October 5, 2021 | Washington, DC. Federal Jobs Expert Kathryn Troutman is alerting all interested applicants to apply for Contact Representative/Collection Representative (English and Bilingual), Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, before June 24, 2022.

Kathryn's top tips for applying for this job:  Since the offer of pay is $35,265 to $55,925, you can negotiate your beginning salary. To do this, write a Superior Qualifications Letter after they offer you the job. If you have Superior Qualifications, you write a list of them in a letter and send it to the Human Resources Specialist. So keep this in mind for later on.

The Federal Resume is different than the private sector resume, usually longer. Use the USAJOBS Builder to prepare your resume, so you have the basic compliance information in there. Be sure to emphasize your customer service, computer, problem-solving, and communications skills. And if you are good at interpreting rules and regulations to people, add this to the resume. This will be an important part of the job.

The Self-Assessment Questionnaire is complex. Check it out. Answer the questions using your common sense after you read the job announcement in total. 

THE JOB ANNOUNCEMENT:

Who Can Apply? Open to U.S. Citizens/Nationals

Open & closing dates:  06/28/2021 to 06/24/2022

The Salary is:  $35,265 to $55,925 per year; The government pay grade is: GS-05.

Location:  28 locations in the U.S.

Telecommute possibility:  Yes, as determined by agency policy.

Telework Information: If you are in a telework eligible position, you may be directed to temporarily telework on a full-time basis due to COVID 19. Employees must be within a 150-mile radius of their official assigned post-of-duty (POD) while in a telework status.

Responsibilities:  The following are the duties of this position at the full-time working level. If you are selected at a lower grade level, you will have the opportunity to learn to perform these duties and will receive training to help you grow in this position.

• Uses sophisticated interviewing techniques, the employee reviews individual circumstances and goals, and advises on the most advantageous ways to meet them.
• Elicits sensitive, personal and financial information, e.g., innocent spouse determinations, bankruptcies, or draws out information the individual may attempt to withhold, e.g., additional sources of income, overpayments, to ensure compliance with reporting and disclosure requirements.
• Makes determinations and uses sound judgment concerning controversial matters in reporting as appropriate the degree to which the individual understood their responsibilities and whether errors in their records reflected honest mistakes or fraudulent intent.
• Develops, analyzes and evaluates information involving the research of records and the nature of each inquiry including the way it was presented in order to inform and advise, answer inquiries, or resolve problems related to the unique circumstances of each individual or to fulfill regulatory requirements.
• Explains what future actions are necessary to achieve voluntary compliance by computing and/or advising on tax liability and probable assessment of taxes in cases involving: varied sources of income, including self-employment, itemized personal and business expense deductions, or carryover/carry back of capital losses and investment credit from prior years, or comparable issues requiring reference to the tax code and precedent.:

You must meet the following requirements by the closing date of this announcement:

GS-05 Level

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:  You must have one year of specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience for this position includes: experience that may have been gained in work with records, documents or financial accounts which involved applying established rules and procedures, or experience gained through work in positions that involved frequent contact with the public researching and responding to non-routine requests for information orally or in writing. The following are examples of specialized experience that may be qualifying and are not all inclusive:

• Applying laws, rules or regulations and written guidelines;
• Conducting face to face and/or telephone interviews (e.g., collection agency, telemarketing, customer service, sales) resolving problems and issues;
• Negotiating with others to resolve issues;
• Performing administrative and technical procedures using a computer to locate and review records and reconcile discrepancies;
• Working with records or financial accounts applying established rules and procedures (e.g., basic accounting, credits and debits, researching and/or adjusting accounts).

OR

EDUCATION:  You may substitute education for specialized experience as follows: Completed at least 4 years of education above the high school level leading to a Bachelor's degree (120 semester hours, 180 quarter hours or 2880 formal classroom hours) or a Bachelor's or higher degree.

OR

COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION:  You may qualify by a combination of experience and education. Options for qualifying based on a combination will be identified in the online questions.

AND

You must meet the following special requirements:

BILINGUAL POSITIONS ONLY: We are filling both English and bilingual vacancies. For the bilingual vacancies, applicants will be required to self-certify proficiency in Spanish. You must be able to speak the selected language in order to be considered proficient in that language. If you are selected for this bilingual position and fail to demonstrate proficiency, you may be terminated from employment.

You can see a sample of a Federal Resume here to see the differences from the private industry resume. You can read tips on writing the federal resume on Kathryn Troutman's Federal Career Blogs. Also, you can see videos on federal resumes and vacancy announcement analysis at www.youtube.com/kathryntroutman.

To see the USAJobs announcement, go to:

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/605956800#