Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/15/2024. 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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 .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. Individual Occupational Requirements Education Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study — vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. OR Experience General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Experience that provided a knowledge of training practices, techniques, and requirements as they relate to vocational development or rehabilitation. Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Work that required obtaining and applying occupational information for people with disabilities, knowledge of the interrelationships of the involved professional and specialist services, and skill in employing the methodology and techniques of counseling to motivate and encourage individuals served by the program. Experience that demonstrated knowledge of the vocational rehabilitation problems characteristic of the disabled, including familiarity with available resources and skill in identifying, evaluating, and making effective use of such resources to serve individuals with disabilities; or of the disadvantaged, including knowledge of adjustment problems of the educationally or culturally disadvantaged, familiarity with available adult education and training resources, and ability to recognize problem areas needing special attention. Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience For GS-07: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of techniques for negotiating with prospective employers to provide opportunities for homeless Veterans and to create environments that maximize the chances for success. Knowledge of MS Word or comparable word processing software to execute several office automation functions such as storing and retrieving electronic documents and files, activating printers, inserting and deleting text, formatting letters, reports and memoranda, and transmitting and receiving e-mail. Knowledge of individualized and customized job placement strategies. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 1 full year of graduate level education. OR superior academic achievement. OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and graduate level education Specialized Experience GS-09: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge employment services to individual Veterans who may be disadvantaged by a lack of education, job skills, or other background factors using an array of VA and non-VA community resources. Knowledge of the local job market well beyond familiarization with Internet job sites. knowledge of community and VA medical center resources related to vocational assistance and be an expert at determining which combination of vocational services will best meet the employment needs of the Veteran requesting services. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master’s or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond one full year of graduate level education. Only graduate education and specialized experience in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at the GS-09 grade level. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Decision Making Interpersonal Skills Technical Competence 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. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may become walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items (medical records, computing devices, manuals, papers, books, small parts), or driving an automobile. The work requires manual dexterity for computer data entry, office machine operation and filing. However, in general, the work does not require unusual physical demands. The work does require emotional stability to resolve crisis situations. 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/.
The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist works under the administrative and clinical supervision of the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Administration Supported Housing (HUD-VASH) Program Manager. This position provides Vocational Rehab assistance to homeless Veterans as part of a multidisciplinary team with the goal to end the cycle of homelessness for the Veteran.