The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position is located within the Mental Health Service Line for the Montana VA Health Care System and provides therapeutic services to Veterans whose employability or job adjustment is impaired by physical, mental, emotional, or other disability, or by lack of basic education, job skills, or other disadvantaged background condition.

Duties

The focus of services will be to promote optimal occupational functioning of Veterans within the community by utilizing appropriate interventions that achieve the vocational goals of the Vocational Rehabilitation Treatment Plan. Duties include, but are not limited to: Works with the interdisciplinary team as the Veteran progresses in their job search to ensure that participant is participating in all required treatment such as mental health or addictions; work collaboratively to ensure the Veteran's needs are being met. Minimizes and manages risks by assisting the participant in accessing the appropriate professionals (SSA, HUD, State agencies, etc.) to ensure they can make informed decisions in pursuing employment goals; knowledgeable of impact of work efforts on various forms of social services and/or disability income and of the available resources. Creates and maintains a network of employment resources for the clients they serve, to include forming relationships with community employers, community service providers, and other resources. Ensures program participant has a clear understanding of program requirements such as adherence to expectations as spelled out in program documents provided at intake; meets with participant on regular intervals to monitor progress towards goals and make any necessary changes to treatment plan. Networks with contacts within the community, and members of their personal support group; provides ongoing support and guidance to the Veteran throughout all phases of the job search. Maintains a strong knowledge of community employers and their needs; utilizes a wide variety of tools including the internet, job fairs, and direct contact with employers to develop/identify job leads in the community. Assists the Veteran in developing a vocational goal and related objectives which aligns with individual employment related factors such as their interests, skills, preferences, limitations, barriers, aptitudes, and capabilities. Develops treatment plans by determining services such as job seeking skills training, resume development, or interview skills training the participant may require to successfully obtain suitable employment. Assists the Veteran in finding suitable transitional work assignment or community employment opportunities as clinically indicated for the individual being served and assists the participant to gain placement. 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 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 ad hoc telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD14339-0 and PD14340-0 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, 12/21/2023. 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. For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): The Vocational Rehabilitation Series 1715 has a minimum qualification entry requirement. 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. OR, Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education in a major study of vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. AND, You may qualify for the GS-9 grade level 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-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: comprehensive understanding of the principles of vocational rehabilitation; knowledge of challenges characteristic of the disabled and familiarity with available resources; 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 job development, marketing and securing jobs; ability to work creatively with community partners/employers; knowledge of a broad range of occupations; ability to identify participant strengths, interests, skills, barriers, limitations, and needs; knowledge of long-term mental illness and impact on vocational functioning; ability to select the pertinent techniques for data collection; knowledge of the program objectives of local, state, and federal agencies. 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 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 equivalent combination of specialized experience and higher-level graduate education as described above to meet total experience requirements. You may qualify for the GS-11 grade level 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-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: comprehensive understanding of the principles of vocational rehabilitation; knowledge of challenges characteristic of the disabled and familiarity with available resources; 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 job development, marketing and securing jobs; ability to work creatively with community partners/employers; knowledge of a broad range of occupations; ability to identify participant strengths, interests, skills, barriers, limitations, and needs; knowledge of long-term mental illness and impact on vocational functioning; ability to select the pertinent techniques for data collection; knowledge of the program objectives of local, state, and federal agencies. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 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, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an equivalent combination of specialized experience and higher-level graduate education as described above to meet total experience requirements. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationTeamworkTechnical Competence 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 physical demands of this position are moderate. Although some of the physical work is sedentary, there will be significant (40 - 60% of the time) local travel for support, networking, and job development purposes. The stress related to providing services to Veterans in emotional distress or who may be demanding and uncooperative, can be more significant than that of most sedentary positions. 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.

Contacts

• Address Fort Harrison VA Medical Center 3687 Veterans Drive Fort Harrison, MT 59636 US
• Name: Ruthie Diaz
• Phone: (303) 202-8660
• Email: [email protected]