The employee will serve as an Animal Caretaker at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS). The primary responsibility of this position is to ensure the sanitation of the support areas within the Veterinary Medical Unit (VMU) and to assist in animal care duties, cage was duties and technical support.

Duties

Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Observes research animals for changes in appearance and activity. Properly removes and disposes of dead research animals. Assists with feeding and watering of research animals. Monitors the temperature and humidity within the animal rooms and support cold rooms. Utilizes the proper chemicals and cleaning products to sanitize research facilities. Keeps daily logs for quality assurance of room sanitation and cage sterilization. Utilizes proper personnel protective equipment when working with research animals and working in support areas. Use of proper handling and restraint of research animals. Properly notifies supervisor when supplies are needed. Perform other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: The Veterinary Medical Unit operates 7 days a week to include holidays. Full-time, 7:00 am - 4:30 pm, 8 hour shifts for 5 days per week, duty days vary-will include weekends and holidays. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

PHYSICAL EFFORT: The work often requires lifting and carrying feed materials weighing up to 75 pounds and frequently handling such items as feed bags weighing up to 50 pounds. Animal caretakers walk or stand for extended periods and frequently work in a bent position. Often, light physical effort is required to lift or handle docile animals. WORK CONDITIONS:The work is performed in the Veterinary Medical Unit. There is daily exposure to materials in a controlled environment that may be infectious and/or hazardous to one's health. Proper protective equipment is issued, and the employee will be trained in its proper use. In addition, the employee must perform when confronted with unpleasant conditions such as noise, heat, odors and sick animals. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume. You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Dexterity and SafetyInterpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading)MaterialsMeasuring InstrumentsTechnical PracticesUse and Maintain Tools and EquipmentWithout more than normal supervision IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Contacts

• Address Denver ORD VISN 19 155 Van Gordon St Lakewood, CO 80228 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]