Clarification from the agency

This vacancy announcement is open ONLY to current, permanent VBA Regional Office employees in the Southeast District and current/former VA employees who are CTAP eligible.

The Supervisory Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (Quality) serves as a Local Quality Assurance Supervisor located within the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E).

The duties of this position include but are not limited to:

• Examines VR&E case files chosen for every VRC to ensure they comply with various guidelines, policies, and directives related to Chapter 31 delivery and other VR&E benefits.
• Identifies trends, best practices, and areas in which individual VRCs need clarification of policy or guidance, as well as training needs.
• Addresses employee grievances and forwards others to the relevant manager.
• Ensures that everyone in the team is aware of and involved in the planning process for achieving the goals and objectives of the group.
• Identifies, assigns, and distributes work among team members in accordance with established workflow, skill level, and/or occupational specialization.
• Maintains program knowledge to answer questions related to statutes, regulations, directives, policies, and procedures governing the provision of VR&E services.
• Reviews work completed by QRT employees under supervision and verifies the reviews' accuracy.
• Assesses and indicates issues in various case components, such as application, entitlement, assessment, planning, case management, financial activity, and case closure.
• Provides clarification for errors and adds remarks where appropriate.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• 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
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Bargaining Unit Position: No

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/01/2024.

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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. 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 education as described below:

NOTE: Applicants must meet both the basic and the specialized experience requirements.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS - To qualify for the VRC position, candidates must meet the following basic requirements:

A. Education. Successful completion of a master's degree (or higher) in rehabilitation counseling, rehabilitation services, clinical rehabilitation counseling, counseling psychology, mental health counseling, career counseling or social work from an accredited college or university.

B.Internship or Experience Requirement. The required (1) supervised internship or (2) post-master's degree experience is described as follows:

(1) Supervised Internship: The education in paragraph 3a must have included a supervised internship in rehabilitation counseling or case management specialization. The internship must have been supervised by a professional in vocational rehabilitation or a closely related professional field that typically has oversight for vocational rehabilitation programs.

OR,

(2) Experience: One-year post-master's degree experience in direct delivery of professional vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities.

C. Grandfathering Provision. VRCs employed in VBA on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including certifications that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard but met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply: (1) VRCs who are grandfathered into the GS-0101 occupational series may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance level of a career ladder or changed to a lower grade within the occupation or placed in a supervisory or managerial position. (2) VRCs who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of this qualification standard may not be extended or reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of this standard. II-F2-2 July 28, 2023 VA HANDBOOK 5005/157 PART II APPENDIX F2 (3) If VRCs who are grandfathered under this provision leave the occupation, they lose protected status and must meet the full qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.

GS-13 SPECIALIED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as experience in Veteran Readiness and Employment programs 1) a comprehension of independent living (IL) requirements; 2) experience with psychological and vocational testing principles; and 3) experience with a broad range of vocational rehabilitation laws, regulations, rules, and policies in the realm of implementing adjudicative decisions and/or developing rehabilitation plans.


After you have met the minimum qualifications, you will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

Quality Management (241): Knowledge of the principles, methods, and tools of quality assurance, quality control, and reliability used to ensure that a project, system, or product fulfills requirements and standards.

Leadership (69): Inspires, motivates and guides others toward goal accomplishment; coaches, mentors, and challenges subordinates; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations; models high standards of honesty, integrity, trust, openness, and respect for the individual by applying these values to daily behaviors.

Planning and Evaluating (224): Organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements; determines short- or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them; coordinates with other organizations or parts of the organization to accomplish goals; monitors progress and evaluates outcomes.

Analysis and Problem Solving (241): Applies the process of discovery that involves the diagnosis of a problem or issue, identification and gathering of relevant information, formulation and evaluation of alternative solutions or courses of action, and selection or recommendation of the preferred solution or course of action.

Communications (332): Effectively expresses information to multiple audiences through clear, convincing oral and written communications; demonstrates logical thinking when describing facts and concepts, and shapes communications to meet the needs of a specific audience; actively listens to others and demonstrates understanding of their comments and/or questions.

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 normally involves mental rather than physical exertion.

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/.

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.

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.