Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current, permanent VHA employees only. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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Duties include but are not limited to:

Essential Responsibilities

• Responsible for supporting 1 Medical Center, 3 Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, 1 HCC.
• Plans and/or accomplishes special projects that address specific client needs. Incumbent delivers educational, consultative, and coaching services and serves as resource to Richmond and CBOC Service Chiefs and supervisors. Incumbent addresses leadership development training across the facility.
• Develops coaching and mentoring methods to assist supervisors in the recruitment, selection, and retention of employees.
• Directly supervises the Program Specialist (Data Analyst) and the Program Specialist (Employee Engagement Specialist).
• Partners with facility leaders and executive teams assisting with strategic planning efforts, team development, stress management, and leadership development processes.
• Serves as primary consultant to facility leaders on AES action planning and culture change.
• Works in close partnership with aligned internal stakeholders, such as Public Affairs and Organizational Health Committee staff, to ensure overall quality of all phases of the AES process.
• Reports ongoing updates to EXO and/or facility leadership on the AES.
• Provides facility AES action planning program management activities to include reporting requirements, policy adherence, quality assurance, submission monitoring, metric analyses and creation of accountability systems.
• Researches ways to improve AES throughout the organization, partnering closely with the VA National Center for Organization Development to accomplish these analyses.
• Provides ongoing consultation to determine best practices that can be implemented to improve levels of employee engagement, civility in the workplace, and customer service.
• Orients, teaches, and serves as a consultant and assists in their formulation of organizational health. Serves as a facility subject matter expert in OD Psychology instrument selection and use.
• Works directly with executive leadership teams, provides ongoing consultation around issues that impact strategic planning efforts, problem solving, and conflict management and resolution.
• Serves as a network subject matter expert in team building activities and trains, orients, and advises other OD Psychologists within the overall network on appropriate resources, tools, and techniques for team building.
• Researches employee engagement and psychological safety measures at local and network levels and analyze factors that contribute to both higher and lower outcomes to support ongoing development of best practices and implementation of those best practices.
• Utilizes and analyzes All Employee Survey data to help direct work with local teams.

Enriching Elements

• Serves as a member or chair of the facility committees aimed at addressing aspects of employee experience, engagement, and cultural transformation including but not limited to HRO, system redesign, employee whole health. Serves on committee as assigned.
• Represents the facility at professional community group/events and committees, in conferences/meetings with VA officials, congressional representatives, Veterans Service Organizations, union officials, academic affiliates, managers, supervisors, and staff from other disciplines or work units, and/or with representatives of local public interest groups, congressional district offices and employees of State and local governments as requested.
• Makes complex presentations at national, VISN, facility and professional meetings as appropriate.
• Actively participates in appropriate professional organizations (e.g., American Psychological Association, Society of Psychologists in Leadership, and Society of Consulting Psychologist).
• Serves as oversight for the implementation of all facility-level employee engagement activities to include employee luncheons, employee badge program, supervisory trainings, EXO campaigns, awards ceremonies, winter events, and/or other activities as assigned by Chief, EXO.

Work Schedule: Mon - Fri, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Compressed/Flexible:Not Authorized
Telework: AD-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 00000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

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.
• 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• 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

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education: Have a doctoral degree in psychology from a graduate program in psychology accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS), or the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) at the time the program was completed. The specialty area of the degree must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. For the purpose of meeting this requirement, the term "specialty area" refers to the specific specialty areas recognized by the accrediting body and not to specific job duties that might require special skills. psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and school psychology. There are no job assignments in VHA that require the skills of a school psychologist; therefore, an applicant with a degree in the specialty area of school psychology is not eligible for appointment.

OR,

• Have a doctoral degree in any area of psychology and, in addition, successfully complete a re-specialization program (including documentation of an approved internship completed as part of the re-specialization program) meeting both of the following conditions:(a) The re-specialization program must be completed in an APA or a CPA accredited doctoral program; and,(b) the specialty in which the applicant is retrained must be consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.

NOTE: The applicant must provide an official transcript and/or certificate documenting the completion of the re-specialization program, which includes completion of an APA or CPA internship. [Psychologists who have successfully completed a re-specialization program as described above and who were employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to the implementation of this standard are considered to have fully met the educational requirements of these qualification standards.]

OR,

• Have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally-accredited institution, with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature.

AND

• Internships: Have successfully completed a professional psychology internship training program that was accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed and that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed.

OR,

• New VHA psychology internship programs that are in the process of applying for APA accreditation are acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement, provided that such programs were sanctioned by the VHA Central Office Program Director for Psychology and the VHA Office of Academic Affiliations at the time that the individual was an intern;

OR,

• VHA facilities that offered full-time, one-year pre-doctoral internships prior to PL 96-151 (pre- 1979) are considered to be acceptable in fulfillment of the internship requirement;

OR,

• Applicants who completed an internship that was not accredited by APA or CPA at the time the program was completed may be considered eligible for hire only if they are currently board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology in a specialty area that is consistent with the assignment for which the applicant is to be employed. (NOTE: Once board certified, the employee is required to maintain board certification.)

OR,

• Applicants who have a doctoral degree awarded between 1951 and 1978 from a regionally accredited institution with a dissertation primarily psychological in nature may fulfill this internship requirement by having the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience in a site specifically acceptable to the candidate's doctoral program. If the internship experience is not noted on the applicant's official transcript, the applicant must provide a statement from the doctoral program verifying that the equivalent of a one-year supervised internship experience was completed in a site acceptable to the doctoral program.

AND

• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs.
  • Knowledge of and ability to understand and communicate existing policies and regulations.
  • Knowledge of and ability to utilize resource materials as well as ability to develop new materials when needed.
  • Ability to relate to individuals at many different levels both within and external to the organization.
  • Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with a diverse group of professional staff.
  • Ability to develop and recommend new or revised policies that are consistent with organizational goals and objectives.

NOTE: Psychologists who meet the requirements of this revision and who were employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to the implementation of this standard are considered to have fully met the requirements of this qualification standard.

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: This position requires visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. This position requires potentially long periods of continued sitting, standing, and/or walking. The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. The incumbent must be capable of working effectively in stressful situations and able to shift priorities based on organizational needs.

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.

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.