Program Support Asst (OA)

at Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration in North Chicago, Illinois, United States

Job Description

Summary This position is located within the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Services (PM&RS), in the Office of the Department Head, located at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC), North Chicago, Illinois; a 1c complexity facility. The primary function of the Program Support Assistant (OA) is to provide a variety of clerical, administrative support, and/or technical duties. Responsibilities Major duties include but are not limited to: Program Support (50%) Conducts a preliminary assessment of all calls to determine the urgency of/any need for immediate action, and/or assimilates all information messages to forward to the appropriate staff in a timely manner. Utilizes independent judgement to determine which calls/inquiries can be handled routinely, based on the employee’s familiarity with the subject matter, recognizing, responding, and resolving inquiries or complaints, as well as supplying the requested information (e.g., the PM&RS Service, its functions, and standard operating procedures, status of reports, suspense dates, etc.). The employee is responsible for day-to-day administrative needs for PM&RS and is responsible for all office management functions including receptionist duties, typing, word processing, and the use of Microsoft Software (e.g., Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point, OneNote, Access, etc.), filing and report generation. Utilizes Microsoft Outlook and Teams for communication with managers, and other Microsoft programs to track and trend data. Maintains a current knowledge on procedures, policies, directives, etc.; answers questions of other employees; and obtains needed information or decisions from supervisor on problems that arise. Prepares correspondences of a confidential nature for the Department Head, PM&RS and/or managers/supervisors such as memorandum, and letters within time frames established. Assists the Department Head, PM&RS/Administrative Officer in the development of guidelines and procedures used throughout the Service Line and subordinate levels by, researching, reviewing, and composing typed drafts. Performs a wide variety of administrative and program support function using different skills and abilities including meeting planning, setting up conference calls, recording and generation of meeting minutes, data gathering, conference setup and support, timekeeping/leave administration, report generation, memos, spreadsheets, graphs, and all other presentations. Processes incoming and outgoing materials such as correspondence, reports, memorandum, and other forms of written communication. Performs the following types of duties: edits documents and reports, reviews correspondence for accuracy and completeness, prepares public presentation outlines, and develops standard or form letters and replies to inquiries. Provides general clerical mail and correspondence services such as preparing a variety of recurring reports, reviewing outgoing correspondence for proper attachments, or consolidating/coordinating submittals of information. Extra additional duties Office Automation (15%) Operates a personal computer, with Microsoft Office applications, using a mouse or touch pad and electronic keyboard with additional function keys to produce work accurately and efficiently. Utilizes hospital database applications to enter, revise, sort, and retrieve departmental workload productivity data to draw information from a wide variety of sources to generate and prepare reports for higher authority on an ongoing basis; and assists in the planning, review, and reporting of data or statistical results of PM&RS programs. Responsible for collecting, compiling, and/or tracking statistical information in support of program operations and accessing statuses or outcomes in relation to established performance measures, goals, and objectives. Extra additional duties Office Supplies and Equipment (5%) Serves as the PM&RS program’s liaison to the purchasing/procurement office to arrange for, monitor the use of supplies, and secure equipment, services, and products needed to support the PM&RS. Maintains prudent inventory, storage, and safe handling of office equipment and supplies, within policy/procedural guidelines. Ensures office supplies are at periodic automatic replacement (PAR) levels. Independently monitors office supplies and resources needed to keep the office work- flow running smoothly. Arranges for the destruction of outdated supplies and/or materials. Extra additional duties Data Collection, Reports, and Performance Improvement, & Reporting (10%) Responsible for the overall organization and maintenance of PM&RS secure and non-secure files and records, policy manuals, FHCC memoranda, bulletins, etc. Extra additional duties Timekeeping (20%) The employee serves as the primary Time and Leave Clerk for PM&RS. Extra additional duties Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm Compressed/Flexible: Telework: Ad-Hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Support Asst (OA)/PD242180 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) – See “Additional Information” below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/22/2024. 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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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 GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: administrative and clerical support, customer service, scheduling, correspondence, record keeping, financial management, timekeeping, data collection and data management. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Clerical Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Organizational Awareness Technical Competence Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organ