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Telephone Operator

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Veterans Health Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The incumbent is assigned to the VA Police, Executive Office Service Line of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System (VAPSHCS). Occupation involves administrative work such as receiving different requests for information from staff, patients, Veterans, and family members of Veterans, and being able to determine where calls are directed to within the VA Puget Sound, and facilities outside the VA facility.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
03/06/2025 to 03/17/2025
Salary
$40,517 to - $52,678 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 4
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Seattle, WA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Not required
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
CBSV-12707400-25-AH
Control number
833335000

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

The first area of consideration is to permanent Puget Sound VA employees. The second area of consideration is permanent VISN20 employees. The third area of consideration is permanent VA Wide employees. All other statuses' will be considered after internal merit promotion VA employees are exhausted. Special authorities include: Former overseas employees and foreign service employees. Clarification for these authorities is provided in the questionnaire.

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Duties

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Duties include but are not limited to:

  • Provides a centralized continuous point of contact for Veterans and clinical providers in all areas of patient care at VA Puget Sound Health Care System. The incumbent is a key member for ensuring continuity of care in a customer friendly way by extending courtesy and professionalism to all callers.
  • Incumbent represents VA to Veterans as a first point of contact for customer service. Serves as patient information resource for staff and Veterans, provides necessary look up of Medical Center staff phone numbers and pager numbers. Information is gathered utilizing VAcinity and/or VISTA. Will at all times be cognizant of the need to safeguard personal information and especially insure the privacy rights of Veterans and employees and the HIPAA guidelines.
  • Operates the voice and digital paging system, long distance pagers, and hospital wide overhead voice paging system. This includes calling the emergency code pagers in the event of an emergency and also for testing the voice paging system twice on a daily basis. Provides new pagers and exchanges old pagers, as needed for medical center staff.
  • Communicate on a daily basis with the VA Police, Facilities Management using the high frequency radio to notify them of all emergency situations, Responsible for the communication of information and dispatches of the VA Police when they are out of the office by answering calls that "roll-over" to the operator when the police are out of the office.
  • Comprehends and compiles a complex set of more than 25 different daily and monthly clinical staff and Resident rotation and on-call schedules for all clinical areas in the Medical Center. Organizes, prepares and prints out the computerized on-call schedules, quick reference guides, and other organizational telephone and reference lists utilizing Word and Excel computer program
  • Works on a daily basis with the Medical Center computer network by accessing VISTA, VAcinity, Outlook, Word, Excel and related computer applications for data entry of on-call schedules, quick reference guides, organizational and reference lists and retrieval of information.
  • Primarily uses Outlook to receive, reply and send email messages related to on-call schedules, procedural updates, patient and staff safety, security issues, and other important VA Police and facilrry level messages. VISTA messages are also received. Gathers enough detailed information from caller to determine most efficient way to provide assistance. Information may include both administrative and clinical.
  • Provide exceptional customer service. The incumbent will actively listen to customers with respecl and will pay attention to the details of the customer's needs or problems. Will clearly and comprehensively communicate with the Veterans, family members, employees and any other caller on the telephone in order to provide assistance, guidance, and information in order to resolve the issue where possible. Maintains a professional demeanor and is responsible for keeping Executive Office management informed of matters affecting a smooth, cooperative workflow.
  • Maintains a current knowledge of and ability to answer inquiries from other employees on procedures, policies, directives, and information related to Veteran benefits, eligibility, pharmacy refill options, outpatient clinic locations, code procedures, etc. Obtains needed information or decisions from the Supervisor on problems that may occur.
  • Maintains an accurate, daily Record Log of events and incidents to include, but not limited to emergency medical and behavioral Codes, fire alarms, panic alarms, expirations of inpatient Veterans, problems with the NEC console, emergency 911 phone, by-pass phone, or any other telecommunications equipment in the office, insuring that all pertinent details are documented with correct date, time and employees initials.
  • Comprehends and utilizes the information in the Medical Center Cascade Call Back notebook either to activate the Cascade Call Back procedure as directed by the Director's office. Maintains privacy of all Information as prescribed by HIPPA.
  • Performs other duties as necessary to ensure the full functionality of the Medical Center switchboard as assigned by the Supervisor.
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 3:30 pm - 12:00 am
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Position Description/PD#: Telephone Operator/PD40555A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • 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
  • Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
  • Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
  • Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.
  • General restriction on movement after competitive appointment 5 CFR 330.502

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 03/17/2025.

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 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-4 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-3. 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:

  • General Experience: Applicants must possess one (1) year of general experience that equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. General experience is customer service; place, receive, and transfer local, regular, and special long-distance calls; progressively responsible clerical, office, or other work that indicates ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of the position to be filled. 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.
OR
  • Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed two (2) years of education above the high school level in any field. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. One year of full-time undergraduate study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial or technical school. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).
OR
  • Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of successfully completed post-high school education and experience to meet total qualification requirements at the GS-4 level. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for this grade level (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Communications
  • Customer Service
  • Telecommunications


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 primarily sedentary with reaching, dialing numbers on the console, keyboarding, carrying of light supplies required. Because calls received are emergent and so varied, the position can be emotionally taxing.

Work Environment: Work is performed in an office setting. Work involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions that are typical of a Medical Center.

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/.

Additional information

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

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.

Resume Reminder- Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:

  • Job title Duties (be as detailed as possible)
  • Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008)
  • Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)
  • Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held
  • Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail.
Recommended: Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications.

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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

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

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.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

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.

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