Marine Conservation Officer

Important messages

When answering the screening questions, remember that the assessment board cannot make assumptions about your experience. It is insufficient to say that you have the required qualifications or to list your current or past duties. Rather, using this tool, candidates must demonstrate how they meet the education and experience criteria listed in the job opportunity advertisement by providing clear and concrete examples.

Clear and concrete examples are defined as illustrations in which you fully explain the actions, considerations and steps you completed in order to gain the experience you are describing. This detailed contextual information will be used by the board members reviewing your submission to assess whether you have sufficient experience in a relevant field to complete the tasks which will be assigned to you should you be considered for this position. This is similar to what would be expected of you when asked to provide a concrete example of a particular situation in the context of an interview. Such examples usually require a minimum of ½ page to describe and a maximum of 2 pages. In order to facilitate this process, you may wish to start your submissions with a sentence similar to: “A clear and concrete example of a situation where I did X is a situation which occurred on Y date and my role in this activity was to...”.

Resumes will be used as a secondary source of information and strictly to validate the concrete examples you will have described in this tool.

Also, when reading the experience criteria for staffing processes, please pay close attention to action words contained within and ensure the examples you chose to include speak to all of them. Similar attention should be given to punctuation and connector words such as “commas”, “and” and “or” as these have a different function when used to describe an experience criteria. As such, action words or activities separated with a “,” and connected with an “and” must all be demonstrated with concrete examples as in this case, they are all deemed essential by the hiring manager. Conversely, when action words or activities are separated with a “,” and connected with an “or”, candidates may provide concrete examples for only one of the activities listed in the criterion as in this case, the hiring manager is looking for someone who has experience in at least one of the activities but not necessarily all of them.

For example, when responding to a criterion which reads: “Experience reading, writing and publishing instructions for a competitive process.” you must provide concrete examples of situations where you read instructions, concrete examples of situations where you wrote instructions as well as concrete examples of situations where you published instructions for a competitive process. These may be part of the same example however, you must ensure to provide sufficient details to cover the three actions as they are all critical.

On the other hand, when responding to an experience criterion which reads: “Experience reading, writing or publishing instructions for a competitive process” you must provide concrete examples for a minimum of one situation where you either read, wrote or published instructions for a competitive process as experience in a minimum of one activity is critical. This being said, when this structure is used, you may also provide concrete examples for all action words or activities as this approach will provide board members with additional information to assess the breath of your experience.

Finally, if the examples you provide speak of experience that was acquired in a team setting, please be specific as to your exact role within this team as it is your experience the board will be looking to assess and not that of your team.

Intent of the process

ANTICIPATORY STAFFING: A pool of qualified candidates will be established and may be used to staff positions on an indeterminate, term, deployment, assignment, secondment or acting basis.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

You must meet all essential qualifications in order to be appointed to the position. Other qualifications may be a deciding factor in choosing the person to be appointed. Some essential and other qualifications will be assessed through your application. It is your responsibility to provide appropriate examples that illustrate how you meet each qualification. Failing to do so could result in your application being rejected.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

EDUCATION
Graduation with a degree from a recognized university, with acceptable specialization in environmental science, biology, marine science, or some other science relevant to the position being staffed.

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
Experience working as a team member on scientific projects;
Experience reviewing and preparing formal reports on aquatic environmental issues, marine conservation, or other topics relevant to the position being staffed;
Experience in the assessment of potential environmental impacts of ocean-based activities on marine ecosystem health;
Experience in analyzing and consolidating data from multiple sources to provide options and technical advice on matters relating to marine conservation efforts.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements

Information on language requirements

KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge of the establishment and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) under the Oceans Act;
Knowledge of the federal legislative or regulatory framework (legislation, regulations or policies) related to environmental management;
Knowledge of major threats to marine ecosystem health and environmental quality.

COMPETENCIES
Teamwork
Attention to detail
Judgment
Initiative
Reliability

ABILITIES
Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders;
Ability to analyze issues, assess impacts and develop options or solutions;
Ability to communicate effectively orally;
Ability to communicate effectively in writing;

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

EDUCATION
Master’s degree in a discipline related to the position being staffed.

Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE
Experience working for a federal, provincial or territorial government;
Experience with the federal regulatory process;
Experience in developing or maintaining partnerships with government and non-government organizations;
Experience in developing notes, presentations or briefings for senior management.

OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Willingness and ability to work overtime on short notice.
Willingness and ability to travel within Canada on occasion.

Conditions of employment

Reliability Status security clearance

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled, diverse workforce reflective of Canadian society. As a result, it promotes employment equity and encourages candidates to indicate voluntarily on their application if they are a woman, an Aboriginal person, a person with a disability or a member of a visible minority group.

The Public Service of Canada is also committed to developing inclusive, barrier-free selection processes and work environments. If contacted in relation to a job opportunity or testing, you should advise the Public Service Commission or the departmental official in a timely fashion of the accommodation measures which must be taken to enable you to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner. Information received relating to accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.