Clarification from the agency

Open to current permanent VISN-9 Human Resources employees and CTAP eligible applicants. Location negotiable but must be in compliance with Return to Office order. This position and selectee may be non-competitively converted to permanent status.

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VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: HR Specialist Total Rewards

The Associate HR Officer reports to the VISN Deputy HR Officer. Bridges the gap in the silos of the different functional areas of HR as well as with the Strategic Business Units to ensure all assigned functional areas operate in unison. Utilizes office-based and virtual teams to direct, oversee, coordinate and provide to executives, supervisors and employees the tools, administrative HR services, and legal, regulatory and/or management advice for the success of the organization's operations.

• Serves as the point of contact for national workgroups-advocating and thinking broadly of the various program areas
• Monitors and advocates for the integration of HR-related technological and administrative trends and best practices to ensure cohesive movement of services through the Network HR Office.
• Responsible for executing HR modernization endeavors and sound decisions on workflow/assignment when this crosses multiple functional areas and ultimately responsible for ensuring process improvement and continuous improvement occurs for all assigned functional areas.
• Works with functional area chiefs and supervisors to identify long and short-range needs, formulate proposals for top management consideration, and plans and initiates improvement actions.
• Develops methods of measurement to assess the success of new programs and/or initiatives in accomplishing established goals and objectives.
• Reports on findings and the procedures established or improved in response to the findings.
• Develops and advises on organizational structures and positions necessary to effectively carry out the VISN-wide goals and objectives. · Communicates performance and quality targets and ensures subordinate Chiefs and Supervisors of HR Shared Services units.
• Responsible for the leadership development and accountability of assigned Chiefs and Supervisors.
• Shares data, measurements and updates specific to team accomplishments as well as updates relevant to all VISN, VHA, and VA employees.
• Directly supervises HR Section Chiefs and Supervisors (Supervisory HR Specialists) of at least three specialty subject areas; Recruitment and Placement, Compensation, Classification, Manpower or HR Information Systems.
• Acknowledges and rewards project team or HR consultants' contributions through both informal and formal methods such as quality step increases.
• Provides SOPs, white papers, etc. to supplement and guide staff, support consistent decision making and the application of rules and regulations.
• Provides performance standards to the Section Chiefs and Supervisors and ensures the parity of rating techniques used by the Chiefs to rate the subordinate staff members.
• Approves HR group and individual trainings or face-to-face workshops of the subordinate sections upon recommendation of the Section Chief or based upon independent firsthand determination.

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

• 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, 06/11/2026.

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-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. 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.

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-14 level, you must meet one of the following listed Criteria:
Criteria 1- Graduate Degree and Specialized Experience: Successful completion of a graduate level degree or higher and three years of progressive specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level. 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: Using analytical skills and techniques to provide advice and assistance to employees and managers, program administration, research, and case management in matters related to conduct, performance, attendance, and dispute resolution and often involve conflicting or incomplete information; and developing case strategy taking into the relevant precedents from the various forums for review; conducts extensive probing and analysis to identify obscure or underlying causes of misconduct or poor performance; and advises managers about appropriate disciplinary or other corrective techniques that are responsive to a range of conduct and performance problems.
. ~OR~
Criteria 2- Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 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: execute delegated responsibilities in the following functional areas: employee relations, labor relations, performance management, work life, reasonable accommodations, worker's compensation, training and development and/or other special programs. Monitors and reviews assigned VISN-wide HR management program areas to increase effectiveness of the program. Develops guidance, procedures and standards for new and/or changing program areas to maximize personnel management support. Ensures policy, regulatory and program issuances are properly integrated with other staff actions and are thereby fully supportive of the mission requirements, equal employment opportunity objectives and the Federal merit system. Research HR laws, policies, regulations and reference materials; Provides expert advice on policy, directives and guidelines on a full range of matters pertinent to assigned functions..
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How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

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


Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

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.