Clarification from the agency

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. Open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs Chillicothe, OH facility employees, and all other VISN 10 Department of Veteran Affairs employees. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Videos

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Serves as the chief Social Work professional for the facility with responsibility for executive direction of Social Work governance, professional standards, and clinical policy.
• Defines and communicates the mission, vision, and strategic direction for Social Work programs and practice across all ICCs.
• Advises Executive Leadership on clinical, operational, regulatory, and workforce matters affecting Social Work practice and Veteran care.
• Provides executive supervision to Associate Chiefs, Supervisors, Program Managers, and senior Social Workers.
• Oversee performance management, competencies, disciplinary reviews, and serious employee relations matters.
• Develops and maintains Social Work practice standards, scopes of practice, competencies, and Service-level policies.
• Ensures Social Workers adhere to legal, ethical, licensing, and professional standards including NASW Code of Ethics.
• Provides consultation on complex, high-risk, or unusual clinical cases.
• Provides executive oversight of Social Work operations across inpatient, outpatient, residential, ED/Urgent Care, specialty care, and community services.
• Ensures clinical coverage across all programs including after-hours and on-call services; maintains readiness for emergency operations (COOP).
• Works closely with ICC leadership to ensure Social Work integration within interdisciplinary teams and care delivery models.

Work Schedule: Full-time, 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
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)
Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
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: Available, Ad-Hoc as determined by the agency policy.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 93573-0
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): 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.
• 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: You must be a citizen of the United States
• English Language Proficiency - Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education - Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
• License - You must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level.

• Grandfather Provision- A Social Worker employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (9/10/2019) who did not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:

  • Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.

  • Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/ registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/ certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.

  • Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.

  • Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.

  • Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

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:

Social Worker (Service Chief), GS-14

Experience Requirement: You must possess one year of experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level. Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to: responsibility for management of small to moderately complex social work service within a healthcare organization; provides supervision to social work service staff members of different grade or experience levels; supervision may include multiple disciplines, treatment sites that are limited and in close proximity to the medical facility, and programs are with limited administrative oversite responsibility; full responsibility for managing and supervising all aspects of social work service operations including clinical practice, program management, education, human resource management and supervision. Experience must demonstrate possession of supervisory and management skills as well as advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency.

Licensure Requirement: You must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

• Skill in providing the full range of supervisory duties across multiple service divisions/sections, which would include responsibility for assignment of work to be performed, performance evaluation, selection of staff, and recommendations of awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary actions.
• Skill in applying legal, ethical, and professional standards to social work practice.
• Skill in developing, maintaining, and managing social work services in multiple divisions/sections.
• Ability to ensure compliance with social work practice, policy, and accreditation standards across the continuum of health care.
• Skill in providing consultation to facility leadership, managers, and other staff on social work qualification standards, practice, competency, productivity, and continuing education requirements
• Skill in administrative oversight to ensure compliance with social work licensure requirements.

Preferred Experience: Extensive leadership experience directing complex patient care operations across inpatient, outpatient, residential, and community settings. Proven ability to establish mission, vision, and clinical standards while guiding multidisciplinary teams through system level planning, redesign, and integration. Demonstrated capacity to lead multi disciplined teams at a high level, ensuring unified performance across diverse service lines. Skilled in budget management, workforce planning, accreditation readiness, quality improvement, and resolving high level personnel matters. Demonstrated success collaborating with executive leadership, driving innovative projects that improve outcomes for Veterans, and strengthening community partnerships that enhance patient care.

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-14.

Physical Requirements: No special physical qualifications are required to perform the work. The work requires the ability to move around the office and facility. The work is performed in offices and meeting rooms and is largely sedentary. Some travel is required to visit CBOCs, which necessitates the ability to drive and possession of a valid driver's license. The work can be mentally and psychologically demanding and stressful, and the ability to utilize effective coping and self-care strategies is essential.

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.

Creditable Experience: The candidate must have knowledge of current professional social work practices. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics associated with current professional social work practice. The experience or education must be post-Masters of Social Work (MSW) degree. Experience and education satisfying this requirement must be active professional practice, which is paid/non-paid employment as a professional social worker, as defined by the appropriate state licensing board.

Quality of Experience: Experience is only creditable if it is obtained following graduation with a master's degree in social work and if it includes work as a professional social worker directly related to the position to be filled. Qualifying experience must also be at a level comparable to social work experience at the next lower level.

Part-Time Experience: Part-time experience is creditable according to its relationship to the full-time work week. For example, one week of full-time credit is equivalent to two weeks of part-time work.

Fellowships or Post-Graduate Training: Fellowship and post-graduate training programs are typically in a specialized area of clinical practice, i.e., group or family practice. Training as a fellow or post-graduate may be substituted for creditable experience on a year-for-year basis.

Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
2. All other VISN 10 VA employees.

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.