Employment Specialist

Summary As an Employment Specialist you will oversee the activities of job readiness, job-seeking services, job development, and job placement that entail consideration of diverse state, regional and local employment laws and regulations. The incumbent also develops employer partnerships to assist in the successful placement of veterans into job vacancies developed with those employers or identified through networking with other resources such as state employment services. Responsibilities Markets to employers based on vocational goals of the job-ready disabled Veterans. Markets and provides special employer incentives such as on-the-job training, non-paid work experience, special employer incentives, and available tax information. Coordinates employment readiness classes for veterans ready to go to work but lacking important traits in employment readiness. Maintains and promotes a positive image of the VR&E program through active networking and ongoing contacts with employers Offers direction to employers regarding reasonable accommodation and rehabilitation technology accommodations. Disseminates labor market information to assist counselors and veterans with "informed choice." Provides Employment Services Performance Data for local office. Maintains and continually updates a database of job-ready disabled veterans (incorporate Corporate WINRS tracking system). Assists veterans with job networking, development, and placement. Performs other duties, as assigned. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement,09/23/2024. Time-in-grade: Applicants who are/were federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements. For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at GS-7. To support your claim of time in grade, you must submit your most recent appointment, promotion, or within grade increase SF-50. Some applicants may have to submit more than one SF-50 to demonstrate their eligibility. See the required documents section for more information. The Office of Personnel Management's group coverage qualification standards, associated individual occupational requirements (IOR), and individual qualification standards covering white collar occupations in the Federal competitive service can be found here. AND Specialized Experience:GS-9: To qualify, applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-7) in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized Experience is defined as experience involving the evaluation/assessment of access to employment needs, marketing to employers based on development and/or placement for job-ready disabled veterans, maintaining records of employment activities. OR Education GS-9: A master's or equivalent graduate degree (such as an LL.B. or J.D.) from an accredited college or university, or two full years (36 semester hours) of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree may be substituted for experience at the GS-09. This graduate degree or education demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work for this position. Note: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. OR Education Combination GS-9: Applicants may substitute a combination of graduate education and specialized experience to qualify for the position at the GS-9 grade level. To calculate, first identify the education you have earned beyond your first year of study as a percentage of a total of two years of study. Then identify the number of months of specialized experience you have as a percentage of 12 months. Add the two percentages. The total must equal at least 100 percent in order to be qualifying. For example, an applicant who has 27 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e., 50% of graduate education required beyond the first 18 credit hours earned) and who has 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e., 50% of the one year of specialized experience required) would meet 100% and thus be qualified for the position. Note: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: 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. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for federal employment. You can verify your education here. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Additional Information Work Schedule: Regular office hours; Monday- Friday 8:00am-4:30pm. Alternate work schedules may be available. Title/PD#: Employment Specialist GS - 9; PD 31623-A Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The the full performance level is grade 12. Physical Requirements: The work involves moderate risks which require special safety precautions, such as when assessing work-site accommodations and traveling to various locations. The employee may be required to use protective clothing or gear such as masks, gowns, coats, boots, goggles, gloves arid/or shields. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or disabled Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Please contact the special placement coordinator or the human resources specialist listed on this vacancy for more information regarding applying for consideration under schedule A or as a 30% disabled Veteran. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. A well-qualified candidate is defined as meeting all of the minimum qualification standards and eligibility requirements as well as possessing skills that clearly exceed the minimum qualifications requirements for this position. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility can be found here. VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf."