The Human Resource Specialist (Benefit) provides retirement options and counseling for employees and/or their survivors involving Federal retirement programs, including the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), CSRS Offset, Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), FERS-Revised Annuity Employee (RAE), and FERS? Further Revised Annuity Employee (FRAE) for assigned Regional Offices within in the jurisdiction of the Human Resources Center - Jackson.

Duties

This position is established in the Department Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Office of Human Capital Services (HCS), Office of Staff Operations (OSO) Division, at one of the five Human Resources Centers (HRC) located nationwide. The position is responsible for conducting service assignments by rendering employee benefits programs for General Schedule Title 5 and Wage Grade positions throughout VBA which services all human resource needs within its purview. - Administering and providing advisory services on the Federal employee retirement, group life insurance, health benefits, and the Thrift Savings Plan programs. Serves as the technical expert on benefits issues, retirement benefits issues, health benefits issues, and insurance coverage options. - Resolves complex and sensitive problems in the administration of these? programs. Represents the agency in external matters both in the public and private sector on benefits programs, including making presentations at retirement and benefits seminars. - Works with team to develop VBA-wide guidance material on the implementation of methods and procedures for retirement program operations involving areas that require new or substantially modified work methods and procedures because of operational problems or deficiencies. - Analyzes operational effects of changes in law or regulations, identifies and clarifies problems and issues, and proposes fully researched agency implementation actions. This includes: modification of local policies and regulations to implement changes to programs; briefing management and serviced organizations on the changes to these programs; training employees and supervisors regarding the latest changes; and preparing communications to inform as large an audience as possible of future changes including procedural, technical, and program modifications required; and serving as the subject matter expert for these programs.- Provides individual employee counseling on retirement options, eligibility requirements, health and life insurance, and Thrift Savings Plan issues. - Explains options to employees regarding prior Government service and provides information necessary to help employees obtain maximum gains from available benefits. - Handles the most difficult and complex cases such death and disability retirements involving sensitive and controversial problems and contested issues. - Conducts fact finding needed to support technical decisions; sets forth the final decision and the basis for conclusions; and maintains the appeal file to serve as the administrative record in the event of a further appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.- Interprets and prepares informative material for employees on new, changed, and pending policy, and outlines impact on existing benefits program entitlements for management. - Analyzes and implements the latest changes as issued by Department of Labor or other Committees.- Performs other related duties as assigned. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm (Monday - Friday) Compressed/Flexible: yes Telework: yes Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: GS-9 PD#40257A/GS-11 PD#38805A/GS-12 PD#38804A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/21/2023. 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. GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the 7. GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the 9. GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the 11. 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. 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. The BASIC REQUIREMENT: To qualify for the Human Resources Specialist position, candidates must meet one of the following basic requirements: Merit Based Method; Education-Based Method; and Training-Based Method. You can review VA Handbook5005/156 dated January 13, 2023 for full details of the basic requirement. In addition to meeting the basic requirement, to qualify for this position at the GS-9/11/12 levels, you must meet one of the following listed qualification requirements: GS-09 Specialized Experience: Applicants 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 defined as applying health insurance, life insurance, retirement, thrifts savings plan, and death-in-service laws, regulations, procedures, and counseling techniques provided in a regionalized environment. GS-09 Minimum Qualification Requirement: Possess a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LLB. or J.D, if related; OR possess a combination of Specialized Experience and Education: Only graduate level education beyond the first year may be used to qualify at the GS-09 level. To compute your combined percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify for this grade. GS-11 Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-09) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. In addition to the specialized experience required at the GS-09 grade level, the applicant must also have experience calculating supplemental annuities, creditable military service, social security off-set, death benefits and retirement estimates; providing counseling to employees on individual employee benefits cases which involve sensitive or serious problems or controversial issues. GS-11 Minimum Qualification Requirement: Possess a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher- level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related OR possess a combination of Specialized Experience and Education: Only graduate level education in excess of the first 2 years of graduate study may be used to qualify at the GS-11 level. To compute your combined percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify for this grade. GS-12 Minimum Qualification Requirement: To qualify for this position at the GS-12 level, you must meet one of the following listed Criteria: Criteria 1: Graduate Degree and Specialized Experience: Successful completion of a graduate level degree or higher and three years of progressive specialized equivalent to at least the GS-9 grade level. Such experience may be gained administrative, professional, technical, or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military), or private sector. Qualifying specialized experience includes:calculating supplemental annuities, creditable military service, social security off-set, death benefits and retirement estimates; providing counseling to employees on individual employee benefits cases which involve sensitive or serious problems or controversial issues in a regionalized environment. Criteria 2: Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service that demonstrates HR Management knowledge, concepts and principles and the performance of work in one or more of the HR specialty areas Such experience may be gained in administrative, professional, technical or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military) or private sector. Qualifying specialized experience includes experience calculating supplemental annuities, creditable military service, social security off-set, death benefits and retirement estimates; providing counseling to employees on individual employee benefits cases which involve sensitive or serious problems or controversial issues in a regionalized environment. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Decision MakingEmployee BenefitsOral CommunicationTechnical CompetenceWriting 1. Employee Benefits. Knowledge of HR concepts, principles, and practices related to retirement, insurance, injury compensation, and other employee benefits programs. 2. Writing. Uses correct English grammar, punctuation, and spelling to communicate thoughts, ideas, information, and messages in writing. 3. Oral Communication. Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, considering the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately. 4. Technical Competence. Understands and appropriately applies procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise, maintains credibility with others on technical matters. 5. Decision Making. Makes sound, well-informed, and objective decisions; perceives the impact and implications of decisions; commits to action, even in uncertain situations, to accomplish organizational goals, causes change. 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 of the position is sedentary. No special physical demands are required. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address VBA Human Resources Center - Central Office 810 Vermont Ave NW Washington, DC 20420 US
• Name: Joyce Love
• Phone: (601) 364-7247
• Email: [email protected]