Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Summary

This Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position is in Mental Health services at the VA Bedford Healthcare System, located at the Bedford, MA location. This position is a full-time at 40 hours per week.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

As part of the supported employment team of the Compensated Work Therapy, the incumbent provides highly individualized and complex rehabilitation, support and services to veterans seeking to improve their vocational functioning. Duties below are at the full performance level. However, during the developmental assignment these duties will be heavily supervised. Some of the duties of this position include but are not limited to:

• Plans training programs is on an individual basis developing the training around the residual capacities of the individual.
• Selects the pertinent techniques for data collection and to identify aspects of successful program operations that can be used for improving similar programs.
• Utilizes a variety of fact-finding techniques.
• Assists in the evaluation of the results of the program and make sound professional arguments for recommended changes.
• Strives to find work training experiences that meet the participants' rehabilitation goals.
• Finds suitable employment opportunities and monitors placement, promoting successful adjustment.
• Provides ongoing support, counseling and guiding them through difficult transitions or rough spots in the adjustment to the job and helping them maintain employment on an on-going basis as long as client seeks assistance.
• Maintains awareness of and foster community contacts.
• Keeps alert for job and small business opportunities and maintain regular contact with potential employers, placement personnel, or other likely placement resources.
• Helps the employer understand the nature of the client's limitations while maintaining a positive impression of the client's capability to succeed.
• Persuades individuals and groups with differing opinions or interests to change criteria or methods, accept findings, or reach agreement on technical points related to rehabilitation.
• Analyzes mental and physical disabilities or other handicaps, in terms of the practical effects of such handicaps on motivations, adjustment to training and difficulty in employment placement.
• Establishes training programs to satisfy common needs of the client base (i.e., literacy training, customer service training, effective communications, etc.).
• Utilizes a wide range of resources available to assist in the rehabilitation of participants.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

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.

Work Schedule: Full-Time, Mon-Fri, 8:00am-4:30pm

Compressed/Flexible: Not Available.

Telework: This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/ PD02029A and PD03558A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized.

Notifications:

• Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System. Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment.
• This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay.
• Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.
• This is not a Bargaining Unit position.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/11/2026.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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:

Vocational Rehabilitation Series 1715

Individual Occupational Requirements

Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. OR,

Experience:

General Experience (for GS-5 positions): Experience that provided a knowledge of training practices, techniques, and requirements as they relate to vocational development or rehabilitation.

Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): 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.

Grade GS-09 requirements:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: demonstrating the ability to assist in providing vocational rehabilitation services to clients with psychological, social, or vocational challenges; support the development and modification of training and employment programs; maintain community contacts; participate in job placement activities; and apply basic knowledge of vocational rehabilitation principles under supervision. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year starting and ending dates AND hours worked per week. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a masters or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full academic years of progressively higher level graduate education vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position, or LL.B. or J.D., if related. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond one full academic year of graduate level education. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED (To be creditable, this must be supported by your application materials) .

Grade GS-11 requirements:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: demonstrating the ability to independently provide complex vocational rehabilitation services to clients with severe psychological, social, and vocational challenges; develop and implement individualized training and employment plans; coordinate with community resources and employers; provide ongoing support and counseling; and apply advanced knowledge of psychosocial rehabilitation and supported employment models. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month & year starting and ending dates AND hours worked per week. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have completed a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or successfully completed 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position or LL.M., if related. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond a master's degree or more than 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED (To be creditable, this must be supported by your application materials) .

Physical Requirement: The incumbent must be physically energetic, mobile, social and observant. She/he must be psychologically and spiritually resilient and function as a resource to help maintain the hope for participants who are homeless, abusing substances and unemployed. The job requires no heavy lifting of materials or other situation where physical stress is anticipated. As with all persons with participants with mental illness, there is the potential that a participant may become verbally or physically threatening or abusive. All staff are trained in violence prevention in the work place to assist them in addressing these types of situations. Work is typically performed in a wide range of setting, including in the community at various job sites, and within the medical center. The main work environment within the hospital is an adequately lighted and climate controlled office.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: 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. For further information, visit:

Additional information

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. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave : Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

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

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and 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 ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.