Program Specialist

Summary

This position serves as a Program Specialist in the Veterans Benefits Administration, New Orleans, Louisiana Regional Office (RO), Veterans Service Center and located in the New Orleans office. This incumbent will actively assist the Veterans Service Center Manager (VSCM) and members for the VSC Management staff in high-level administrative support tasks and technical management of hearings to assist veteran clients.

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Duties

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Typical duties include, but are not limited to:

• Provides administrative and technical support, practical aspects in the area personnel administration, data processing, file management, VSC Management staff spreadsheets, and scheduling to both the VSCM and VSC Management staff. Directly influence the effectiveness and responsiveness of the office. Performs a variety of duties related to researching and analyzing information to determine the status of significant issues, to assist the VSCM and the VSC management staff with the daily activity. Provide effective administrative support for all facets of essential operations of the VSC, including coordination for internal and external office(s), and determines which organizational elements require the attention of management.
• The incumbent serves as the primary contact and liaison for callers and visitors into the office, to ensure proper intake, aid, and refer issues that cannot be independently resolved. Responds to a variety of telephone and written inquiries, including those regarding general procedures and policies of the VSC department. Relieves VSCM of a multitude of details by independently coordinating, reviewing, and monitoring the effectiveness of administrative and procedures.
• The incumbent must be sensitive to and cognizant of protocol with respect to requests for attendance and participation of various meetings, ceremonies, and events. Fully assists with the logistics of a variety of VSC functions and events that require a VA presence. Maintains an effective working relationship with internal and external staff.
• Serves as timekeeper for the VSC employees, ensuring adherence to Federal and agency policy, and procedures. Organizes and tracks the use of employee's leave with managers to ensure timecards are timely and accurately processed. Records and verifies employee's use of leave without pay, compensation time, credit time, and other special types of leave. Inputs, tracks, and generated Overtime request timely and accurately, based on VA policies in local systems.
• The incumbent works closely with VSC Management and employees with timely and accurately collecting Telework Agreement forms (VAF 0740) and training requirement certificates for the RO's Telework Manager. This requires extensive knowledge of the VA's Telework Policy, and local RO's procedures. Records are closely monitored, and information is accurately verified/collected based on the VA's policy.
• The incumbent complies and controls biweekly and monthly data for VSC Management to assist with program oversight for the VSC division. This includes analyses and monitoring the division resources needs.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm

Compressed/Flexible: Available

Telework: No

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist GS-09: 421260

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Bargaining Unit: No

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness & 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 or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows:

• 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 or trial period
• 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 I-9 Acceptable Documents.
• 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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:07/02/2026.

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.

• For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07.
• If you are a current VBA employee requesting a reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS- 09 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least 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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-09 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience : You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level or higher. Specialized experience is defined as experience providing clerical and administrative support to an office; to include typing a variety of correspondence, greeting customers, and maintaining office files; or experience researching and reviewing available records/documents and piecing together pertinent information from a variety of sources

OR

• Education Substitution: You may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education you must have:
  
  
  • A master's or equivalent graduate degree in an accredited or pre-accredited college or university; or
  • 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or possession of a LL.B. or J.D degree, if related. Graduate level education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work of the position.

Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information.

Volunteer Experience: 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.

Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.

Physical Requirements: Work is primarily sedentary but includes some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items such as papers and files.

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.

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit.

Note: You may submit unofficial transcripts when applying. However, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to provide an official transcript or a statement from the institution (e.g., from the registrar, dean, or other appropriate official) or equivalent documentation prior to the start date.

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 (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

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.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

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

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members : Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

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),

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. (

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

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.

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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.

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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.