Job opening: PSYCHOLOGY TECHNICIAN
Salary: $49 906 - 64 879 per year
Published at: Mar 12 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
This position is located within the Research and Education Service at the VA Medical Center in Tucson, AZ.
Duties
***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION***
The Psychology Technician provides support for psychological testing for research studies, to include evaluating research participants through various psychological and neuropsychological techniques.
Major duties and responsibilities include:
Administers and scores a wide range of objective psychological tests and inventories measuring personality and cognitive functions
Prepares research documentation for submission to the Internal Review Board, monitors study conduct
Observes and records details of participants verbal and non-verbal responses to questions and tasks posed
Maintains standard testing environment and scoring conditions to ensure validity of standardized instruments
Administers and scores individual tests for neuropsychological functioning
Attends to non-verbal cues and interprets poorly expressed ideas when working with individuals with severe psychopathology, life-threatening medical disorders, and cognitive impairment
Uses judgement in determining when failure or fatigue are producing invalid results, and discontinues testing when deemed appropriate
Prepares abstracts of the clinical files of those referred for psychological evaluations
Administers psychological instruments to evaluate clinical outcomes of treatment
Maintains computerized databases of testing data
Performs data manipulation and statistical analyses
Performs other related duties as assigned
Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm
Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required
Qualifications
ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position.
EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Completion of a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university with a major in an appropriate social or biological science, which included or was supplemented by 12 semester hours in psychology. NOTE: You must submit copies of transcripts at the time of application. Education will not be credited without documentation. Please ensure that your transcripts show that a degree was conferred. Display copies of degrees or course listings do not provide the information needed.
~ AND ~
In addition to the above requirement, in order to meet the minimum qualifications for this position at the GS- 7 level you must have:
Experience: Two years of technical work under the direction of a professional psychologist. At least 6 months of this experience must be comparable in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade in the Federal service (GS-6), or 6 months comparable to the second lower grade (GS-5). Technical duties include experience with one or more of the following: (1) Assisting in research as in systematic collection of psychology research data, recording and collecting data, preparing tabular or graphic presentation of data, in accordance with a predetermined research plan; (2) Assisting counseling psychologists in contacting potential employers for the purpose of making vocational placement, providing follow-up consultation, administering and scoring of interest, achievement and aptitude tests, securing work history and other relevant vocational information; (3) Assisting neuropsychologists in administering and scoring of selected tests of neuropsychology battery in accordance with clearly defined procedures; or (4) Assisting psychologists in completing behavior rating scales or in conducting behavior modification.
NOTE: Experience under the direction of a professional psychologist is required and MUST be documented on your resume. 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.
~OR~
Education: 1 full year of graduate study in psychology in an accredited college or university may be substituted for 1 years of experience and meets in full the requirements at the GS-7 level. Transcripts must be submitted at the time of application.
~OR~
SUPERIOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT (SAA): For the Psychology Technician, you may qualify based on superior academic achievement (SAA). Select the ONE statement below which best describes your educational background. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.
I graduated in the top third of my class. Class is defined as the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration.
I graduated with a Grade-point average of 2.95 or higher out of a possible 4.0. This grade point average could have been determined based on 4 years of education or based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
I graduated with a grade-point average of 3.45 or higher out of a possible 4.0 based on courses required for my major field or courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum.
I am a member of a national scholastic honor society.
You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position:
CommunicationManages and Organizes InformationPsychological AssessmentPsychology
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.
Physical Requirements: Applicants must be physically and mentally able to efficiently perform the essential function of the position without hazard to themselves or others. Depending on the essential duties of a specific position, usable vision, color vision, hearing or speech may be required. However, in most cases, a specific physical condition or impairment will not automatically disqualify an applicant for appointment. The loss or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prothesis or mechanical aid. Reasonable accommodation may also be considered in determining an applicant's ability to perform the duties of a position. Reasonable accommodation may include but is not limited to the use of assistive devices, job modification or restructuring, provision of readers and interpreters, or adjusted work schedules.
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
IMPORTANT: 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:
Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office (ed.gov).
Contacts
- Address Tucson VA Medical Center
3601 South Sixth Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85723
US
- Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
- Phone: (844)456-5208
- Email: [email protected]
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