Summary The incumbent serves as the principal Secretary to the Medical Center Director of the Veterans Affairs Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System (VATVCBHCS). The position performs a wide range of executive administrative responsibilities including managing reports and correspondence for the Director. Responsibilities Duties include, but are not limited to: - Monitors, routes, and tracks all incoming and outgoing correspondence, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and compliance with VA and VHA correspondence requirements. On highly sensitive communication, the incumbent may receive brief oral instructions from the Director. - Screens all incoming correspondence and reports. Obtains background information on incoming correspondence, assembles and summarizes information before giving to the Director or designee for action. - Coordinates and assures timely completion of all reports, correspondence and personnel actions. - Responsible for review and final preparation of all outgoing correspondence, reports etc. in accordance with VHA Directive 1216. Documents prepared in other areas are reviewed to ensure correct grammar spelling, punctuation, formatting and style. The incumbent discusses unsatisfactory correspondence directly with the originator and arranges for rewriting or personally revises and furnishes informational copies to initiating office. Calendar and Meetings: - Independently maintains the Director's enterprise calendar; prioritizes requests; deconflicts appointments; and ensures alignment with mission priorities. - Tracks and documents official activities as federal records; applies NARA GRS 5.1 (Common Office Records) for calendars/appointment records; applies GRS 5.2 for transitory scheduling messages. - Ensures calendar content that contains personally identifiable information (PII) is handled in accordance with the Privacy Act; prepares calendar extracts for public release when appropriate under FOIA, applying exemptions as necessary. Calls and Visitors -Screens phone calls and in-person visitors, determining priority and nature of requests prior to routing to the Director. - Provides authoritative information on office procedures, meeting requirements, communication protocol, and accurate referral contacts. - Ensures visitor access aligns with security and PIV/HSPD-12 credentialing procedures. - Maintains confidentiality and provides customer service consistent with VA values and privacy requirements File System and Records Management -Establishes, organizes, and maintains electronic and physical filing systems for the Office of the Medical Center Director. These files must be appropriately handled, stored and destroyed in accordance with applicable federal law and records management policies. Personnel Actions and Human Resources Support - Assists in preparing, routing, and tracking personnel-related documents including: -Recruitment requests and onboarding materials -Position descriptions and job analyses -Awards (Special Contribution, Time-Off, On-the-Spot, performance awards) Training and Travel - Coordinates registration, monitoring, and documentation of required training for the Director and designated staff. - Maintains training records consistent with NARA GRS 2.6 retention requirements. - Arranges local and long-distance travel, ensuring compliance with the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR). Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 0800 am to 4:30 pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA) Director/PD013330 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 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 identification 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) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/21/2026. 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-08 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. 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-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: maintaining appointment calendar and scheduling meetings; maintaining a suspense system to assure timeliness of correspondence; arranging conferences/meetings face to face or via video-conference and advises participants of purpose; making travel arrangements for executive staff; serve as timekeeper for various T&Ls; routing correspondence timely and effectively for appropriate action and establishing time management controls to ensure meeting deadlines; order/maintain supplies and equipment; reviewing incoming mail and prepare responses for appropriate signatures. compiling statistics for all monthly and quarterly reports ; answering Veterans, visitors and other telephone calls (incoming/outgoing); taking meeting minutes; preparing responses to routine correspondence, recurring reports/requisitions; typing a variety of documents into final form, ensuring correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, format and style; preparing routine correspondence including being responsible for review and final preparation of all outgoing correspondence, reports, etc.; transcribing letters, memos and minutes from dictated material, voice recording and handwritten drafts into final form. Typing Proficiency: This position requires the ability to @type 40 word per minute (WPM). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 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 sedentary. Some work may require movement between offices, hospitals, warehouses, and similar areas for meetings and to conduct work. Work may also require walking/standing, in conjunctions with travel to and attendance at meetings and/or conferences away from the work site. Incumbent may carry and lift light items weighing less than 15 pounds. 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 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 for 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.
