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Program Support Assistant (OA)

Department of Veterans Affairs
National Cemetery Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (FSHNC) in San Antonio, TX.

This announcement is a solicitation for applications from current VA employees and status eligible applicants. Please note that as provided for in the AFGE/VA Master Agreement the FIRST area of consideration for this position will be permanent employees of the FSHNC , the SECOND area of consideration will be employees at other VA facilities, and the THIRD area of consideration is status eligibles.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
11/18/2021 to 12/09/2021
Salary
$43,992 to - $57,192 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 7
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
San Antonio, TX
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Term - 36 months
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
7
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
RP-22-ELG-11300481-846-BU
Control number
622935200

Duties

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The incumbent serves as a receptionist/clerical, administrative and technical duties/responsibilities in support of management with the intent of accomplishing the administrative requirements of the organization to which assigned: Demonstrates excellent customer service. Answers telephones, takes messages and refers callers to other team members. Ensures that matters demanding the attention of the Senior Resident Engineer (SRE) are promptly brought to his/her attention. He/she will manage the conference room schedule through the electronic conference scheduler; along with copying, faxing, and scanning for project team members as requested. In addition, he/she will order and manage office supplies for the project team. The incumbent will prepare in final form, from handwritten composition, correspondence including letters, memoranda, forms, presentation and training aids and reports for the Resident Engineers as workload
necessitates. He/she is responsible for correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and format. He/She may occasionally be required to compose simple memorandums, letters, or inquiries.

Performs public outreach as needed.

This is a term appointment not to exceed 36 months. Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration of more than 1 year, but not more than 4 years and are subject to a 1 year trial period. Should the need warrant, term appointments may be extended without further competition up to a maximum of the 4 year limitation. The appointment to a term position does not confer eligibility for promotion, reassignment, or transfer to other positions or the ability to be non-competitively converted to permanent employment.

Work schedule: Required to work Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. May include occasional weekends. Due to the mission of the National Cemetery, the cemetery cannot be closed for more than 2 consecutive days at any given time. Additionally, when a Federal holiday falls on a Monday or Friday, staff may be required to work on that holiday or a Saturday. All staff is required to work Memorial Day and Veteran's Day each year. Staff will be required to work overtime, weekends and holidays when necessary to meet the needs of the cemetery. Occasionally staff may be called back to the facility to perform emergency overtime work.
Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Not Available
Telework: Not Available
Remote/Virtual: This is not a virtual or remote position. Position Description Title/PD#: Program Support Assistant (OA)/1558320
The full performance level of this position is GS-07.

Relocation Expenses: Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Subject to a background/security investigation.
  • Designated and/or random drug testing may be required.
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
  • You may be required to serve a probationary period.
  • You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job.
  • Must have a valid state driver's license.
  • Must be able to type 40 or more words per minute.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all specialized experience and time in grade requirements within 45 days of the closing date of this announcement, 12/09/2021.

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 within 45 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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 your most recent non-award 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 non-award SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one year time-in-grade.
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.

  • Must have the ability to type at least 40 words per minute.
  • Must possess and maintain a valid state driver's license.
You may qualify based on your experience, as described below:
  • Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: administrative/office work experience that includes work such as gathering data, coordinating meetings, establishing and maintaining an efficient filing system, using automated data processing equipment to generate a variety of reports, and establishing priorities and meeting deadlines.
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Communication
  • Computer Skills
  • Critical Thinking
  • Self-Management
  • Writing


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 work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may
be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items like paper or books. No special physical
demands are required to perform the work.

Work Environment: The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts and requires normal safety precautions typical of such places as meeting and training rooms, libraries, or commercial vehicles. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated.

Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Additional information

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement - As required by Executive Order 14043, Federal employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of the employee's duty location or work arrangement (e.g., telework, remote work, etc.), subject to such exceptions as required by law. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. Per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, 2 weeks after receiving the requisite number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or that has been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization. For Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or AstraZeneca/Oxford, full vaccination is 2 weeks after receiving the second dose in a 2-dose series. For Johnson and Johnson (J&J)/Janssen, full vaccination is 2 weeks after an employee has received a single dose.

HR Office staff must verify your vaccination status prior to issuing a final offer of employment and before you report for New Employee Orientation. [In addition, new hires must show vaccination documentation and submit their completed VA FORM 10230, COVID-19 Vaccination Form, to VA HR staff when reporting for New Employee Orientation. HR staff will upload vaccination information in the VA Light Electronic Action Framework (LEAF) system. If you are unable to obtain the COVID-19 vaccination due to a legally covered exception (i.e., medical or religious reasons),] VA will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation is needed and how you can request an exception. If you request a legally required exception, you must first complete the VA FORM 10230, COVID-19 Vaccination Form, and return the form to the servicing HR Office staff within 2 business days. The HR Office staff will submit the form to your new supervisor of record for adjudication of the exception request. You may receive a final offer or be appointed while your request for medical or religious exception is being adjudicated. Some positions must be adjudicated favorably prior to receiving a final offer. Please contact the HR Point of Contact listed in the JOA for more information.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

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. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Narrative responses are not required at this time. 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 resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

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