Vocational Development Specialist

Description:

The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) provides therapeutic services to Veterans whose employability or job adjustment is impaired by physical, mental, emotional or other disability, or by lack of basic education or job skills. The focus of services will be to promote optimal occupational functioning of Veterans within the community by utilizing appropriate interventions that achieve the vocational goals on the Veteran's Individual Employment Plan (IEP).

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 06/02/2025.

Preferred Experience: Masters in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling or equivalent with Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) certification.

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. 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.

**Must have a current, valid state issued driver's license.**

This position has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) which is a minimum qualification requirement. To be considered for the position, you must ensure that the experience is reflected in your resume and/or if applicable, transcripts must be uploaded to support education requirement or substitution.

• Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position.

OR,

• Specialized Experience: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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: 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: Facilitates orientation sessions, job club, and numerous employment-related training classes; Provides guidance and support in job search efforts of Veterans; Collects and analyzes data, providing suggestions for process/program improvement as relevant; Uses experience and abilities of fact-finding interview techniques to educate, support, and promote Veterans' ability to successfully interview, through practice and demonstration; Possess well-developed computer skills to be able to document activities in the computerized patient record system (CPRS), VISTA, and Outlook as well as to provide coaching and basic instruction in computer usage; Assisting Veterans with organizing their job search, networking with employers known to ERS, completing applications, providing resume assistance, practice with interviewing, assistance with searching/obtaining legal history, development of explanation letters, and providing information about community resources.

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 education beyond Undergraduate Level.

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

• Interpersonal Skills
• Partnering
• Technical Competence
• Therapy and Counseling

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: Although the typical work of an Employment specialist is primarily sedentary, this position will require travel within the healthcare facility and the surrounding community, for the purpose of assisting Veterans to attend job placement opportunities. The work takes place predominantly within the Medical Center, but includes occasional travel within the community (e.g., employment sites, community resources). Requires no exposure to blood borne pathogens, body fluids, and other potentially infectious materials.

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/ .