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Program Specialist

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Health Care System - Columbia, SC

Summary

The incumbent serves as a Program Specialist within the Chief of Staff's office at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Health Care System and is responsible for coordinating, developing, and directing the Facility Physician Recruitment Program.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—Some telework options may be available to highly qualified applicants on an AD-HOC basis only at the complete discretion of the hiring organization.
Remote job
No
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$89,508 - $116,362 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Promotion potential
None
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-time
Travel Required
Occasional travel - Incumbent will be expected to travel to clinic locations attached to the main WJBD facility, as well as local physician recruiting events, job fairs, college campuses, and any other local area where prospective physician recruits may be available.
Appointment type
Permanent
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Represented by a union
Yes
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Jobs require a background check and some require a security clearance. The type depends on the job.
Background check type
Financial disclosure required
No
Some jobs require financial disclosure to identify conflicts of interests.
Announcement number
CBTB-13070263-26-EDM
Control number
885976300

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Duties

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Major duties for this position may include (but are not limited to):

  • Explain recruitment/relocation incentives, Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), credentialing and privileging, as well as the stage of the recruitment process with prospective physician hires.
  • Serves as the subject matter expert in recruitment and placement of Title 38 Physicians for all clinical services.
  • Develop outreach techniques to locate qualified and diversified candidates for hard to fill physician positions.
  • Coordinate with multiple services related to the onboarding process for new employees to include suitability, pre-employment physical examination, and credentialing and privileging.
  • Serve as a liaison to local Universities and Colleges to ensure continued receipt of communication with qualified applicants.
  • Develop and utilize multiple advertising and face-to-face methods to draw interest to the facility from qualified physician applicants.
  • Advises and trains managers on recruitment strategies, sources of recruitment, and special recruitment programs.
  • Coordinates with department leadership to identify and recommend appropriate recruitment incentives for key positions when needed.
  • Develops and implements branding techniques and materials to entice interest while conforming naturally with current VA branding and marketing tools.
  • Collaborates with the public affairs department to develop a marketing campaign designed to attract highly qualified individuals that may not initially be interested in relocating.
  • Serves as a local facility expert for non-citizen and VISA eligibility for recruitment, as well as applicable standards and procedures for these types of appointments.
  • Maintains routine contact with human resources, VISN, VACO, and other agencies to clarify and discuss issues related to the recruitment and placement of physicians.
  • Analyzes trends and forecasts changes in workforce requirements and prepares reports and recommendations for improvement of the recruitment process.
  • Develops a tracking system for biennial pay to ensure biennials are routed for processing within appropriate timeframes.
  • Manages and/or prepares reports and coordinates the establishment and tracking of HR metrics, and reports these metrics regularly to hospital leadership.
  • Coordinates the development of pay for performance standards with the hospital Chief of Staff, and tracks/reports the completion and improvement of these standards to hospital executive leadership.

Performs other necessary duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-4:00PM
Telework: This position may be authorized for some AD-HOC only telework opportunities. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD110110
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Requirements

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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.
  • Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
  • 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, 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, 10/07/2026.

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 GS12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS11. 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.

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 GS11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
    • Communicating effectively with a wide range of customers, staff, and leadership at local, VISN, and National levels using written, oral, email, and presentation methods.
    • Coordinating projects and tasks with multiple departments and staff.
    • Reviewing processes and applying analytical and evaluative methods to develop plans of corrective action where needs for improvement exist.
    • Possesses a thorough knowledge of Human Resources policies, law, and regulations related to recruitment.

Physical Requirements: Work involves sitting at a desk and attending conferences/meetings. Some physical demands may evolve from stressful and protracted negotiations as the liaison with all services. Regular work is performed in a work environment that involves nominal everyday low risks.

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/.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Additional information

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer.

For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) provides eligible displaced 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 well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. 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/.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of Consideration:

Applicants will be referred for consideration in the following order:

  1. Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) eligible applicants
  2. Current, permanent William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Health Care System employees
  3. Current, permanent Department of Veterans Affairs employees nationwide

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:

  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork

This position requires that your resume have a maximum length of no more than 2 full pages. 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. Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on the online assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

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.

During the application process you may 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.

Veterans Health Administration

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans?

Agency contact information

Emerson Mitchell
Phone
903-583-6204
Email
Emerson.Mitchell@va.gov
Address
Columbia VA Health Care System
6439 Garners Ferry Road
Columbia, SC 29209
US

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