The incumbent is a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) in charge of the Community Based Employment Services (CBES) program. This program is organizationally under the Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VRP) of the Mental Health Service Line.

Duties

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Conducts vocational assessment profile using; medical records, pertinent disability documentation, observation and interviews with Veterans and their support systems to generate personal, vocational, and educational histories. Selects, administers, and interprets vocational and other psychometric instruments to evaluate abilities, transferrable skills, functional capacity, labor market analyses, aptitudes, interests, values, preferences, and overall work resilience and synthesize into an interpretive data report. Consult with interdisciplinary teams to enhance coordination of care, ensure medical clearance, and provide for optimal timing of further interventions. Provides job development, customized employment, job carving, job coaching, job accommodation, advocacy, and adaptation services to both Veterans with severe disabilities and to educate and support employers. Establishes and maintains a liaison between the Medical Center and organizations within the community which provide competitive employment opportunities for Veterans. Provide disability education and program-specific training to staff and stakeholders. Uses rehabilitation counseling theory, medical and psychiatric terminology, and symptomology and signs of suicidal and homicidal ideations to provide effective services. Develop patient-centered treatment plans utilizing Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic, and Time-based (SMART) goals and provides ongoing assessment of Veteran's progress. Serves Veterans who have myriad barriers to overcome and achieve competitive employment, educational, and independent living goals. Uses knowledge to understand physical and mental diagnosis. Provide attention to Veterans' needs during the vocational assessment process. Matches Veterans' to available jobs related to their interests. Works with a variety of Veterans with different backgrounds. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday (8:00 - 4:30pm) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/679-10293-A 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, 12/26/2023. 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-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. 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. Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position requires the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) be met. Basic Requirements: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. or 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. In conjunction with the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) above, you must also meet the specialized experience or education requirement as described below: You may qualify 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: Knowledge of VA regulations, laws, and policies on CWT programs, Social Security regulations relating to SSI & SSDI, STRAF accounts, purchasing, Privacy Act and computer security; Knowledge of the requirements for obtaining and applying occupational information for the handicapped, to include knowing the skill requirements of selected work sites to determine suitability for the participants of the program while taking into consideration the limitations and abilities relative to the disabilities of the individual participants; Knowledge and understanding of the vocational rehabilitation process as it relates to the physical, mental, social, psychological and vocational rehabilitation needs of special cases and ability to plan and develop goal-oriented treatment procedures according to the condition being treated in a real work setting, to include the effects of disabilities on motivation and functioning, the ability to observe behavior, write detailed progress notes, and provide vocational counseling to participants of the program; skill in the use of database management systems utilized for the performance of administrative requirements such as patient payrolls, fiscal management of the STRAF account, required local and C.O. reports, billing, etc.; and knowledge of CARF requirements which impact the CWT program. 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. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. . 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. NOTE: If using education combined with specialized experience to qualify, a copy of your transcript is required. Preferred Experience: At least one (1) year of preferred experience in vocational rehabilitation counseling or related counseling field. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Therapy and Counseling Listening Communication Critical Thinking Technical Competence Manages and Organizes Information Speaking 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: Work usually takes place in various settings throughout the medical center and includes some off-station community sites. The incumbent will make frequent visits to community job sites and throughout the medical center which requires intensive walking. Driving and operating a government vehicle is required. 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

NOTE: 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 Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center 3701 Loop Road East Tuscaloosa, AL 35404 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]