As a Veterans Service Representative you will work on veterans benefits claims and provide comprehensive services to America's Veterans and their families. The incumbent may be promoted to the full performance level (GS-10) without further competition after meeting time-in-grade and specialized experience requirements. Upon attaining the GS-10 grade level, the incumbent will be required to take the VSR Skills Certification test.

Incumbents of this position serve as the primary contact for the veteran and his/her representative or advocate and the decision-maker for compensation or pension claims. The VSR explains benefit programs and entitlement criteria, conducts interviews, identifies issues, gathers relevant evidence, adjudicates claims, and inputs data necessary to generate the award and notification letter to the veteran describing the decision and the reason for it. Specific duties include:

• Conducts interviews in person or by telephone with veterans, representatives, and advocates.
• Refers persons to other Federal agencies and State and local agencies when potential eligibility for non-VA benefits is indicated.
• Informs the claimant of all evidence requirements needed to further process a claim for benefits and/or services and assists claimants with completion of the application and other forms.
• Makes determinations as to eligibility for the type of benefit sought to include questions relating to adequacy of military service; adequacy of medical evidence and lay testimony to establish a claim; and evaluates evidence of income, net worth, employability, dependency, and relationship.
• Analyzes, develops, and requests required evidence for claims requiring a rating decision.
• Requests examinations, reexamination or opinions to determine the existence of, or to evaluate disabilities resulting from diseases or injuries to ensure appropriate evidence is received from which to adjudicate the claim.
• Makes determinations and is fully accountable for proper analysis, appropriate development, and/or adjudication relative to VA hospitalization, outpatient treatment institutional or domicile care and basic eligibility for vocational rehabilitation.
• Applies and interprets VA laws, including veterans case law, existing statutes and procedures, precedent rulings, and state law.
• Utilizes various electronic data processing (EDP) systems for inputting data; for claims processing, monitoring, adjudication; and for correspondence preparation to inform the claimant and any representative/advocate of the decision and the basis for the action taken.

Individual(s) selected for this position must be available to attend a mandatory 8-week consecutive training session. This training may require official government travel away from the permanent duty station to a different city and/or state. Flexitour is not available during training.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
Position Description Title/PD#: Veterans Service Representative/ 37300A
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-07/09/10

Conditions of employment

• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Required to attend an 8 week training session, which may require travel.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: This position is primarily sedentary with some walking, standing, bending, and/or carrying lightweight items.

This position has a position-sensitivity level of Public Trust-Low Risk. Selections made under this announcement are conditioned upon favorable adjudication of a National Agency Check with written Inquiries (NACI) per VA Handbook 0710. An investigation will be conducted after the effective date of the selection. An individual currently holding the appropriate clearance does not require additional investigation. An individual receiving unfavorable adjudication is ineligible to remain in this position.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the date of application.

TIME-IN-GRADE: 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 (unless if in the commuting area and eligible for a non-competitive hiring authority such as Schedule A, VRA, or 30% or more disabled Veterans).

• For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05 level.

NOTE: To support your claim that you have the required time-in-grade, you must submit your most recent promotion, within-grade increase, or appointment SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade.

AND

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You may qualify at the GS-07 level, if you fulfill one of the following qualification requirements:

A. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 grade level in the Federal service that demonstrated experience interpreting, regulations and applying laws required to explain, evaluate and recommend determinations of eligibility to claimant request for services and benefits.
Examples of specialized experience include:

1. The ability to request relevant medical or administrative evidence to make eligibility determinations.
2. Experience analyzing medical evidence, benefit and/or legal evidence to identify and recognize required actions for claim development.
3. Experience in explaining program benefit entitlements and requirements.

OR
B. One (1) full year of graduate-level education; related to the competencies required to perform in this position OR A bachelor degree with Superior Academic Achievement (SAA) SAA is based on a GPA of 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0; class standing in the upper third of graduating class; or election to membership in a national scholastic honor society.
OR
C. Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned. When substituting you can use graduate level education you have earned beyond a Bachelor's Degree. Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-07. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position.

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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.
You will be rated on the following competencies based on your application for this position:

1. Ability to interpret and apply established guidelines, regulations and procedures to determine claimant eligibility for services and benefits;
2. Knowledge of automated systems and applications;
3. Ability to manage priorities;
4. Ability to communicate verbally;
5. Ability to communicate in writing;

- Assessment of Applicants's Resume
- ICARE Writing Sample.

If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview.

Your résumé and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.