Clarification from the agency

Special authorities include: Former overseas employees and foreign service employees. Clarification for these authorities is provided in the questionnaire. First AOC (Area of Consideration) is Facility employees; Second AOC is VA Agency; Third AOC are all other eligible applicants.

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Duties include but not limited to:

• The incumbent is responsible to effectively and efficiently manage the day to day administrative and technical operations of the Telephone Access Program. The incumbent is the gatekeeper to all telephone access requests made by services within the medical center and also represents the medical center for all VISN and National calls, meetings and monitor and oversees any pilot programs affecting telephone access.
• The incumbent is responsible for the oversight for the telephone access program, including the assurance that all patient care calls into the PVAMC meet all the local and national standards of performance. They are responsible for creating a streamlined service that eliminates unnecessary duplication and rework related to patient phone access.
• The incumbent is accountable to be actively engaged in planning for program growth and adjustments for new requirements. Incumbent is responsible to maintain awareness of strong practices within other VA facilities, VISN's as well as the private sector.
• The incumbent is responsible for the update, maintenance and creation of all Audiocare changes and requests. This also involves coordinating with regional IT partners for updates which would involve shutting the system down after hours.
• The incumbent develops policies and procedures that accurately describe and support the goals of the Telephone Access Program. Incumbent serves as the coordinator for use of applications, training, set up and revision for all telephone requests for the phone access program to all telephone lines throughout the medical center.
• Monitor multiple servers to ensure phone coverage for all service queues and take action when services do not have adequate phone coverage during business hours.
• Incumbent is responsible for the patient experience in accessing care at Portland VA Medical Center which encompasses mainly access via the phone system. This includes Audiocare and the interactive voice response program of telephone access.
• Incumbent will develop matrix measures to monitor outcomes, provides ongoing analysis and evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency of program.
• Creating work assignments and leave approval, developing performance standards, rating employees, planning, scheduling, resolving complaints, program direction, coordination of work and recommending disciplinary actions.
• Meets with all employees on a regular basis, either in group or individually, to hear grievances and serious complaints making adjustment in procedures as deemed appropriate based on those complaints or grievances. Counsels employees or initiates proposed appropriate adverse actions.
• Initiates all disciplinary actions and signs performance evaluations for the department and make recommendations to upper management based on supporting documentation.
• Ensures subordinate staff provides timely service to veterans and their representatives, clinical staff and administrative staff throughout the VA Medical Center.
• Provides on-going training and guidance on implementation of VA directives to the professional and administrative staff throughout PVAMC.
• Establishes operating guidelines and coordinates activities of work leaders and subordinate employees relating to organizational structure, work review and reporting requirements to achieve high level management goals, new programs or changed program goals.
• Conducts annual performance reviews, assesses the progress and training needs of employees, and deals with disciplinary problems; approves leave and signs timecards; conducts interviews for the hiring of new operators; resolve complaints of employees.
• Develops, reviews, and updates position descriptions to ensure improvement or enrichment of duties and improvement in job satisfaction. This is accomplished by exercising broad individual discretion in operational functions, adjusting staffing levels, and planning organization requirement to meet the dynamic needs of PVAMC.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm, PST
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Program Specialist/PD208650
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

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 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)

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 time-in-grade and specialized experience requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 06/02/2026.

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 within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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 specialized 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-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  • Managing the Audiocare and interactive voice response programs of Telephone Access.
  • Identifying, reporting, and creating strategies for improvement for areas that are non-compliant.
  • Analyzing national performance standards on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis and reports weekly to the Director and facility the results, findings and action plans for services not meeting performance measures.
  • Coordinating application access, training, set up and revision for all telephone lines in the medical center, and has approval authority over all communications relative to the patient care experience utilizing phone access.
  • Updating, maintaining and creating of all Audiocare changes and requests.
  • Developing policies and procedures that accurately describe and support the goals of the Telephone Access Program.
  • Utilizing Microsoft Excel, data visualization tools, or business intelligence platforms for operational analysis. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you
  • must have successfully completed 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. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond a master's degree to meet total experience requirements for the GS-11 level. To determine if you meet combination requirements, the total percentages of your qualifying experience and percentage of education required for the grade level must equal at least 100 percent. For example, an applicant has 9 months of specialized experience equivalent to GS-9 and 2 1/2 years of creditable graduate level education. The applicant meets 75 percent of the required experience and 50 percent of the required education, i.e., the applicant has 1/2 year of graduate study beyond that required for GS-9. Therefore, the applicant exceeds the total requirement and is qualified for the position. (The applicant's first 2 years of graduate study are not qualifying for GS-11.) (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED).

Preferred Experience:

• Prior supervisory experience managing multidisciplinary teams especially in a high volume, customer facing or clinical support environments.
• Developing performance action plans, mentor staff, and managing performance improvement efforts.
• Overseeing multiple operations units or service lines.
• Leading cross departmental initiatives involving IT, telecommunication teams, clinical and administrative services.
• Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or other process improvement.
• Knowledge of VA systems or alike such as Vista/CPRS, patient access processes, and or national VA performance measures.
• Working with telecommunication infrastructure teams on system changes, outages, and upgrades.

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 primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required.

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.

Resume Reminder: Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:

• Job title
• Duties (be as detailed as possible)
• Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008)
• Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)
• Salary/Rank etc.
• Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held
• References, current or recent supervisor

Do not include the following types of information in your resume:

• Classified or Government sensitive information
• Social Security Number (SSN)
• Photos of yourself
• Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.

Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail. The experience stated in your resume must support your assessment responses.

Recommended: Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications.

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.