Clarification from the agency

This position is open to all U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals. Note: Federal employees with permanent status or individuals eligible for special appointing authorities may also apply to Job Announcement # More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

The Animal Health Technician provides veterinary technical support and performs veterinary tasks for the WHS Veterinary Department and its medical programs.

In this position, you will:

• Provide technical support to veterinarians and consultants in areas such as animal anesthesia, treatment, surgery, dentistry, radiology, and preventative medicine.
• Monitor hospital equipment and notifies the appropriate departments for servicing when necessary.
• Assist veterinary staff with taking and developing radiographs for diagnostic purposes, collecting blood, urine, or fecal samples, preparing blood smears, performing diagnostic tests, and completing clinical pathology forms.
• Assist in maintenance of medical and surgical records.
• Manage inventory and supplies by following standard operating procedures for ordering, purchasing, and restocking.

Conditions of employment

• Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation
• May need to complete a Probationary Period
• Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions on OPM website.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

Examples of qualifying specialized experience include work:

• As a laborer, manager, or owner of a livestock ranch or farm involving direct work with livestock.
• With livestock in a feed lot.
• As a Livestock Market Inspector.
• As an Animal Welfare Inspector.
• As an assistant to a veterinarian who works with livestock.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above:

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal Service.  For this position, specialized experience is defined as providing veterinary technical support in delivering healthcare to a range of non-domestic animals and provide clinical laboratory support through record maintenance and equipment management.

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; religious; 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.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Or

Education: 

To qualify at the GS-09 grade level based on education, applicants must successfully complete 2 full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education or master's or equivalent graduate degree related to the work of the position. 

Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position. 

For a full explanation of this option please see the Qualification Standards. Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

How you will be evaluated

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

Applicants for this position may be evaluated in multiple stages. The first stage is an evaluation of your responses to the online multiple-choice questions that assess your experience, education, and/or training for the job related competencies below:

• Skill working as a veterinary technician in an AZA accredited Zoo (or similar) setting.
• Ability to perform clinical laboratory support duties and veterinary clinical laboratory testing on zoo (or similar) and exotic species.
• Ability to operate and maintain veterinary equipment, and fill and dispense veterinary prescriptions and products related to zoo (or similar) animals.
• Ability to perform veterinary clinical support duties on zoo and exotic species, and to perform veterinary clinical laboratory testing.
• Skill in communication, interaction, and project participation.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria:

• Best Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above.
• Better Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above.
• Good Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree.

This category rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.