The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System is currently recruiting for (1) Lead Telephone Operator in the Health Administration Service (HAS) at Tucson, Arizona. The incumbent performs as a team leader for telephone operators and serves as a lead emergency dispatcher for all medical and fire emergency codes and emergency alarms as well as maintains current knowledge and answers questions of other employees on procedures, policies, directives, etc.

Duties

Knowledge and practice of telephone procedures to operate telephone switchboard consoles, answer recurring kinds of telephone calls, use printed or computerized directories, and connect local calls and regular or special long-distance calls to their proper destinations. Skill in recognizing and handling all threatening telephone calls including bomb threats consistent with SOPs. Response to fire, or other emergency calls; monitoring alarm systems; and notifying the proper responders and authorities. Provides patient information to visitors and responds to telephone inquiries regarding patient information. Receives calls from VA police and provides appropriate information to police in any type of situation when VA police intervention is required. Logs all incidents which occur during their shift of duty, utilizing the VISTA electronic on-line computer system. Monitors and serves as an emergency dispatcher for all medical and fire emergency codes and emergency alarms. Trains new and relief telephone operators for the SAVAHCS medical center. Instruct employees in specific tasks and job techniques and make available written instructions, reference materials, and supplies. Distributes and balances the workload among Telephone Operators to ensure sufficient coverage on each shift and publishes the shift schedule once approved by the supervisor. Responsible for staff schedules, ensuring shift coverage for all three shifts, staff issue resolution, maintaining staff updates, and callback roster updates. Leads the telephone operators in daily testing of code pagers and logs information daily on the paging log sheets. Makes contact with appropriate staff members when no response from pager testing. Performs primary and backup timekeeping duties for the Engineering Service staff. Work Schedule: Various Shifts, Various Days Off Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Telephone Operator/PD12252O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not AuthorizedFinancial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/11/2024. 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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: good customer service; performs testing, monitoring and response to a wide variety of emergency alarms; maintains an accurate list of patients and key employees; establishes connections for conference calls for key medical staff; and operates a telephone console with federal telecommunication system and emergency speed dial lines. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed four (4) years of education above the high school level in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. 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. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond 2 years of high school. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned. Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05 (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:Computer SkillsCustomer ServiceEmergency ManagementLeadershipOrganizational StewardshipTechnical Credibility 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 usually sedentary in nature. Concentration is required in determining priorities. Standing and walking is necessary to consult manuals, directives, and to assist visitors. There may be stress due to dealing with callers who are distraught and/or abusive. 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: 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Tucson VA Medical Center 3601 South Sixth Avenue Tucson, AZ 85723 US
• Name: Seth Hickman
• Phone: (858) 552-8585 X7394
• Email: [email protected]