Department: Department of Justice
Location(s): Arlington, Virginia
Salary Range: $57736 - $91815 Per Year
Job Summary: This position is located in the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Human Resources Division. The Recent Graduates Program offers dynamic, 1 to 2-year rotational program opportunities that give early career talent the chance to support key HR program functions through focused administrative and technical work. Selectees will learn and contribute to essential HR operations, ensure process accuracy, and apply their organizational skills in a mission-driven environment.
Major Duties:
Qualifications: For more information on eligibility requirements see: DEA Employment Eligibility Applicants must meet all of the required qualification requirements described below by the closing of this announcement. To be eligible for the Pathways Recent Graduate program, you must be: A recent graduate who has completed, within the previous two years, a qualifying associates, bachelors, masters, professional, doctorate, diploma, vocational, technical degree, or certificate from a qualifying educational institution or completed a qualifying career or technical educational program that awards a recognized postsecondary credential (such as Registered Apprenticeship Programs, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, Climate Corps). If you are qualifying based on education or if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your transcript with your application. OR A preference eligible veteran who has been precluded from applying due to their military service obligation can begin their two-year eligibility period upon release or discharge from active duty. Eligibility for these veterans cannot exceed six years after degree or certificate completion. You MUST submit a copy of your DD-214 showing the duration and dates of service that precluded you from applying due to military service obligation. Applicants applying for the GS-07 must meet one of the following requirements: A. Have at least one full year of qualifying specialized experience that is at least equivalent in difficulty and complexity to work performed at the GS-05 grade level. Specialized 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. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: 1) Assisting with research to answer HR-related employee questions; 2) Drafting internal and external correspondence; and 3) Assisting with researching regulations, policies, and/or procedures to resolve personnel issues. OR B. Education: 1 full year of graduate level education. OR C. Superior Academic Achievement: Completion of all requirements for a bachelor's degree in a field; and education meets at least one of the following requirements for superior academic achievement: 1) class standing in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision based on completed courses; 2) grade point average of 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 as recorded on the 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; 3) grade point average of 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 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 4) election to membership in a national scholastic honor society listed by the Association of College Honor Societies. OR Combination of Education and Experience: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed education and experience may be used to meet the experience requirements if you have the specialized experience, but less than one year; and have some education, but less than one year. The computed percentages of requirements were met, and the total is at least 100%. (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) Applicants applying for the GS-09 must meet one of the following requirements: A. Have at least one full year of qualifying specialized experience that is at least equivalent in difficulty and complexity to work performed at the GS-07 grade level. Specialized 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. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: 1) Answering HR-related employee questions; 2) Drafting internal and external correspondence; 3) Researching regulations, policies, and/or procedures to resolve personnel issues; and 4) Analyzing data using an automated database. OR B. Education: A master's or equivalent graduate degree. OR 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree. OR LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR C. Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the first year (total graduate semester hours minus 18) by 18. Add the two percentages. For qualification purposes, an academic year is computed as follows: At the undergraduate level, four years of progressive study or 120 semester hours meets the degree requirements. An academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 academic year of full-time study. This determination is made based on normal course loads for a full year of study in the graduate program. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. When academic credit is expressed in contract months, units, or other terms that differ from conventional semester or quarter hours, it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide an interpretation of such credits from the appropriate institution in order to equate them to the semester or quarter hours specified in the standard. NOTE: If your college, vocational, trade, or technical institution's definition of "academic year" differs from above, you must submit proof of this difference (e.g., copy of course catalog that defines an academic year). Absent this documentation, you will screened for academic qualifications based on the academic hours as defined in the bullets above. Additional information on the position qualification requirements are located in the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Qualifications Standards Handbook.
How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. You may update your application documents and some questions related to your personal information at any time during the announcement open period. However, you will not be able to make changes to questions related to assessing the minimum qualifications and competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) mentioned in the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section above. To make an allowed update to your application, return to your USAJOBS account (https://usajobs.gov). There you will find a record of your application, the application status, and an option to Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/howto/application/status/. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application.
Application Deadline: 2026-04-28