Clarification from the agency

T5 (Status Candidate): (i.e. Current permanent employees of the Department of VA including VA Title 38, Title 38 Hybrid, and Canteen employees covered by the interchange agreement; All federal employees serving on a Career/Career-Conditional appointment; Former competitive civil service employees eligible for reinstatement; Veterans eligible under the VEO Act; 30% Disabled Veterans; VRA . Those eligible under the Employment Program for People with Disabilities; Those eligible under CTAP/ICTAP).

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The incumbent of this position provides secretarial and administrative support to the Chief of Fiscal Service and service staff. The incumbent actively participates in the management of the Fiscal Service by performing various technical and administrative duties for the Chief. Based on a good working knowledge of the medical center, the incumbent is responsible for the administrative work of the office.

Duties include, but not limited to:

• Provides full administrative support for day-to-day office operations, ensuring efficient workflow and coordination of tasks.
• Arranges meetings, reserves spaces, notifies participants, and adjusts schedules as necessary.
• Prepares materials and background information for meetings, ensuring leadership is briefed on key issues.
• Maintains a correspondence log and suspense files to ensure timely routing and completion of all required actions.
• Organizes and maintains financial review files in accordance with Records Control Schedule and related policies.
• Takes and transcribes meeting minutes, applying judgment to capture essential decisions and discussions.
• Screens telephone calls and visitors, independently resolving procedural or general issues using knowledge of medical center operations.
• Offers guidance, direction, and administrative expertise to service personnel as requested.
• Serves as the main point of contact for electronic work order submissions.
• Tracks reports and information requests, ensuring accuracy and timely submission; returns incomplete submissions for correction.
• Monitors developments that may impact schedules, appointments, or travel; ensures leadership is informed.
• Independently prioritizes matters requiring leadership attention, using comprehensive knowledge of medical center functions and Fiscal Service operations.
• Reviews, prepares, and processes outgoing correspondence, ensuring accuracy, proper formatting, and policy compliance.
• Serves as the primary timekeeper for Fiscal Service, ensuring accurate and timely entry of time and attendance data.
• Prepares personnel actions and monitors deadlines for performance appraisals and position description updates.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
  

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday; 8am-4:30pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)- Fiscal/PD301030

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 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 all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/17/2026.

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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5.

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.

Typing Proficiency Requirement (all grades):This position requires the skills of a qualified typist. In addition to meeting the experience listed below, you must be able to type at least 40 words per minute. All candidates MUST provide a certificate of proficiency from a school or other organization authorized to issue such certificates by the Office of Personnel Management local office, or by self-certifying their proficiency. Performance test results and certificates of proficiency are acceptable for 3 years. Agencies may verify proficiency skills of self-certified applicants by administering the appropriate performance test. All candidates must submit documentation of his/her typing proficiency with their application package to clearly indicate the number of words typed per minute.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• Obtain and monitor a full range of office support services such as printing, maintenance, and supply services. This requires knowledge of the procedures applicable to the control, authorization, securing, and justification of such services;
• Request various types of personnel training actions; and
• Prepare a wide variety of recurring internal reports and documents from information obtained from the staff, files and other sources.
• Skill in use of computer software with the ability to load and operate various software applications, i.e., Microsoft Word Processing, Excel, Outlook, etc., as well as the medical center computer systems.
• Thorough working knowledge of Microsoft Office software word processing, scheduling, and spreadsheet programs such as Word Outlook, and Excel.
• Knowledge of grammar, spelling, punctuation, proofreading techniques, symbols and required formats for correspondence and/or reports.
• Ability to organize the flow of clerical processes in an office to accomplish the administrative support functions (e.g. processing mail, maintaining calendars, making travel and conference arrangements, etc.)
• Skills required to record and transcribe notes of correspondence, reports, and similar material, telephone conversations, and office meetings and conferences in a typical administrative or technical office.
  

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

• Accountability
• Administration and Management
• Attention to Detail
• Clerical
• Computer Skills
• Customer Service
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Manages and Organizes Information
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

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.

Basis for Selection: Selections for positions will be based on the objective evaluation of the candidates' total qualifications for the position. "Qualifications" means the combination of experience, training, education, skills, knowledge, abilities, personal characteristics, and merit factors deemed to be pertinent to successful performance.

Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary. The work places no special physical demands on the incumbent other than some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items such as folders, reports, books, files, etc.

Work Environment: Work is performed in an office setting where the work area is typically lighted, heated, and ventilated.

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.