Public Affairs Specialist

Air Education and Training Command•Keesler AFB, MS

About The Position

The Public Affairs Specialist carries out a wide range of public affairs assignments supporting the commander's programs and priorities. The work includes media operations, social media, community engagement, command information, visual information, communication planning, contingency and crisis response, special event planning, environmental and security matters, policy review, and public affairs resource management. The specialist plans and develops complex, high-level public affairs assignments; researches, drafts, coordinates, produces, and reviews public affairs materials; represents the office with installation and local governmental, media, community engagement, service, and educational organizations; and assists with planning, organizing, and carrying out the visual information program. Work may require travel, shift work, evenings, weekends, holidays, recall to duty, and periodic 24-hour weekly on-call alert duty. The employee may serve as a public affairs point of contact during deployments and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Security Clearance.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship.
Must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Security Clearance.
At least one year of specialized experience at the GS-09 level or equivalent, including knowledge of public affairs programs and written and oral communication; organizational operations and functions; and visual information activities; OR qualifying doctoral-level education or an eligible combination of education and experience.
For the education pathway: a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, three full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or a related LL.M.; transcripts must be submitted when using education to qualify.
Merit promotion applicants must meet applicable federal time-in-grade requirements; one year at GS-09 is required for GS-11 consideration when TIG applies.
Knowledge of public affairs concepts, principles, practices, and communication methods for engaging stakeholders.
Knowledge of organizational operations sufficient to communicate accurate information and adapt information materials to organizational needs.
Knowledge of visual information activities, potentially including illustrations, photography, presentations, television/motion picture production, and base cable access television.
Skill in gathering, evaluating, and interpreting data to identify problems, draw conclusions, and offer recommendations or resolutions.
Skill in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships and communicating complex information to audiences with different levels of understanding.
Ability to plan and develop news stories, features, and quasi-technical articles.
Males must be registered for Selective Service.
Must submit transcripts if qualifying based on education; foreign education must be supported by evidence of U.S. equivalency.

Responsibilities

Coordinate the planning and development of complex, high-level public affairs assignments in support of commander's programs and priorities.
Research, draft, coordinate, produce, and review public affairs products, including news releases, talking points, fact sheets, news and feature articles, web-based content, briefings, speeches and scripts, newsletters, photographs, videos, podcasts, and other materials.
Represent the office with installation and local governmental, media, community engagement, service, and educational organizations.
Assist in planning, organizing, and carrying out the visual information program.
May serve as the public affairs on-call representative, responding to media and other inquiries after duty hours.
May serve as the public affairs point of contact for news media at a forward operating location during hostilities or a major wing deployment.