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Program Support Assistant

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

Summary

This position is located at the Springfield National Cemetery in Springfield, MO.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
10/15/2019 to 10/29/2019
Salary
$42,053 to - $54,670 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 7
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Springfield, MO
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Term
Work schedule
Full-Time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
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-20-EM-10629653-879-BU
Control number
548647000

Duties

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Provides specialized and general clerical assistance to the office of the Springfield National Cemetery. Performs general clerical support in office with copying, filing, storing stock items. Assignments can vary involving routine and non-routine office functions such as preparing documents and correspondence, sorting, copying, and filing. Prepares reports for Cemetery Administrators use. Assist in budget preparation and management. Serves as purchase card holder and time keeper.

Represents the Springfield National Cemetery meeting funeral directors, families and honor guard members who are attending committal services or burials at the Cemetery. Provides information to bereaved family members concerning gravesite and marker information. Retrieves gravesite information from the KIOSK or BOSS (electronic burial register) in assisting families locating loved ones' gravesites. Duties may include but are not limited to: maintaining control of traffic to the cemetery, directing funeral corteges so as to keep all family members together, accompanying families to committal shelters and gravesites, providing veteran burial benefit information to family members and visitors, answering general questions of family and visitors, assisting visitors and family members locating gravesites.

Performs public outreach as needed.

This is a term appointment not to exceed 13 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
Virtual: This is Not a virtual position.

Position Description Title/PD#: Program Support Assistant/136710
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.

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, 10/29/2019.

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: This work requires frequent walking, standing, pushing of casket biers, bending and stooping. Frequent arm and leg movements are required when setting niche covers. Incumbent lifts objects, which weigh up to 40 pounds such as niche covers, chairs and tables. Sitting and occasional lifting of records and supplies.


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

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Additional 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/.

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.

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.

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 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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