at Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Job Description
Summary The Program Specialist position is located in the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL. This position is to provide administrative program and management related support by analyzing, evaluating, advising, and/or conducting administrative processes and activities for the Veterans Experience Service. Responsibilities This position provides critical operational, and administrative program management to support the Veteran’s Experience Office (VEO) organizational needs, goals, and objectives, for improving experiences, implementing best practices, and guiding service recovery. Duties include, but not limited to: Retrieves and gathers confidential data, organizes it, prepares it for Chief of Veterans Experience Service for individual assessments and meetings. Schedules appointment, maintains calendars, coordinates meetings, and schedules conferences and meetings. Orders office supplies, arranges for maintenance of office equipment for the department. Conducts follow up to assure completed work provides a safe work environment. Addresses and resolves routine and difficult logistical issues such as work orders. Processes incoming and outgoing materials such as correspondences, reports, memorandums, and other forms of written communication. Performs composition and editing of letters, reviews correspondence for completeness, develops standard of form letters, replies to inquiries, prepares various reports. Acts as primary timekeeper for staff within Veterans Experience Service. Effectively manages the Front Desk Supervisor and their subordinates. Assigns work to subordinates, delegates authority as appropriate and holds staff responsible and accountable for the performance of duties. Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets, and adjusts short-term priorities, and prepares schedules for completion of work. Evaluates work performance of subordinates. Acts as the liaison with Human Resources Management Service concerning personnel-related matters and recruitment. Provides budget oversight, justification and execution, financial management, and financial reporting. Performs additional duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Telework: Available upon supervisor approval after no less than 90 days of employment with competencies successfully completed. Position Description: Program Specialist PD #242380 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. 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. Must pass pre-employment physical examination. 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, facility applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. 08/02/2024 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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: At least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-9). Specialized experience is defined as experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience for this position consists of: Knowledge of the service programs, operations, objectives, and policies along with a comprehensive knowledge of management and organizational techniques, systems, and projects related to program improvement, productivity improvement, and long-range planning. Knowledge of the range of administrative and human resources laws, policies, regulations, and precedents applicable to the administration of Customer Service program. Communication and interpersonal relations, including the ability to relate to internal and external customers appropriately and courteously. Maintenance of confidentiality. Work and function in the medical center in a safe manner, including infection control and the correct operation of equipment. OR Combination Education and Experience GS-11: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and specialized experience directly related to the work of the Health Systems Specialist position may be used to meet the experience requirements for this position. For example, nine (9) months of appropriate specialized experience equivalent to GS-09 (75 percent of the experience requirement for GS-11) and 2 years of successfully completed graduate level education. (50 percent of the required education, i.e., the applicant has year of graduate study beyond that required for the GS-09), would exceed the total requirement and be qualified for the GS-11 position. NOTE: Only education in excess of 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education may be used to qualify at the grade 11 level. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Change Management Communications Interpersonal Skills 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 Demands: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. This work may also include walking distances between buildings, carrying/lifting small and/or lightweight office type equipment (e.g., telephones, audiovisual equipment, conference call equipment, etc.). Working Environment: The work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate-controlled office. The offic
