The Program Specialist provides advice and counsel to the VR&E Officer, Assistant VR&E Officer and Baltimore Supervisor on management's program operations, objectives, and goals. This position is assigned to the Vocational Readiness & Employment (VR&E) Division under the VR&E Officer, Assistant VR&E Officer, and Supervisor VR&E.

Duties

Specific duties include: Incumbent must be familiar with the programs and missions of the division within Regional Office and adhering to VR&E strategic plan, policy, and procedures. Incumbent also performs analytical duties for the Vocational Readiness & Employment Division to which he/she is assigned. These duties include the conduct of a complete program analysis directed at cost reduction, fund utilization, staff utilization, training, data management and analyzation and contracting. Management of reports and study results provide substantive information, conclusions, and recommendation for use by the VR&E Division and Regional Office in maintaining efficient use of resources and effective, customer-orientated delivery of VA VR&E benefits and services. The incumbent is to evaluate and implement solutions for improving customer service of the VR&E program. The incumbent assists counselors with caseloads and manages the administrative and technical aspects of VR&E program. He/She is also assigned a variety of support duties in the Vocational Readiness & Counseling Division or within the Centralized Rehabilitation Team. Specific duties include: Responsible for assisting the Vocational Readiness Counselors (VRC) and the Employment Coordinators (EC) with technical management of the VR&E caseload and aiding veteran clients. Collaborates with Vocational Readiness Counselors, ECs, DVOPs, and program participants to resolve issues pertaining to the participant's rehabilitation program. Assists program participants that are eligible for vocational readiness under USC Chapter 31 and carries out basic function in Case Management. Liaise with clients and employment service contractors and recommend various phases of employment contract services when warranted by case facts. Review contractor reports and billing for quality and accuracy and recommends certification of invoices for payment. Resolves problems; disseminates information and explains program requirements. Provides for Chapter 31 benefit consultation to School and Training Officials and VR&E Staff as required. Performs case management administrative support duties such as completing general eligibility determinations, obligating contract task orders, inputting subsistence and employment adjustment allowance awards, preparing medical referrals, enrollment authorizations and reviewing vouchers for payment. Serves as System Administrator for the automated case management systems, CWINRS. runs batch processor, initiates terminal server batch processor and letter file, adds custom letters, and forms, and maintains and updates system information as well as instructs new employees on its use and troubleshooting user problems. Processes Dependency Updates and Appointments as needed Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-09. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday 8AM to 4:30PM Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist; 40205A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:11/06/2024. 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. To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). 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 also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50's and/or General Adjustment SF-50's as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:GS-09 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: defined as experience in a human services environment or general office administrations performing the following duties: alpha-numeric filing; completing telephone outreach; responding to telephone and written inquiries and scheduling appointments; to include managing financial transactions, account reconciliation and documentation of Federal procurement; with accurate computer data entry of transactions. Knowledge of benefits and services available to veterans AND experience assisting case managers by addressing and resolving issues presented by customers in addition to the duties described above, to qualify for the GS-09 grade level, the application must possess the knowledge of benefits and services available to assist program participants understanding and completing program requirements. Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have either: a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree Or Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. Volunteer Experience: 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit.

Contacts

• Address Baltimore Regional Benefit Office 31 Hopkins Plaza Baltimore, MD 21201 US
• Name: Matthew Lyons
• Phone: 410-230-4400
• Email: [email protected]