Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and CTAP eligibles only.

Major Duties Include:

• Functioning as a principal and senior advisor to all levels of management officials within the VACO Staff Offices for all Employee Relations matters and serving as an expert consultant on issues related to conduct, performance, attendance, and dispute resolution.
• Conducting research of complex legal or regulatory issues raised by Staff Office managers, supervisors, and employees and provides interpretation and guidance on issues of fact and law.
• Reviewing complaint and/or grievance actions and performing fact finding as necessary to advise management.
• Analyzing, evaluating, and developing major aspects of agency-wide ER/LR programs.
• Functioning as a principal and senior advisor to all levels of management officials within the VACO Staff Offices for all Labor Relations matters and serves as an expert advisor to management regarding the establishment and maintenance of effective relationships with relevant labor organizations.
• Providing advice to management on questions raised by unions in complying with terms of contracts, requirements of the statute, means of settling disputes, etc. and investigates disputes, unfair labor charges, and formal/informal complaints.
• Analyzing negotiated agreements and conducting special studies to develop improvements in management's positions and/or to respond to union's demands.

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
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• 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.

• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/08/2026.
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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade.

The BASIC REQUIREMENT for the HR Specialist GS-0201 series is presumed met if found qualified at the GS-0201-7 level and above. To qualify for this position at the GS-12/13 level, you must meet one of the following listed Criteria:

In order to qualify for the GS-12:
You must possess a graduate level degree or higher and three years of progressive specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-09 grade level;
OR
you must possess one year of full-time specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level in federal service that demonstrates HR management knowledge, concepts and principles and the performance of work in one or more of the HR specialty areas. Such experience may be gained in administrative, professional, technical, or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military) or private sector. Qualifying specialized experience includes: advising managers about appropriate disciplinary or other corrective techniques that are responsive to a range of conduct and performance problems; conducting research on complex legal or regulatory issues involving ER/LR issues; providing labor relations consultative service on reorganizations, realignments, relocations, reduction in force, transfer of function and outsourcing to educate management on potential impact of these decisions on bargaining unit employees.

In order to qualify for the GS-13:
You must possess a graduate level degree or higher and three years of progressive specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 grade level;
OR
You must possess one year of full-time specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level in federal service that demonstrates HR management knowledge, concepts and principles and the performance of work in one or more of the HR specialty areas. Such experience may be gained in administrative, professional, technical, or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military) or private sector. Qualifying specialized experience includes: experience providing management consultative service involving ER/LR to render expert advisory service and/or authoritative policy interpretations on highly complex agencywide issues; serving as a recognized ER/LR senior advisor by other senior HR staff and program managers; reviewing ER/LR policy to ensure consistency in their application and recommend modifications; resolving unfair labor practice charges and complaints, arbitration of grievances, resolution of negotiability issues, and conformance of labor agreements with applicable laws.

Note: Resume must include job title and employer name, number of hours worked per week, start and end dates (including month and year), list of duties and responsibilities for each position held. In addition, if the experience was a federal position, you must list series and grade for each position held. Failure to include this information may result in an ineligible rating. A full year of work is considered to be 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: Work is primarily sedentary

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/

Qualifications: Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provides eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy.
To be found well qualified for the GS-12, applicants must meet the following qualifications: knowledge of a wide range of HR case laws, programs, principles, policies and practice; performing detailed analyses and drawing conclusions on complex legal matters; experience with conflict resolution techniques to interact with highly charged emotional situation; experience in negotiation, mediation, advocacy and legal research techniques.
To be found well qualified for the GS-13, applicants must meet the following qualifications: possess the ability to advise management and executives of various employee relation programs; experience in the complaint process and advising management on complex employee relations issues; dealing with conduct, performance, attendance issues, and disciplinary methods for corrective actions; reviewing complaints and grievance actions; and educating management of the complaint process.

Information about CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/

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.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.
ONLY two (2) pages of your resume, starting at your work experience. SMEs will not review additional information beyond your resume (e.g., cover letter, links embedded in your resume). Applicants passing the structured resume review will move on to the next phase of the assessment process.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

Area of Consideration: Eligible applicants will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

• CTAP eligible applicants
• All current, permanent VA Employees in VACO HRA.
• All other current, permanent VA employees

During the application process, you will have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.