Soil Scientist (Direct Hire)

Company: Department Of Agriculture
Location: Temple
Posted on: June 6, 2021

Job Description:

* Duties

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Duties

Summary

This vacancy will be filled using the Office of Personnel Management's Direct-Hire Authority. Veterans' preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants do not apply to positions filled under this announcement. For more information on OPM's authorization of Direct Hire Authority, please visit,

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

* Utilizes soil-landscape relationships to systematically map and describe the way soils occur in the landscape.
* Identifies and acquires the appropriate spatial data layers necessary to create and maintain a digitally-based soils map.
* Determines and applies principles, practices, and methods to apply plant species identification and the use of plants as indicators of soil type, ecological sites, and soil-site and topographic relationships.
* Assists Soil Scientist and/or the MLRA Soil Survey Leader to document soil-plant relationships, collect production estimates for crops, trees and grasses and develop/gather other information for ecological site descriptions.

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Supervisory status

No

Promotion Potential

9

* Job family (Series)

0470 Soil Science

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* Plant Scientists
* Scientists, Plant
* Scientists, Soil
* Soil And Plant Scientists
* Soil Scientists

* Requirements

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

* You must be a US Citizen or US National.
* Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
* Satisfactory Background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
* Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
* Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
* Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit
* This position requires the incumbent to possess and maintain a valid state driver's license.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below.

Basic Requirement for Soil Scientist:

Degree: bachelors degree in soil science or a closely related discipline that included 30 semester hours or equivalent in biological, physical, or earth science, with a minimum of 15 semester hours in such subjects as soil genesis, pedology, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil fertility;

OR

Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in soil science or a related discipline that included at least 30 semester hours in the biological, physical, or earth sciences. At least 15 of these semester hours must have been in the areas specified above, plus appropriate experience or additional education comparable to a 4 year degree.

For the GS-05 grade level:

Applicants who meet the basic requirements described above are fully qualified for the specified entry grade (GS-5).

In addition to meeting the Basic Requirements above, applicants must meet the following Minimum Qualification requirement to be considered for the following grade levels:

For the GS-07 grade level:

Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-07 grade level, you must possess at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level or higher in the Federal service (or private sector equivalent). Examples of specialized experience include:

* applying routine principles, concepts and methodology associated with soil science, gaining practical experience working directly with other soil scientists.

OR

Superior academic achievement in a bachelor's degree a curriculum directly related to the work of the position. To qualify for superior academic achievement, you must have ONE of the following:

* (1) Class Standing - You must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses; OR
* (2) Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) - You must have a grade-point average of either
* (a) 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on your official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or

(b) 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.; OR

* (3) Honor Society Membership - You may be considered eligible based on membership in one of the approved national scholastic honor societies listed by the Association of College Honor Societies (). (NOTE: You must attach a copy of your transcripts and/or verification of class standing for further verification.)

OR

Education Substitution: one year of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree in soil science or a directly related discipline;

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of graduate-level education and experience, as described above, may be used to qualify for this position. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education in excess of 18 hours (total semester hours minus 18) by 9. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)

For the GS-09 grade level

Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-09 grade level, you must possess at least one year specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level or higher in the Federal service (or private sector equivalent). Examples of specialized experience include advanced-trainee level experience such as:

* conducting standard soil resource inventories and watershed restoration needs inventories;
* collecting soil samples for laboratory analysis to determine physical, chemical, and morphological characteristics;
* classifying soil properties according to appropriate standards;
* assisting in writing watershed restoration plans, erosion control plans, soil resources improvement plans, soil management reports, soil survey reports;

OR

Education Substitution: 2 or more years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree in soil science or a directly related discipline (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.).

OR

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of graduate-level education and experience, as described above, may be used to qualify for this position. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education in excess of 18 hours (total semester hours minus 18) by 9. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.)

For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here:Soil Science Series 0470 (opm.gov)

Experience Note: 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

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

You must submit a copy of your transcripts to include course number, title, completion and grade. 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. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. If a relevant course is not clearly qualifying (e.g. special topic, seminar, research, thesis, obscure or misleading course title, etc.), please submit an official course syllabi and/or detailed course description from the university/college for that particular course to ensure you are properly evaluated. Please note that qualifications determinations are based solely on the information submitted for each particular vacancy announcement.

If you have not yet conferred your degree or certificate, but will within 180 days of the closing date of this announcement, a letter from the school documenting current standing, degree being obtained and expected graduation date must be submitted with your application.

Important: 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..... click apply for full job details

Keywords: Department Of Agriculture, Temple , Soil Scientist (Direct Hire), Other , Temple, Texas