Summary You will serve as a Social Services Assistant with the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System located in Seattle, Washington. Responsibilities Act as the principal point of contact for all Veterans seeking social work services at the VA medical center and other office locations in the community that house Community Housing Outreach Services (CHOS) programs. Work with people with widely diverse backgrounds, to include various racial/ethnic classes, socioeconomic classes, and special populations including women, Veterans, and homeless Veterans. Assess Veteran's needs, identify problems, inform them of the VA services or benefits available, provide supportive counseling, refer them to appropriate programs and resources, and when needed, assist them in linking up with a Social Worker or housing program that can be of most assistance. Provide a high degree of independent judgment and ability to triage the many complex, unique patient/family, staff, and public requests which come daily to the CHOS program. Able to handle difficult clients under stressful conditions. Listen to clients who are often angry and frustrated, assess the seriousness of disability or crisis, and when appropriate, report the situation to the appropriate supervisor. Possess knowledge of a wide variety of community and VA resources and benefits to include housing, food, and shelter program. Maintain an up-to-date file on resources provided by community providers within the CHOS continuum. Provide administrative support to multiple CHOS programs, using computer skills on a variety of software programs, including MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, VISTA, and MS Outlook. Create and maintain various spreadsheets and databases for program support. Perform other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM PDT. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Social Services Assistant/PD41378A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary/trial period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) The Selected Applicant must be eligible for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Credential and must maintain PIV credential eligibility during their services with the agency. The Selected Applicant must pass an initial pre-employment medical examination and an annual medical examination. The Selected Applicant must possess a valid driver's license as a condition of continued employment. 5 CFR § 330.502 - General restriction on movement after competitive appointment applies. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 08/05/2025. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. This occupational series (0186) has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR). An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the Social Services occupational series. All applicants, regardless of grade level, must meet the specialized experience requirements. Applicants must meet one of the following requirement. Have experience working in Social Services. Examples of experience working in Social Services are: Group leader in community or residential recreation or training programs; Counselor in a youth summer camp; Instructor in a training program for the development of job skills; Work that demonstrated the ability to be responsible for and to lead and train members of a job crew; Group activities leader in the Armed Services; Unit leader-monitor-proctor for a dormitory group in a boarding school or other residential facility; Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff in such fields as personnel (private or government), employment guidance in a vocational or academic institution, social service, or manpower development; Aid or assistant to professional or associate staff engaged in work of a social services nature in private, public welfare, government program, or community organizations, or in voluntary activities; Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff working with individuals who are addicted to or abuse alcohol and/or drugs. AND In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) this position has specific Specialized Experience or Education that is also required. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include the following duties: effective in dealing with conflict and difficult interpersonal interactions in the workplace; use respectful language and document interpersonal interactions with colleagues, Veterans (or clients), and their families; listen to others with careful attention to the content and emotion being communicated; understand strategies for effectively dealing with challenging situations with Veterans (or clients) who are under the influence of substances, are angry, hostile, or are in a psychotic or nonverbal state; understand how race, ethnicity, spirituality, gender, sexual orientation, military background, socioeconomic status, and other subcultural influences can impact an individual's belief systems, interpersonal interactions, and approach to recovery; know about services and resources in the VA or other health care system that can be accessed to address a Veteran or client's needs and interests regarding holistic health and wellness and meaningful roles and activities; support Veterans (or clients) in distress and work with colleagues to connect the patient with clinical provider services when needed; adjust services and support to meet the preferences and the unique needs of the Veteran (or client) and their families; develop relationships with Veterans (or clients) as part of a treatment team to assist with engagement of services that are beneficial to their recovery; be mindful of Veterans (or clients) and their personal experiences in order to create a safe environment by acting in an honest and trustworthy manner to avoid retraumatizing them; realize the widespread impact of trauma and recognize signs and symptoms of trauma in colleagues, Veterans (or clients), their families, and oneself; and have basic information and demonstrate the ability to access resources to learn general information about the health conditions that a Veteran (or client) may have and assist in their participation in interdisciplinary treatment team discussions in meaningful ways. OR, EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one (1) year of graduate education. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communication Compliance Critical Thinking Veteran and Customer Focus 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work is mainly sedentary with occasional carrying of items such as papers and files, boxes of paper, driving government vehicles. Work Conditions: Work is performed in an office setting with periodic travel to the community to liaison with community organizations or for outreach events. You MUST possess a valid State license, have a safe driving record, can pass a road test, and demonstrate that I am medically qualified to operate a motor vehicle safely. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
