Clarification from the agency

Facility Employees Only.

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MAJOR DUTIES
Program Responsibility
- Develop, implement, and monitor actions for improving telephone customer service and satisfaction based on review of national survey results, community survey results, internal survey results and focus groups.
- Design and conduct actions and initiatives incorporating measurable results to be used to address complex telephone customer service issues.
- Track, trend and interpret telephone related customer data to identify trends of problem areas and make recommendations regarding methods, practices, and procedures to address problem resolution.
- Work with the Pentad and other senior leaders to develop, in collaboration with the facility Chief, Veteran Experience Officer and Employee Education staff, telephone customer service training for all employees.
- Implements mechanisms to evaluate impact of training and areas for further development.
- Work with multiple workgroups to facilitate the telephone customer service initiatives approved by the Medical Center Director.
- Provide expert advice to medical center leadership, facility committees and front[1]line staff in effective ways and behaviors that improve telephone customer satisfaction.
- Evaluates current VAMC telephone system processes to distinguish customer service process problems and to propose solutions.
- Researches telephone customer service best practices through literature review, networking and site visits for potential implementation at the medical center.
- Performs management and/or program support work such as planning, research,
- analysis, correspondence control, communication, training program administration, special projects, and board/committee-related work and program liaison for the telephone customer service program within the VAMC.
- Responsible for analyzing and evaluating (on a quantitative or qualitative basis) the effectiveness of telephone operations in meeting established customer service goals and objectives; initiates plan for improvement.
- Troubleshoot problems with the Ol&T and telephone contractor and maintain communication with leadership and local staff about issues that impede excellent customer service.
- Act as liaison between services and 01& T for telephone customer services.
- Designs and develops reporting and analysis tools, metric, and dashboards to be used for research in the examination of internal and external telephone customer service activities.
- Provide verbal and written recommended solutions to supervisor and management concerning telephone customer services issues.
- Responsible for promoting and engaging staff in providing positive, efficient, and customer-friendly telephone access to care.
- Responsible for advising services on the potential benefits/uses of Automated Call Distribution (ACD) to improve the efficiency of administrative support or program operations and coordinating ACD service level needs to include requests for additional ACD licenses and requests for set up of new ACD users.
- Randomly audit Auto Attendant Script to ensure all options are working as intended, i.e., options are pertinent and being answered correctly.
- Randomly audit voice mail greetings to ensure compliance with local policy and phone extensions and locations for accuracy.
- Monitor the daily voice mail statistical reports and notify services of outliers based on establish volume and last accessed thresholds; alerts top management when issues and deviations from policy are discovered.
- Manage and maintain medical center's telephone knowledge base using SharePoint software application.
- Manages Medical Center's SharePoint design SharePoint solutions and initiate workflows.
- Establish and maintain the medical center telephone directory on SharePoint.
- Manage the process to update telephone directory and make recommendations to improve process.
- Develop business solutions in Microsoft SharePoint.
- Provides high quality design consultation and solutions to assist in the planning,
- organizing, and execution of the telephone communication aspects of the public affairs program including intranet, internet, SharePoint, and social media.
- Use Microsoft SharePoint to monitor, track and document incidents and service requests related to SharePoint.
- Maintain user and group permissions within the SharePoint environment.
- Responsible for leading and actively participating in telephone customer service and SharePoint Continuous Improvement teams and workgroups.

Work Schedule: M-F 7:30am to 4pm
Telework: No
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD044620

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
• 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)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period 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 probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/18/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade at any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to: Ensuring that hazardous property is received, handled, stored, inspected, documented, and manifested/disposed of in compliance with applicable environmental regulations and safety requirements. Inspects storage areas; provides technical guidance to personnel involved in the handling and disposal of hazardous materials and waste (e.g., paints, varnishes, lacquers, solvents, fuels, and pesticides); and prepares required reports. Performs site inspections at hazardous waste disposal, transport, or storage facilities where the problems typically are easy to identify and conventional in nature. He/she evaluates work practices, determines compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and recommends changes to control or eliminate potential or existing hazards or violations. Evaluates the feasibility and probable effects of proposed regulations; develops position papers, issue papers, workgroup materials, and briefing papers for higher-level managers; develops preamble language for proposed and final rules; and assists in developing policy guidance to implement the various provisions of environmental standards.
OR,
Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related to the work of the position. (Transcripts must be submitted).
OR,
Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education as stated above. This can be determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the required experience and education as a percentage of the total required. The total percentage must be equal to 100 percent. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

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

• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Data Management
• Technical Competence
• Technology Awareness

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 requires regular and recurring physical exertion such as prolonged standing, bending, and stooping to observe work operations and identify leaking containers in a treatment, storage, or disposal area.

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/.

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.

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.