Summary Position is located within the Homeless Program within the Ralph H. Johnson VAMC. The employee carries out all duties related to attaining and maintaining competitive employment for veterans. Responsibilities Major duties include but are not limited to: Provides employment services to Homeless Veterans works directly with patients who have been referred for employment to the continuum of homeless programs from a variety of sources. Provides therapeutic employment services (skills training and development services, employment support services, and job development and placement services) to Homeless Veterans in need of Development for mental health disorders, including serious mental illness, PTSD, and substance use disorders; and Veterans with co-occurring physical disorders, such as Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Polytrauma, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Works closely with members of the interdisciplinary team including Physicians, Vocational Development Counselors, Therapists, Social Workers, HUD/VASH VA Case Managers, Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) outreach workers, Grant and Per Diem Liaisons, and other care providers within the VA facility and community based service providers including Grant and Per Diem recipients, HCHV contract bed programs, Homeless Veterans Reintegration Providers (HVRP), and HUD grantees. Works directly with community agencies, and community employers with the goal of assisting Veterans in obtaining and maintaining suitable employment. Responsible for interviewing potential Veterans referred to the Homeless program (via medical orders and SF 513 consult with appropriate clearance to work in the community), and for developing a vocational assessment to identify individual strengths and areas of vocational interests. Responsible to document all interactions with the Veteran within the electronic medical records system CPRS and capture workload for DSS. Performs other duties as required. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 08:00am - 16:30pm Telework: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehab Specialist/PD078810 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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) Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/26/2025. 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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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. To qualify for this vacancy you must first meet the Individual Occupational Requirements (IOR): Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Masters or equivalent graduate degree in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR Specialized experience: Examples of qualifying specialized experience: Work that required obtaining and applying occupational information for people with disabilities, knowledge of the interrelationships of the involved professional and specialist services, and skill in employing the methodology and techniques of counseling to motivate and encourage individuals served by the program. Experience that demonstrated knowledge of the vocational rehabilitation problems characteristic of the disabled, including familiarity with available resources and skill in identifying, evaluating, and making effective use of such resources to serve individuals with disabilities; or of the disadvantaged, including knowledge of adjustment problems of the educationally or culturally disadvantaged, familiarity with available adult education and training resources, and ability to recognize problem areas needing special attention. Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems. In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirements listed above, you must also meet the specialized experience to qualify for the position. as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-07) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is work experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position. Specialized experience for this position is defined as: Experience in rehabilitation services, counseling, disability, therapy, health, employment, wellness or human development theory and principles; or experience in career development programs and career development theory OR Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree: Major study - vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position, or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 full year of graduate level education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Decision Making Influencing/Negotiating Interpersonal Skills Written Communication 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/Working Conditions: Incumbent will be exposed to stressful working situations that require a professional attitude and collective reasoning. The incumbent is subject to a high volume of work, the need for accuracy, frequency of interruptions and ever-changing demands due to program changes. 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.
