Supervisory Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/21/2024. 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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. A 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. This Vocational Rehabilitation Series, 1715, has individual occupational requirements, as described below: Individual Occupational Requirements: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study – vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position (transcripts required)Specialized Experience: 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. In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirement, you must meet the below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: ability to provide personal adjustment and problem-solving counseling necessary to motivate Veterans to adjust successfully to training/work situations; skill in professional counseling principles/techniques to guide Veterans to a realistic recognition of his/her problem, to understand and accept his/her capabilities and limitations and to assist in selecting a suitable vocational goal and a developing rehabilitation plan; knowledge of the theories, principles, concepts and methodologies of vocational rehabilitation and administrative mechanics appropriate to assignments; knowledge of the Supported Employment intervention, including procedures and strategies; knowledge program objectives of local, state and federal agencies; knowledge of specialized problems involved with the specific clinical population of assigned duty area; ability to exercise professional leadership in the program, including providing consultation services to staff, program planning, evaluation, research and development of new concepts and techniques; skill in approaching individuals and groups to establish rapport with persons who may be emotionally distraught, fearful, suspicious, uncooperative or dangerous; knowledge of training concepts and a working knowledge of the purposes and services of each of the various professional and technical specialties involved in the rehabilitation process. 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 physical demands of the position are primarily sedentary. In addition to performing work in office settings, the position requires that the employee to visit VA staff and Veterans at various locations in VA and the community. The position also requires the incumbent to drive on an occasional basis, to attend meetings in the local community with employers and other resources. 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 Supervisory Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, Aurora, Colorado in the Vocational Rehabilitation Services/Compensated Work Therapy (VRS/CWT) Program located within the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Section in the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS) Mental Health Services.