Position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN 6), Salisbury VA Medical Center, Patient Administration Section, Kernersville, NC. Primary duties of the position involve operating telephone switchboard equipment to connect incoming and outgoing calls. Work involves routing the calls to their proper destinations and providing telephone and organizational information to callers.

Duties

Major duties include but are not limited to: Responsible for the operation of the medical center's switchboard. Must use courtesy, tact, diplomacy, good hearing, manual dexterity, good speech, and voice modulation in dealing with customers, staff, employees, etc. Assists with placing and receiving long distance telephone calls. Receives and places regular and special long distance calls (over tie lines, commercial circuits or other systems or networks such as Wide Area Telephone Service, Federal Telecommunications Systems, etc.). Provides telephone information including, but not limited to, telephone numbers, extensions, locations of individuals and organizations and directions. Such information is derived from various references such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), directories, etc. Provides routing and alternate routing service for calls which must go through to assure rapid, reliable and effective dissemination of significant operational or other information. Handles calls of varying priority, requiring pre-empting of circuits, selective handling, particularly under accelerated or emergency conditions. Maintains constant surveillance over switchboard equipment, circuit capacity and utilization, nature and volume of calls being placed, in order to keep appropriate high level official apprised of telephone events, trends or conditions which may have significant implications or potential influence on national command or area security. As the operator, the position is responsible for handling a full range of calls including highly complex calls requiring personal involvement. Gives advice and assistance when needed in placing long distance calls and assists supervisor in training personnel in use of the Federal Telecommunications System and the Wide Area Telephone Service lines. Receives and places local and long distance calls. Uses good judgment concerning preempting circuits and challenging the use of available circuitry in order to permit priority calls to go through. Regularly handles a variety of difficult calls requiring extensive personal involvement. Examples of such calls include (1) next of kin calls; (2) emergencies such as cardiac arrest, sprinkler, refrigeration, oxygen or other alarms; (3) calls requiring tactful handling of confused, abusive or threatening individuals; (4) calls from relatives of patients demanding to speak to medical staff about the condition or treatment of the patient; (5) calls from the public when the nature of the call is unclear; (6) emergency calls to locate particular physicians or medical support personnel when their response is critical; (7) calls from mentally incompetent, alcohol or drug addicted persons requiring special attention from the operator; (8) calls involving physicians on rotation where locating is complicated by continual turnover; (9) calls from affiliating physicians or consultants and attending physicians when location is complicated by varying schedules and calls such a rapid pace that the tempo of pressure creates unusual demands for the operator. Maintains accurate listing of key employees and other records incidental to the telephone, information, and receptionist services that are used regularly to give information by telephone and the routing of visitors. Information maintained on patients includes condition, surgery schedule, location, telephone extension, visiting hours and visiting restrictions. Responsible for identification of patients who have opted out of the Medical Center Patient Directory and not disclosing any information regarding these patients. Maintains On-Call rosters for all medical center services for non-administrative duty hours and pertinent telephone information for all on- call personnel. Maintains other records incidental to telephone information on patients. Courteous and helpful manner when dealing with customers and use tact and diplomacy when interacting with them. Helps train new Operators in their duties as required. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Telephone Operator/01958A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/07/2023. 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-04 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-03. 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: General Experience: You must have one year of progressively responsible clerical, office, or other work that indicates ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the Telephone Operator. Examples of general experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Thorough knowledge of Medical Center functions and organizational structure in order to refer calls properly as well as give accurate information to public and veteran populations. Complete and thorough knowledge of the operation and various functions of the Northern Telecom EPABX-I telephone system console in order to place Federal Telecommunication System (FTS) and special long distance commercial calls (including overseas calls) which are often priority and consistently complex. Knowledge and skills in using the Automatic Directory Lookup System (ADCS) and the Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP) phone directories in order to search for employees, relay phone numbers and transfer calls. Knowledge of all types of alarms and the procedures needed in order to take appropriate action when required. Knowledge of operations of FAX, radio and paging equipment in order to send and retrieve faxed documents, have conversations with other radios, and page employees. Skill in the use of tact, diplomacy, and cultural sensitivity in order to provide excellent customer service and deal with the public, co-workers, veterans, and patients. Ability to work well under pressure in order to operate multiple telephone switchboard equipment and two-position multiple dial telephone switchboard. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 2 years above high school. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. (Transcripts Required) . OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level you must have an equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education and experience. (Transcripts Required)You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:CommunicationsComputer SkillsCustomer ServiceFlexibilityIntegrity/Honesty 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 primarily sedentary in nature and will include long periods of sitting, standing and walking.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

Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 2 years above high school. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school.

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 WG Bill Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center 1601 Brenner Avenue Salisbury, NC 28144 US
• Name: Cymone Carrol
• Phone: 240-685-1330
• Email: [email protected]