Clarification from the agency

First Area of Consideration: current permanent facility employees. Second Area of Consideration: current permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs Third Area of Consideration: All US Citizens *Non-citizens may be appointed when it's not possible to recruit qualified citizens. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The Supervisory Health Technician is responsible for the supervision, administrative management, and direction of eye clinic staff. May be delegated administrative and professional responsibility for planning and directing the eye clinic staff activities including resident and student orientation. Has full supervisory responsibility over nonsupervisory health technicians and other ancillary staff such as Medical Support Assistants.

Duties Include:

• Plans and carries out examinations in line with training and accepted practices.
• Independently makes recommendations about clinical situations, procedures or changes to procedures in some situations.
• Preventative measures used to recognize conditions that cause erroneous results or creates dangerous situations.
• Independently troubleshoot clinic problems and complex instruments.
• Provides patients consistent information according to established policies and procedures.
• Handles conflict and veteran complaints constructively and appropriately.
• Collaborates with other health care staff in a manner that enhances coordination of comprehensive patient care.
• Maintains confidentiality of patient medical records according to policy.
• Stays current with required training related to customer service and interpersonal skills.
• Uses word processing software to execute several office automation functions such as storing and retrieving electronic documents and files; activating
• printers; inserting and deleting text; formatting letters, reports, and memoranda; and transmitting and receiving e-mail.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am to 4:00 pm
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)
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 Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000, Supervisory Health Technician GS-0640-10
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 identification 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.
• Experience and Education:
  (1) Experience. One year of experience in a health care field, such as but not limited to nursing, medical assistant, or health technician.
  OR
  (2) Education. Two years above high school with a minimum of six semester hours directly related to a health care field or associate's degree in a health care related degree.
  OR
  (3) Experience/Education Combination. Equivalent combinations of experience and education are qualifying. Examples are listed below:
  (a) Six months of experience in the health care field; and one year above high school; or
  (b) Six months of experience in the health care field and successful completion of a course for health care technicians, hospital corpsmen, medical service specialists, or ophthalmology technicians given by the U.S. Armed Forces; or
• Certification: All applicants must be certified as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA) with the Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology (JCAHPO). The COA certification is JCAHPO's entry-level certification examination for a Health Technician (Ophthalmology).

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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Health Technician (Ophthalmology), GS-10

Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9).

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA): In addition to meeting the all KSAs for the GS-10 grade level, the candidate must demonstrate the potential to acquire the assignment-specific KSA designated by an asterisk (*).
1. Ability to work independently to set priorities, delegate tasks, meet multiple deadlines, analyze organizational problems, and develop and implement effective solutions to optimize quality, efficiency, performance, and productivity within the service;
2. Ability to develop policy, manage equipment requests, and provide workload analysis in Ophthalmology Service;
3.Demonstrated leadership and managerial skills including skill in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution to deal with employees, team members, managers and other departments; and
*4. Ability to perform the full range of supervisory duties which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed; competency assessments; performance evaluations; selection of staff; and recommendation of awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary actions.

Preferred Experience: One year supervisory/managerial experience

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-10.

Physical Requirements: The work generally requires nominal walking or standing for short periods of time or carrying of light loads of papers, books, reports, computers, monitors, and may require some physical ability and physical stress.

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.

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.