Clarification from the agency

Restricted to current students who are eligible for employment through the Pathways Internship Program.

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These positions are being filled under the Pathways Internship Program. The program is designed to provide students enrolled in a wide variety of educational institutions, from high school to graduate level, with paid work opportunities in agencies to explore Federal careers while still in school. The Internship provides managers a ready source of student employees and potential permanent employees upon completion of the program requirements. It also provides the student with work experience directly related to the curriculum studies or career goals while offering eligibility for non-competitive conversion to permanent employment upon completion. For more information on Internship opportunities within the Department of Veterans Affairs, please visit: https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/pathways-internship-program/.

Duties: The Health Systems Administrative Internship is an intensive introduction to hospital administration and management. The Intern serves in a training capacity, learns the appropriate rules/regulations used in conducting Department of Veterans Affairs business, and familiarizes him/herself with administrative and clinical operations. Interns will be assigned to one of the following tracks: Quality Management, Nursing Administration, Clinical Operations, Clinic Practice Management, and Hospital Operations.

In collaboration with his/her Supervisor/Mentor, the Intern will outline goals for the internship and develop a plan of action outlining deliverables for a number of hands-on, problem solving projects. Projects will be determined by the needs of the Medical Center, and the Intern will work closely with hospital management/service chiefs and other key personnel in the formulation and completion of projects. Assignments are of considerable complexity, depth, and variety which require the application of independent judgment and exercise of initiative. This position requires an understanding of the critical balance between administrative and clinical functions in healthcare delivery, and the ability to coordinate and control programs and resources to achieve this balance.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• You must be at least 16 years old (by closing date of this vacancy announcement)
• Selective Service Registration-required males (over 18) born after 12/31/59
• Must be accepted for/currently enrolled in a qualified educational institution
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• 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.

Qualifications

Notifications:

• Work Schedule:Full-time, Monday- Friday; Work schedule will be set between the hours of 7:00am and 5:00pm.
• This Internship appointment will be full-time for the summer months and then may change to part-time to accommodate the selectee's academic schedule.
• This Internship appointment ends 120 calendar days after completion of the degree program.
• Resume must state expected graduation date (month and date).
• This position is not a bargaining unit position.
• This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• Travel and relocation expenses are not authorized.
• Selectee may be required to work at any Boston Healthcare System campus, as needed.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/28/2022.

Internship Program: To be eligible for this internship, ALL of the following requirements must be met:

• Student Status: The applicant must be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in an accredited two-year or four-year college or university, graduate or professional school (go to www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/to verify accreditation status). Individuals who are enrolled must be taking at least a half-time academic, vocational, or technical course load leading to a degree, and the applicant must provide evidence of enrollment/acceptance. If enrolled half-time, the applicant must also provide the school's policy on what is defined as half-time enrollment. Additionally, the student must maintain either a full-time or part-time work schedule in order to remain eligible under the Pathways Program.
• Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.): Students must possess an acceptable G.P.A. as defined by the educational institution to be eligible for appointment and to remain eligible for participation in the Program. At the time of appointment and upon request, students must demonstrate an overall Grade-Point Average of 2.0 or above on a 4.0 scaled as recorded on the official transcript.

Grade Level: You may qualify at the GS-7 grade level based on education and/or experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: studying policies; establishing hospital committees; attending meetings of hospital councils, healthcare planning agencies, and other healthcare groups; participating in budget development and execution; participating in a disaster exercise and critique; participating in an Infection Control investigation; participating in administrative rounds.; participating in preparation for a Joint Commission accreditation survey; participating in Systems Redesign and process improvement in a healthcare setting; learning and applying the appropriate rules, regulations, and policies in conducting healthcare business; formulating solutions to hospital issues affecting a hospital's operation based on knowledge of clinical medicine and healthcare system administrations; coordinating and controlling programs and resources to help achieve a balance of administrative and clinical functions.
  OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the experience required. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have completion of one (1) full academic year of graduate level education or eligibility under the Superior Academic Achievement (S.A.A.) Provision and completion of a bachelor's degree. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)
  OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond a bachelor's degree. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

Selective Placement Factor: This position includes a Selective Placement Factor (skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: Possession of an integrated knowledge of clinical medicine and healthcare system administration to formulate solutions to hospital issues that directly affect the hospital's operation and ability to deliver optimum patient care.

Preferred Experience: The Health Systems Administrative Internship is an intensive introduction to hospital administration and management. Preferred candidates are those enrolled in a Master of Health Administration, Master of Public Health, or a Master of Business Administration program, with major study in hospital administration, public health administration, or related fields such as business or public administration with course work in health care administration.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Communication
• Decision Making
• Interpersonal Effectiveness
• Planning and Evaluating

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.

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/.

Physical Requirements: Work is mostly sedentary, but there is a moderate amount of walking involved, with infrequent bending, lifting, and stooping. Vision should be sufficient to read from a computer screen for prolonged periods without excessive fatigue. Data input into the computer requires prolonged used of a keyboard.

How you will be evaluated

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

GROUP RATING: Applicants for VA Pathways Internship positions are rated, referred, and selected using a process called Group Rating. Quality groups are defined to reflect the requirements to perform the job successfully and to distinguish differences in the quality of each applicant's job-related competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). Under the Group Rating Procedure, eligible applicants who meet basic minimum qualification requirements established for the position and whose job-related competencies or KSAs have been assessed through the occupational questionnaire are ranked by being placed in one of the three quality groups:·

Best Qualified Group - Applicants who have a score between 97 and 100·
Well Qualified - Applicants who have a score between 85 and 96.99·
Qualified - Applicants who have a score between 70 and 84.99

After the appropriate quality group is identified for each qualified applicant, Veterans' preference is adjudicated for each applicant based on his/her supporting documentation submitted with their application materials. In Group Rating, certified preference eligible Veterans are listed ahead of non-preference eligible within each quality group. Eligible and qualified CPS and CP eligible will automatically float to the top of the highest quality group followed by other preference eligible and last non-preference eligible.

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.