The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) is located within the Homeless Program. Carrying out all duties related to attaining and maintaining competitive employment for Veterans. Assigned to the Employment Services for Homeless Veterans (ESHV) component of the Homeless Program and has responsibility for utilizing best practices in conjunction with VA Homeless services to assist Homeless Veterans or Veterans at risk of Homelessness to return to community living and competitive employment.

Duties

This position is covered by American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) bargaining unit. Per the Master Agreement, the Area of Consideration will be: 1st Area of Consideration: Current permanent Facility (including satellites) employees 2nd Area of Consideration: Current permanent VA employees 3rd Area of Consideration: All other Status candidates Duties typically include, but are not limited to: Help the employer understand the nature of the client's limitations while maintaining a positive impression of the client's capacity to succeed. Maintain day-to-day contact with potential employers, placement personnel or other likely placement resources. Negotiate with employers, when appropriate, to provide reasonable accommodations to meet the needs of clients. Analyze mental and physical disabilities or other barriers to identify how those affect motivation, adjustment to training and difficulty in employment placement. Assess training needs to meet the client's vocational goals and objectives. Evaluate the results of vocational programs Recommend changes to vocational programs Modify established vocational programs to accommodate client needs Approve any new placement facilities propose Develop strategies to engage clients who may be reluctant to actively pursue employment or risk a reduction in benefits. Support clients in all work related tasks, for example: transportation, on the job training, dealing with co-workers and supervisors, ongoing and follow along supports and compliance with specification of appropriate clinical support(s). Oversee the adjustment process. Determine the vocational goals and objectives of the client 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: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD534-078810 and PD534-078800 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/25/2023. 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. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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. You must meet one of the following which is an Individual Occupational Requirement of this position: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position; OR Specialized Experience: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: 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. You must also meet the experience and/or education as described below: For GS-07, Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Obtaining occupational information and determining training needs through assessments and/or interviews; experience documenting accurate information within electronic medical records; and demonstrated skill in explaining benefits, programs and eligibilities to Veterans. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 1 full year of Graduate Level Education with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. OR Superior Academic Achievement (S.A.A.) Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. S.A.A. is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses. Grade-point average (G.P.A.) -- Applicants must have a grade-point average of: 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2years of the curriculum. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society - recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies. OR ??????? Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond completion of a full 4-year course of study in with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. For GS-09, Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Obtaining occupational information and determining training needs through assessments and/or interviews; experience documenting accurate information within electronic medical records; demonstrated skill in explaining benefits, programs and eligibilities to Veterans; experience identifying available employment, skills training and educational resources; and evaluating results in order to recommend changes to vocational programs. OR Education: 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 or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 full year of graduate education with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Influencing/negotiating Customer Service Decision Making Written Communication Interpersonal Skills 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. 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

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 as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement.

Contacts

• Address Ralph H Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 109 Bee Street Charleston, SC 29401 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]