This position serves as a Communications Specialist/Outreach Coordinator located within the Office of the Deputy Executive Medical Center Director at the VA St. Louis Health Care System (VASTLHCS), reporting to the Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist. The purpose of the position is to increase community awareness, patient enrollment, and patient access.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: Works closely with facility staff including Public Affairs, clinical service lines, and program coordinators, to develop and implement plans for outreach programs and activities to expand the patient base and increase the number of Veterans who receive care. Develops external marketing plans designed to grow the facility by marketing the Medical Center's services to Veterans, their families and the general public. Works at all levels within the Medical Center to identify, develop and maintain standard branding materials and messaging to support the Medical Center's reputation, community awareness, outreach and growth. Collaborates with the Public Affairs Specialist and other professionals to coordinate brand awareness and marketing efforts. Maintains a master annual schedule, which includes budgeting and spend plan, and works with external vendors to obtain cost estimates to incorporate into budget requests. Gathers feedback through the use of focus groups and other modalities in development and review of marketing campaigns. Designs communication materials in digital and traditional formats and applies the latest design concepts and principals to create professional grade promotional materials. Communicates with diverse Veteran audiences in a variety of settings (community events, private organization meetings, and town halls, etc.) about VA health care to promote brand awareness. Prepares monthly reports indicating number of new enrollees, number of outreach events attended, and event/marketing costs. Evaluates the return on investment by analyzing outreach costs and number of new enrollees vested at outreach events. Analyzes market penetration data to achieve yearly growth goal. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday from 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. 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#: Communications Specialist/PD100440 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized 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, 11/16/2023. 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to plan events and to perform outreach; Knowledge of marketing principles; Knowledge on how to operate Adobe Creative Cloud applications such as PhotoShop and InDesign; Experience in managing and contributing to social media for an organization. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analysis and Problem SolvingBudget AdministrationCommunicationsCustomer ServiceOrganizational AwarenessPublic Planning 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: Assignments regularly involve extended periods of walking, standing, bending, and stooping to execute logistics for outreach events. Also required to pick up loads of 15 pounds such as boxes of promotional outreach materials and other literature and to push carts of supplies. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Contacts

• Address VA St Louis Health Care System 1 Jefferson Barracks Drive St. Louis, MO 63125 US
• Name: Ashley Moore
• Phone: 909-520-8107
• Email: [email protected]