The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist at Tomah VA Medical Center possesses intensive knowledge of mental and physical disabilities or other handicaps, in terms of the practical effects of such handicaps on work tolerances, motivations, adjustment to training, and difficulty in employment placement. The focus of services will be to promote optimal occupational functioning of Veterans within the community.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities will include: Responsible for the implementation of the program goals of vocational rehabilitation, training,and placement for veterans who have serious mental illness, physical and substance abuse disorders with an emphasis on those with psychosis. These highly specialized treatment programs serve veterans who may be mentally ill, homeless, and who present a wide array of psychiatric, physical, and neurological disabilities. Monitors the case findings of vocational rehabilitation candidates and develops and disseminates information on vocational rehabilitation resources to program staff and patients. Duties include: Solicits and develops employment opportunities for veterans with psychosis through a wide array of employment search approaches and activities within the local community, industry, state, and federal agencies. Oversees and places veterans assigned to various competitive employment positions and TW assignments through the Compensated Work Therapy Program. Provides and assists in arranging suitable placement of more severely disabled, difficult to place veterans who may require more individualized treatment plans in vocational and academic training, community employment, and conducts follow-up and follow along services on these placements. Monitors and reports to the North East Program Evaluation Center the summary data utilized for the associated performance measures, which are involved in this initiative. Provides job coaching, job accommodation and adaptation services to both veterans with psychosis and to those employers who employ these veterans either here at this Hospital or within the local community. Provides vocational rehabilitation, including the assessment of intelligence, vocational interests, aptitude and abilities, through the use of clinical tests, observations, interviews, and specialized vocational assessment equipment. Provides and coordinates a variety of professional rehabilitation counseling and case management services. Assesses data received from medical and psychological reports, develops rehabilitation plans, and as appropriate, provides rehabilitation services. Provides personal adjustment and problem-solving counseling, thus allowing treatment to continue on schedule by using effective counseling skills to determine the causes and extent of the adjustment problem and referring the veteran, if the problem is unresolved after counseling, to other treatment professionals. Performing related duties as required. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD04231A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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, 03/06/2024. 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-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. 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-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 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: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have A Ph.D., equivalent doctoral degree, 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. Transcripts required. 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 that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position. Transcripts required, and experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Interpersonal SkillsPartneringTechnical CompetenceTherapy and Counseling 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 the work are generally minor. The work is primarily sedentary, although the stress involved in dealing continually with persons in emotional distress and who may be uncooperative and occasionally assaultive makes this work notably more demanding than 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Tomah VA Medical Center 500 East Veterans Street Tomah, WI 54660 US
• Name: Dawn Armstrong
• Email: [email protected]