Program Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/25/2024. 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-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. 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 and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: 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: skill in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification and resolution of issues or problems as they are related to consult management and audits, workload, compliance with VHA guidelines, and accurate data capture; Knowledge of Hospital goals and objectives and expert knowledge of scheduling directives and provisions related to access to care, and computer-based medical systems to perform systematic reviews of information and data, run specialized reports, ensure competency of scheduling processes, ADT, and enrollment standards, provide appropriate supervisors with recommendations for performance improvement, and tailor training to specific needs; Knowledge and ability to write effective and clear Standard Operating Procedures pertaining to materials being taught to staff. 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 TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED.. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Flexibility Teaches Others 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: Work is mainly sedentary with little need for physical exertion. 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/.
This position is located at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL. and is organizationally aligned under the Health Administration Service (HAS) Line. The primary purpose of this position is to provide oversight, support, evaluation and tailored training as it relates to all programs in the section and is responsible for performing audits and other reviews for administrative staff throughout the entire HAS Service Line.