Clarification from the agency

Current federal employees serving under career or career conditional competitive service appointments, former federal employees with reinstatement eligibility, persons eligible for non-competitive appointment under special appointment authorities, 30% or more disabled veterans; Veterans Employment Opportunity Act (VEOA) eligible, and Veterans Recruitment Appointment (VRA) eligible.

Videos

Duties includes but not limited to the following:

• Receives telephone calls and greets visitors to the office.
• Acts as liaison to other managers and staff within and outside the organization and provides accurate advice on procedures, reports, requirements, and other matters necessary to implement the supervisor's policies, directives, and instructions.
• Receives and processes all correspondence and documents transmitted through the Executive office for review, approval, and signature, establishing controls on certain items (to include Medical Advisory Opinions and Board of Veteran Appeal Claims, performance appraisals, and awards).
• Takes notes and transcribes personal and telephone conversations.
• Initiates personnel actions such as Board Actions, recruitment, appointments, promotions, special advancements, transfers and separations, for personnel aligned to the supervisor's office. Maintains competency folders and training files, and ensures appraisals, standards, etc., are done on a timely basis for the supervisor's subordinate staff.
• Maintains the master manual files, keeping up to date with new additions, rescissions, corrections and other changes.
• Maintains and keeps current administration files and records consisting of general correspondence internal reports, projects, etc.
• The incumbent exercises control over supervisor's appointments with complete authority for commitments of time; establishing priorities at own discretion; setting up, rearranging, and when necessary, coordinating meetings with staff offices.
• Arranges for meeting space, speaker, and support arrangements for large conferences.
• Makes arrangements for travel, meetings, and community activities.
• Arranges schedules of visits and transportation, prepares orders, arranges hotel reservations, equipment requirements, speaking topics, notifies organizations and officials to be visited; and submits travel vouchers.
• Provides general office supply and equipment support services such as procuring or justifying the full range of office services; obtaining and monitoring the use of services,
• Other Administrative duties as assigned

Preferred Experience: Independent team player, Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Power Point, and Excel. Experience with meeting transcription and meeting management. General Office management (supplies and equipment inventory management). Confidential documents management. Organizational and time management skills, attention to detail and accuracy; strong verbal and written communication skills. Customer service experience, with the ability to multitask with proactive solving skills. Experience within a Healthcare environment, and the utilization of Healthcare terminology and technology. Schedule management and the use of team programs.

Work Schedule: Mon-Fri, 8:00AM-4:30PM
Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/PD018340
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
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
• 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, 05/14/2026.

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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-8 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
• Knowledge of the substantive programs of the Medical Center as they relate to the hospital's clerical and administrative support functions.
• Knowledge of the duties, priorities, commitments, and program goals of the ADPCS's office in order to advise administrative support staff.
• knowledge of Medical Terminology in order to communicate effectively with medical personnel and to address patient complaints.
• Knowledge and ability to utilize a personal computer with a wide variety of hardware and software is required.
• Knowledge of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and required formats, and skill in advising and instructing clerical personnel.
• Knowledge and ability to use general office equipment, i.e., computer, calculator, transcriber, etc. A qualified typist is required.
• Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing with a variety of people and groups

Typing proficiency: This position requires Office Automation (OA). Candidates must have the ability to type a minimum of 40 words per minute.

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

• Accountability
• Analysis and Problem Solving
• Attention to Detail
• Clerical
• Communications
• Computer Skills
• Customer Service
• Data Management
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Project Management
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork
• 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: The work is basically sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work.
However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items like papers or books.

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.