Job Summary

This position is located in Mental Health Service, Health Care for Homeless Veterans Service. Provides patients with vocational assessments, pre-vocational counseling and guidance, prepares rehabilitation plans, writes progress notes, maintains accurate records and documentation, conducts time studies, prepares shipments for delivery to contracting companies and accepts incoming shipments, provides data as required for various reporst and research.

Job Description

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/02/2026. 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-5. For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 seeks at the GS-7. 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. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. OR Experience: Specialized experience. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: 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. 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. 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. In addition to meeting the IOR requirement, you may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist, GS-7 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: determining the areas of vocational interests, training needs and career development to determine what services the program participant will need to reach success to obtain suitable employment, analyzing mental and physical disabilities or other barriers, in terms of the practical effects of such disabilities on motivations, adjustment to training and difficulty in employment placement, working collaboratively with client's providers to ensure that the patient's needs are being met and minimize any possible negative consequences. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one full year of graduate level education OR achieved a bachelor's degree with Superior Academic Achievement in a major study of vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and graduate education. NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist, GS-9 Specialized Experience: You 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. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: observing the client at the placement site in accordance with national policy and obtain feedback on performance from the placement site supervisor, assist client with ameliorating any noted areas of concern, ensuring that the program participant is aware of employer's expectations, and the participant has the skills and supports to meet those expectations, counsels and guides employee through difficult transition or rough spots of adjusting to the new position, helps the employer understand the nature of the client's limitations while maintaining a positive impression of the client's capability to succeed, working knowledge of disabilities, employment barriers, and occupational information, able to negotiate any work site accommodations that may be needed, and provide a wide range of vocational rehabilitation services to individual clients and to coordinate and incorporate a variety of VA and non-VA community resources. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a master's or equivalent graduate degree OR successfully completed two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.B or J.D. with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and graduate education. NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. 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. 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/.