This Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position is located within the Mental Health service at the Togus VA Healthcare Center located at Augusta, Maine. This position is full-time at 40 hours per week.

Duties

VHA Vocational Rehabilitation Service (VRS) programs are recovery-oriented clinical vocational rehabilitation services and offer a continuum of vocational, educational, training and employment, and therapeutic work services. This includes skill development and assistance with obtaining and maintaining employment for Veterans for whom the primary objective is competitive employment. The mission of VHA Vocational Rehabilitation is to promote recovery for Veterans living with mental illness and/or physical impairment, with barriers to employment, who want to secure and maintain meaningful community-based competitive employment that fosters self-esteem, dignity, respect, and independence through high-quality vocational rehabilitation services. Duties include but are not limited to: Responsible for diverse duties, including vocational counseling, crisis intervention, guidance, counseling, placement of clients into competitive employment, integration of Veterans into the community, and coordination local data collection. Determines the vocational goals and objectives of the client. Determines the extent to which the client possesses the knowledge, skills, or abilities necessary to meet their vocational goals or objectives. Analyze the client's mental and physical disabilities in terms of the practical effects of such disabilities on motivation, adjustment to training, and difficulty in employment placement. Finds work training experiences that meet the participants' rehabilitation goals. Coordinates with various resources to locate a training facility that will be specifically suitable from the standpoint of the particular needs and challenges of the individual Veteran. Establishes training programs to satisfy common needs of the client base (i.e., literacy training, customer service training, effective communications, etc.). Finds suitable employment opportunities and monitors placement to promote successful adjustment. Assists Client in Obtaining Competitive Employment and is responsible for maintaining awareness of and fostering community contacts. Provides on-going support, counseling, and guidance through difficult transitions or adjustments to the job, and helps them maintain employment on an on-going basis, for as long as a client seeks assistance. Provides support to clients for difficult emotional and economic problems. Performs additional duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, 7:30 am - 4:00 pm. Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD038060 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Notifications: This position is an AFGE Bargaining Unit position. This position is in the Competitive Service. Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. Current Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. Time-in-Grade Restriction: Applicants must also meet time-in-grade requirements. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service. Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System. Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/01/2024. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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-07, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include what is stated above, as well as, but 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 master's (or equivalent) degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other related fields. 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 one full academic year of graduate level education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer ServiceOrganizational AwarenessReasoning 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 incumbent must be physically energetic, mobile, social, and observant. The job requires no heavy lifting of materials or other situation in which physical stress is anticipated. She/he must be psychologically resilient and function as a resource to support a Recovery orientation for program participants, who will have often experienced significant trauma and setbacks across the lifespan and in multiple domains. Work Environment: Work is typically performed in a wide range of settings, including in the community at various job sites and within the VA Medical Center. The main work environment is an adequately lighted and climate controlled office. 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 Togus VA Medical Center 1 VA Center Augusta, ME 04330 US
• Name: Jessica Steed
• Phone: (802) 295-9363 X2021
• Email: [email protected]