percentages must equal at least 100%. Only graduate education exceeding 1 year (i.e., 18 semester hours) may be combined with experience.
NOTE: You MUST submit a copy/copies of your transcript(s), as a part of your application, to verify you have met the basic requirement and other qualifying education requirements for further consideration.
Related Degrees: The curriculum of related degrees should include coursework such as research methods, statistical methods, and core industrial and organizational domains, including: measurement of individual differences; criterion theory and development; job and task analysis; employee selection, placement, and classification; performance appraisal and feedback; training theory, program design, and evaluation; work motivation; attitude theory; small group theory and process; leadership theory; organizational theory; and organizational development.
To meet the Recent Graduate Program Eligibility requirements, you must have obtained a qualifying Associates, Bachelor's, Master's, Professional, Doctorate, Vocational or Technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution, within the previous 2 years.
All Education must be accredited by an accredited 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 accredited institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants may verify accreditation at the following website: Accreditation. All education claimed by applicants will be verified by OPM accordingly.
ATTENTION VETERANS: A veteran, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2108, who due to military service obligation, was precluded from applying to the Recent Graduates Program during any portion of the 2-year eligibility period shall have a full 2-year period of eligibility upon his or her release or discharge from active duty. In no event, however, may the individual's eligibility period extend beyond 6 years from the date on which the individual completed the requirements of an academic course of study.
You must meet all qualification and eligibility requirements by the closing date of this announcement.
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
BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: You must have successfully completed a full 4-year course of study in an accredited or pre-accredited academic institution leading to a bachelor's or higher degree with a major or equivalent in psychology to receive further consideration.
Additional information
Relocation expenses will not be paid.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies across OPM.
If you are a veteran and you are claiming 5-point veterans' preference, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 or other proof of eligibility.
If you are a veteran and you are claiming 10-point veterans' preference, you must also submit an SF-15, "Application for 10-Point Veterans' Preference" plus the proof required by that form. For more information on veterans' preference click here.
Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service.
Reasonable Accommodation 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.php?title=Reasonable_Accommodations_for_USA_Hire
PROGRAM COMPLETION AND CONVERSION ELIGIBILITY:
Program participants may be converted, without a break in service, to a term, career or career conditional appointment upon completion of program requirements.
To be eligible for conversion, Recent Graduates must:
- Complete one continuous year of work experience acquired through a Recent Graduate Program
- Complete 40 hours of formal interactive training
- Meet the qualification standards for the position to which the Recent Graduate will be converted
- Meet any agency-specific requirements specified in the Participant's Agreement
- Demonstrate successful job performance that results in a rating of record of at least Fully Successful and a recommendation for conversion by the first level supervisor.