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Job Title:Museum Technician (Natural Science)

Agency:Smithsonian Institution

Job Announcement Number:12R-CR-297579-DEU-NMNH

SALARY RANGE:

$34,075.00 to $44,293.00 / Per Year

OPEN PERIOD:

Monday, April 16, 2012 to Monday, April 30, 2012

SERIES & GRADE:

GS-1016-05

POSITION INFORMATION:

Full-Time, Permanent – Federal Term appointment for 4 years.

PROMOTION POTENTIAL:

07

DUTY LOCATIONS:

6 vacancy(s) – Washington, DC, USView Map

WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED:

This position is open to all U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals.

JOB SUMMARY:

This position is located within the Office of the Associate Director for Research and Collections, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). The employee provides assistance with museum collections management tasks including collections care and conservation, specimen/object curation, pest management, storage improvement, data capture, digitization, and maintenance of datasets containing information.

The Smithsonian Institution values and seeks a diverse workforce. Join us in “Inspiring Generations through Knowledge and Discovery.”

KEY REQUIREMENTS

  • Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
  • May need to complete a Probationary Period
  • Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
  • Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

DUTIES:

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  • Participates on teams or with higher level staff in performing a wide variety of physical care projects for natural history collections including biological, geological, and anthropological and associated records (including registration records in any of its storage locations.)
  • Ensures projects result in properly documented, prepared, catalogued, curated, maintained and accessible collections according to established guidelines and procedures.
  • Compiles, checks, verifies, and maintains data records created from source materials such as labels, specimen/objects, catalogs, data as necessary and records data on the appropriate forms, labels, other documents, or in computer systems as required by the data management process.
  • Tracks data through the data management process, proofreading data for technical errors and content, referring to original source documents as necessary; generates technical data such as specimen/object counts and collections item locations; operates various data-entry equipment.
  • Uses a variety of digitization techniques including, but not limited to, cameras, scanners and image editing software to prepare digital images and generate digital descriptive records of specimens for the purpose of documenting the museum’s natural history collection, to enhance the information content of  the museum’s catalog of record stored in a relational database.

 


QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

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Experience: You must have one year of full-time experience (Federal or other) at the GS-4 level that is related to the operation or management of a museum or similar collection of valuable objects. The experience for this position includes activities such as handling and maintaining natural science specimens, compiling and maintaining data records created from source materials such as labels, specimen/objects and catalogs and operating digital cameras, scanners and image editing software to prepared digital images of specimens. Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week. Or Education: four years above high school leading to a bachelor’s degree with major study  or 24 semester hours of course work in a related field of study Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. For a full explanation of this option please see the Qualification Standards.

 

Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and/or proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the “Required Documents” section of this announcement.

 
Qualification requirements must be met within 30 days of the job announcement closing date.

HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:

Your application will be evaluated first for the basic qualifications described above. The applications that meet the basic qualifications will be evaluated further against the following criteria:

  • Knowledge of best practices regarding collections management principles, techniques and maintenance of biological, geological an anthropological specimens and objects in a museum setting.
  • Ability to build cohesiveness and work as part of a team.
  • Knowledge of techniques, equipment, and software used in cataloguing collections information.
  • Skill in using software used in processing and digitizing museum collections records.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria: Best Category – Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above. Better Category – Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above. Good Category – Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree. This category rating process does not add veterans’ preference points or apply the “rule of three”, but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position. Important Note: Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.
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BENEFITS:

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The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program options. Please see Benefits at www.sihr.si.edu for a complete description.

OTHER INFORMATION:

Flexible Spending Accounts – http://www.fsafeds.com/fsafeds/index.asp Health Insurance – http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp Leave – http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp Life Insurance – http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp Long Term Care Insurance – http://www.ltcfeds.comRetirement Program – http://www.opm.gov/retire/index.asp