Duties

The Administrative Support Assistant functions as the Human Resources liaison for the entire VAMHCS Research and Development program. With general oversight by the AO, the incumbent assists the AO and is responsible for processing Without Compensation (WOC) appointments, Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignments, assisting and writing scientific position descriptions and assisting in the tracking and management of personnel actions for an average of 300 WOC appointments, 100 IPAs and over 70 VAMHCS employees.

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• Helps assess WOC position requirements and makes determinations regarding training requirements
• Works closely with appointee to assemble complete WOC application
• Maintains and regularly reviews and updates a list of active WOC appointments in the VAMHCS R&D Service
• carefully reviews IPAs prior to submission to Human Resources assuring only complete packets are forwarded
• receives Research and Development initiated IPAs from Universities and other eligible agencies and carefully reviews the IPAs to determine that the IPAs are technically accurate
• Tracks progress on all IPAs to ensure that they are processed in a timely manner
• Maintains and regularly reviews and updates a list of active IPA appointments in the VAMHCS R&D Service
• advises on the preparation of scientific Excepted Service position descriptions for newly-funded VA Merit awardees in the VAMHCS R&D Service.
• Assists in the writing of Senior Research Scientist position descriptions
• Assists the AO with personnel actions, including formatting and review of position descriptions
• Liaises with Human Resources classifier to ensure that PDs are correctly prepared and classified
• Monitors all personnel management activities, including WOCs and IPAs for efficiency. Recommends necessary actions and plans in order to automate personnel processes and improve efficiency

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Administrative Support Assistant/PD160710
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
• 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, 11/28/2022.

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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. 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.

In addition to TIG requirements, you may qualify based on your experience and as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Providing administrative program support to a manager that includes responding to routine human resources inquiries from employees as well as maintaining a full spectrum of office administration; Preparing and submitting personnel actions to human resources within an large organization; Assisting in the tracking and management of personnel actions; Advising on HR and personnel management policies and regulations; Planning conducting program reviews and analyses; Formulating study reports and recommendations; Excellent verbal and written communication skills demonstrating an ability to provide helpful and accurate guidance, advice and direction to other managers, investigators, key officials, and support staff.

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

• Customer Service
• Communication
• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Technical Competence

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: The work is primarily sedentary with occasional walking; standing; handling and carrying items such as paper and books; and data input. Some travel for training and meetings with HR may be required.

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/ .

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

Additional information

The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified : applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ .

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application .