EC-05 Inventory for Epidemiologist and Biostatistician Positions

Important messages

The Centre for Surveillance and Applied Research (CSAR) is recruiting! If you are a skilled and experienced professional looking for a chance to apply your analytic skills and knowledge of population and public health to develop evidence to inform policy and programs then this is the opportunity for you.

// What is an inventory? //

When you apply to this selection process, you are not applying for a specific job, but to an inventory to fill upcoming employment opportunities at the EC-05 group and level within the Public Health Agency of Canada. Applicants who apply to an inventory process may be referred for one or more opportunities if they meet the needs of the position identified for staffing. Management can decide to access applications at any point so please ensure you submit your application as soon as possible.

**The first pull of candidate applications could happen as early as February 1 2019.**

// How can you apply? //

We are taking a simplified approach for you to apply to this process. Accordingly, you will need to:
• provide your résumé;
• complete the online experience questionnaire (i.e., no cover letter required).

The information you provide in the questionnaire must be true. When answering the questions you must provide concrete and detailed examples to clearly demonstrate how you meet the qualification. We can’t make any assumptions about your experience. Simply saying you have the required qualifications or listing your current duties is not enough. Instead, provide concrete and detailed examples that clearly explain where, when, and how you gained the experience. We’ll only use your résumé as a secondary source of information. If you don’t clearly demonstrate you have the required experience, we won’t ask for additional information and you may be screened out. The breadth and depth of experience may be considered during screening, assessment and/or selection of candidates.
More information about maintaining your application, screening & assessment can be found at the bottom of this advertisement.

Duties

Surveillance and research provide a critical underpinning to the development and maintenance of a strong public health system. CSAR works to provide the right information at the right time to the people poised to take public health decisions and actions. Data are collected, analyzed, interpreted and reported to Canadians in order to reveal trends in chronic diseases and conditions, maternal and child health, injuries, as well as risk and protective factors. CSAR also conducts applied research, economic modelling and forecasting to understand future disease burden, and to identify effective health promotion and chronic disease prevention interventions.

Work environment

The Public Health Agency of Canada is part of the Health Portfolio of the Government of Canada, committed to help protect the health and safety of all Canadians. Its activities focus on preventing chronic diseases, like cancer and heart disease, preventing injuries and responding to public health emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks.

You can learn more about the Public Health Agency of Canada by visiting: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health.html

Intent of the process

This inventory will be used to staff immediate and future EC-05 vacant positions of various linguistic profiles, conditions of employment, geographic locations, security requirements and various tenures (permanent, specified term, acting, deployment, assignment, term, secondment) within the Public Health Agency of Canada.

All federal organizations listed in Schedules I, IV and V of the Financial Administration Act (FAA) may use this selection process to appoint a candidate to its organization in a similar position.

Positions to be filled: 1

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

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

Essential Education:
• Graduation with a degree from a recognized post-secondary institution with acceptable specialization* in economics, sociology or statistics.

Note: Candidates must always have a degree. The courses for the specialization must be acceptable and may have been taken at a recognized post-secondary institution, but not necessarily within a degree program in the required specialization. The specialization may also be obtained through an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience.

* Additional specialization(s) in field(s) relevant to the position being staffed may be required depending on the position.

Degree equivalency

Essential Experience:
• Experience in public health surveillance and monitoring.
• Experience in using statistical software to manipulate datasets.
• Experience conducting statistical analysis (e.g., statistical modelling, factor analyses, geospatial analyses, regression analyses, etc.).
• Experience building partnerships with internal and external stakeholders.

Applicants who apply to an inventory process may be referred for one or more opportunities if they meet the needs of the position identified for staffing. Since the position needs may vary from one position to another it is important that you carefully read each screening question and respond whether you meet it or not. If you meet any of the above experience criteria, please clearly indicate it in your application and describe the dates, duration, and breadth to which you meet it as this may result in you being referred to more opportunities.

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

Essential or Asset Education (depending on position):

Graduation with a Master's degree or a Ph.D. from a recognized post-secondary institution with an acceptable specialization in epidemiology**

**For the acceptable specialization in epidemiology, candidates must have successfully completed two semesters of graduate-level epidemiological methods and one semester of graduate level biostatistics.

Degree equivalency

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

Various language requirements
English Essential; or
Bilingual Imperative (Various Bilingual Profiles – BBB/BBB, CBC/CBC).

Information on language requirements

Essential Knowledge:
• Knowledge of epidemiology.
• Knowledge of statistical analysis (e.g., statistical modelling, factor analyses, geospatial analyses, regression analyses, etc.)

Essential Abilities and Competencies:
• Ability to organize and work on multiple priorities under tight deadlines.

• Communication (Oral & Written)
• Dependability
• Showing initiative and being action oriented
• Thinking things through
• Working effectively with others
• Demonstrating integrity and respect

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

Candidates MAY be required to meet ONE OR MORE of the following experience qualifications, depending on the requirements of the specific position being staffed, as they may be deemed as either an Essential or Asset qualification. Candidates must clearly indicate on their online application which experience qualifications they meet and describe the depth and breadth to which they meet it.

Essential or Asset Experience (depending on position):

1. Experience presenting findings to management.
2. Experience preparing and publishing or publically reporting epidemiological and/or bio-statistical information such as surveillance reports, manuscripts for peer reviewed journals, project proposals, or reports to funding agencies.
3. Experience in non-communicable disease surveillance and/or epidemiology
4. Experience in cancer surveillance and/or epidemiology
5. Experience in perinatal health surveillance and/or epidemiology
6. Experience in surveillance and/or epidemiology of diseases, conditions, and/or adverse health events in children/youth.
7. Experience with developing evidence-based knowledge products for the general public
8. Experience with developing evidence-based knowledge products for medical professionals
9. Experience working with external stakeholders such as other government organizations, non-governmental organizations and/or patient advocacy groups.
10. Experience in conducting risk assessments or risk analysis.
11. Experience planning, developing or delivering content used in public health training such as a workshop, in-person or online training course.
12. Experience providing recommendations to management.
13. Experience in analysing survey data.
14. Experience analysing administrative data.

Candidates MAY be required to meet ONE OR MORE of the following qualifications, depending on the requirements of the specific position being staffed as they may be deemed as either an Essential or Asset qualification and would be assessed once screening is complete.

Essential or Asset Knowledge (depending on position):

• Knowledge of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s mandate in health surveillance.
• Knowledge of processes involved in preparing and publishing or publically reporting epidemiological and/or bio-statistical information.

Organizational Needs (depending on position):
Selection for appointment may take into consideration employees who have been or will be impacted by organizational restructuring. Appointments may be made based on the department's commitment to employment continuity of indeterminate employees and no involuntary job loss.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is committed to Employment Equity. In order to ensure a diversified workforce, preference may be given to candidates self-identifying as belonging to one or more of the following Employment Equity groups: aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minority groups provided the candidate meets all essential qualifications listed on the job opportunity notice and any applicable asset qualification(s).

Operational Requirements:
Willingness and availability to travel domestically and/or internationally (depending on position).
Available to work overtime, often on short notice based on operational requirements (depending on position).

Conditions of employment

Reliability or secret security clearance (depending on position)

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

// Are you ready to apply? //

■ To apply for any position, you need to first create a profile in the Public Service Resourcing System (PSRS), which should only take about 10 minutes. Then, after ensuring you meet the position requirements, scroll to the bottom of the poster and click on "Apply online."

■ Work your way through the list of requirements, completing each section and saving as you go. Before submitting your application, please ensure that there are green check marks on every single category before submitting your application.

■ If there are any red Xs on the categories, please click into that category and ensure that everything has been filled out. Screening questions have been built into the application process and occasionally an applicant may miss a field on the Screening Questions page. Please thoroughly review to ensure that you have responded to each question, including all the "Yes / No " questions.

■ PSRS will automatically disconnect candidates without warning after 60 minutes if there is no activity. You need to save or move to a new screen to maintain your connection. Typing information without saving does not prevent you from being disconnected. Applicants may find it helpful to first use a word processing software to complete their responses using concrete and detailed examples, then copy and paste the responses into PSRS afterwards.


// Information about Applying to Inventories //

■ The inventory will be updated every 120 days. You will receive periodic system-generated e-mails advising that your application will expire in a certain number of days, and asking you to log in to your GC Jobs account to resubmit your application. It is important that you monitor your e-mail and resubmit your application when prompted, or your application will be removed from the inventory. This ensures that the information that is provided to hiring managers is current and up-to-date, as well as ensuring that the candidates in the inventory are still interested in employment. You can click on the link in the e-mail to access your account, and you will have a message informing you that your application is set to expire. Click on “Update My Inventory Status” to resubmit your application.

■ You can choose to update your application when you resubmit it to the inventory, or anytime that something changes that will impact your application. For example, if you gain more experience in an area that is related to the qualifications outlined in the inventory, it would be beneficial to update your application to reflect this. Since hiring managers screen applications based on the information you provided in the screening questions, it is recommended that you include experience gained after you initially submitted your application to ensure they have all of the relevant information. This also applies to changes in your education level, locations or positions you are interested in, or any of the answers you provided to the screening questions.

■ To update your information you need to log into your GC Jobs account and retrieve your application. Your application will revert to In Progress, and allow you to make the necessary changes. You must resubmit your application to have it included in the inventory. If you do not wish to remain in the inventory you can delete your application at this stage.


// Screening //

■ Screening criteria is established to determine which candidates will qualify for further consideration and assessment. During the screening stage, the screening board will review your application to determine if you meet the essential education and essential experiences. However, some managers may opt to use asset education and asset experiences as well. This is why it is essential to provide concrete examples when answering the experience questionnaire section in your application.

■ If you are a candidate that has been “screened-in,” this means that you may undergo further assessment to determine if you meet the other essential and/or asset criteria (i.e. knowledge, abilities, competencies, etc.).


// Communication //

■ Acknowledgment of receipt of applications will not be sent.

■ Candidates must include a valid email address in their application. It is the candidate's responsibility to ensure that this address is functional and that it accepts messages from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email). It is also the candidate's responsibility to ensure accurate information is provided and updated as required.


// Assessment //

■ In assessing candidates, assessment boards may use a variety of tools and methods including, but not limited to, reviews of past performance and accomplishments, written tests, interviews, simulations, PSC tests, reference checks, board member knowledge etc. In addition, all information obtained throughout the selection process, from the time of application to close of process, may be used to evaluate the candidates.

■ Each board will have specific criteria to assess and each pull from the inventory may be treated separately, therefore if you are referred for more than one opportunity you may be re-assessed on the same criteria.

■ Candidates from outside the public service may be required to pay for travel and relocation costs associated with this selection process.

■ Proof of education will be required. Candidates with foreign credentials must provide proof of Canadian equivalency. Consult the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials for further information at http://www.cicic.ca.

■ Persons are entitled to participate in the appointment process in the official language of their choice. Applicants are asked to indicate their preferred official language in their application.

■ Candidates must meet the essential qualifications to be appointed to a position.

■ Appointment decisions may be based on one or more of the following criteria:
- Matching of the individual's experience or qualifications to the strengths and weaknesses of the work team.
- Matching of the individual's experience or qualifications to the specific duties of the position being staffed.
- Depth, breadth, type of work-specific experience.
- Level/degree of one or more competencies/qualifications.
- The organizational need of restructuring/budgetary constraints


// Other Information //

■ Proof of citizenship will be requested if you are considered for a position.

■ All information obtained throughout the selection process, from the time of application to close of process, may be used to evaluate the candidates.

■ We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the contact information below to request special accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

■ If you have further questions on how to apply or experience technical difficulties with your application, please visit the following website: http://www.cfp-psc.gc.ca/contact-jobs/index-eng.php

■ We will only accept on-line applications received via the Public Service Jobs site. Persons with disabilities or residing in locations that prevent them from applying on-line are asked to contact 1-800-645-5605.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

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