Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent Veterans Health Administration employees. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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Duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Oversees the day-to-day bench assignments and daily work activities, so that staff is utilized in an effective manner to meet workload needs.
• Coordinates inter-lab proficiency and competency assessments.
• Establishes a preventive maintenance program for all instruments.
• Calibrates or standardizes equipment, troubleshoots malfunctions, and makes simple repairs or identifies need for external services.
• Adheres to practices and regulations governing biosafety and biosecurity in the workplace.
• Identifies discrepancies, solves problems, and presents solutions.
• Answers inquiries regarding test results, methodology, test specificity, test sensitivity, and specific factors which influence test results.
• Participates in the performance of quality assurance programs, such as College of American Pathologist or other regulatory agencies in order to maintain accreditation, corrects deficiencies promptly and modifies instruments and methods to conform and keep laboratory standards at a high level.
• Maintains quality control records; collates and reviews all monthly QC for peer group evaluation, performs all preliminary reviews of all QC, maintenance, and corrective action lags before submitting to Supervisor for review and signature.
• Performs tests in Hematology, Coagulation, Chemistry, lmmunochemistry, Blood Bank and Urinalysis based on staffing patterns and as directed by the Supervisor and/or Laboratory Manager.
• Follows prescribed procedures, performs any tests in the unit to which Incumbent is temporarily or permanently assigned.
• Obtains blood samples by venipuncture or dermal puncture.

Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 7:30 am - 4:00 pm
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 93128-0
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education: A bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university.
• Certification: Must have one of the following certifications: Generalist certification as an MLS given by ASCP BOC or AMT, Generalist certification as an MT given by ASCP BOR or AMT, Categorical certification or Specialist certification by ASCP or AMT.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403 (f).

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:

To qualify for GS-12: You must have one year of creditable experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level of a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. Creditable experience is experience that has required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current Clinical Laboratory Scientist practices. Examples of experience include, but is not limited to the following: independently carries out the day-to-day operations in the laboratory; conduct quality control and routine maintenance of instrumentation and troubleshooting; determine the validity of test results, and the need for additional tests; develop, perform, evaluate, interpret, correlate, and validate the accuracy of laboratory procedures; assess a situation, consider the options, and formulate an appropriate course of action.

In addition to the experience or education above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• Knowledge of medical technology applicable to a wide range of duties to solve complex problems involving diverse aspects of clinical laboratory practice.
• Skill to maintain, troubleshoot, and repair laboratory instrumentation.
• Ability to develop procedures for new tests, and modify existing procedures and methods to resolve problems relative to complex and difficult situations.
• Ability to manage and coordinate daily work activities and assignments in a section.
• Ability to provide or coordinate staff development and training.
• Ability to provide guidance and technical direction to a wide variety of individuals including physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff regarding technical aspects of testing, specimen requirements and results.

Preferred Experience: None

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The incumbent's work is primarily sedentary. Occasionally, a moderate amount of walking or standing and/or carrying items up to 25 lbs.

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 MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

Creditable Experience. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, and abilities associated with current CLS practices. The experience satisfying this requirement may be paid or non-paid employment as a CLS in the health care field. Research laboratory experience does not fulfill this requirement.

Part-Time Experience. Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to a full-time workweek. For example, an individual employed 20 hours per week, or on a half-time basis, would receive 1 full-time workweek of credit for each 2 weeks of service.

Quality of Experience. Qualifying experience must be at a level comparable to CLS experience at the next lower grade level of the position being filled. For all assignments above the full performance level (FPL), the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, administrative independence, complexity, and range of variety as described in this standard at the specified grade level and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time.

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.

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.