Clarification from the agency

This opportunity is open to current VA employees (SF-50 required).

Recruitment & Placement Assistance
This position serves as specialized administrative support performing human resources (HR) assistance work in support of the HR Specialist. This position requires substantial knowledge of HR terminology, requirements, procedures, operations, functions, and regulatory policy and procedural requirements applicable to Recruitment and Placement transactions. The Assistant processes and documents HR actions for a wide variety of employee categories that involve different forms, different authorities, different action codes, and different regulatory authorities, or additional pay systems.
In support of the HR work of the office, the Assistant will perform the following duties and responsibilities:
- Assist employees in preparing paperwork related to HR actions.
- Review finished packages for completeness and adequacy.
- Make contact with individual employees or supervisors to resolve questions before processing final actions
- Provide information on HR systems, processes and procedures.
- Assist HR specialist with the on boarding of new employees to include arranging for physical examinations if determined necessary by the assistant.
- Assist HR Specialist with identifying proper documentation to ensure the electronic personnel file is current and up to date during the recruitment and onboarding process.
- Respond to applicant inquiries regarding procedures for completing applications, status of job announcements, hiring procedures, and competencies needed to fulfill a position's major duties and/or requirements, etc.
- Assist specialists by maintaining automated databases in order to track information and extract data used to generate documents, records, and reports.
- Ensure accuracy and timeliness of information, spelling, grammar construction, punctuation and presence of necessary enclosures.

Onboarding Support
The Assistant is the critical piece in onboarding activity. Once the Specialist has certified a selection as proper and meeting all regulatory requirements, the Assistant will assume responsibility for the new employee and their record.
The Assistant will make contact with the new employees to extend tentative job offers and coordinate their onboarding date. They ensure completion of all appropriate forms, coordinate Entry -on -Duty with hiring mangers and losing HR offices, manage pre-employment packets for new appointees, and coordinate with other related functional offices involved in on-boarding (i.e. pre-appointment security checks). Coordinates with security counterparts regarding applications for Identification Cards, when required.
The Assistant may conduct orientation for new appointees as assigned. Responsible for processing new employee's enrollments, administering the oath of office, and ensuring standards of conduct and government ethics orientation are completed and signed.

Recruitment & Placement
As necessary to augment the work of the Specialist, the assistant will take on work related to posting Job Opportunity Announcements (JOA) and issuing certificates of eligible. Expect for unusually simple cases, the Assistant will utilize previously established job analysis documentation to supplement the PD and relevant qualification standards to draft the JOA and related duties and qualifications statements.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Required to work Monday through Friday with various tours available pending supervisory approval. May be subjected to change based on operational needs.
Compressed/Flexible: Available
Telework: Available - Ad Hoc telework (situational telework) as determined by the agency policy.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position. The selected candidate will be expected to work from one of the three locations listed above.
Position Description/PD#: PD41317-0 and PD41316-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the 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, 06/30/2026.

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; for a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. 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. See the Required Document section below for more information regarding the SF-50s needed to verify time-in-grade.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• GS-6 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: Assisting employees in preparing paperwork related to HR actions; assist with onboarding new employees, including arranging for physical examinations; making contact with the new employees to extend tentative job offers and coordinate their start date.
• GS-7 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-6) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Maintaining automated databases or spreadsheets in order to track information and extract data used to generate documents, records, and reports; conducting new employee orientation for new hires; processing personnel actions in HR database.

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: 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 in nature.

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/.

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/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, applicants must meet the following qualifications: At least one year of experience drafting announcements, reviewing applications to determine qualifications and eligibility, processing personnel actions in HR database; independently conducting new employee orientation; advising hiring managers on rules and regulations related to the federal hiring process.

Information about ICTAP and 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/.

Local Commuting Area: The local commuting area for this position is defined as a radius of 50 miles from Little Rock, AR, Washington, D.C., or Austin, TX.

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.

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

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Learning
• Oral Communication
• Personnel and Human Resources
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork
• Technical Competence

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

• CTAP eligible applicants
• All current, permanent VA Employees in the Office of Human Resources and Administration (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.