Contact Representative

Summary

Incumbent serves as Contact Representatives for the Women Veterans Call Center (WVCC) within the Veterans Health Administration, at the Canandaigua VA. The WVCC is a national collaborative effort between Women Health Services, Patient Care Services, and the Canandaigua VA. The WVCC provides in-depth guidance based on questions from women Veterans, their families, and caregivers about VA healthcare services and resources available to women Veterans.

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Duties

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Duties:

• Conducts outreach calls to women Veterans not already enrolled in VA healthcare services
• Responds to inbound calls, chat messages, and text messages from women Veterans, family members, or caregivers;
• Specialized knowledge base of all available VA benefits and healthcare services to provide timely and appropriate problem resolution and/or caller referral.
• Provides in-depth and detailed information to the women Veteran about health care services that she may be eligible for.
• Independently inform and respond to a multitude of Veteran's medical questions and a wide variety of concerns and to provide comprehensive explanation to them about all available resources.
• Serves as the coordinator of incoming telephone calls in the following ways: determines the nature of the call, thoroughly and accurately addresses the issue and/or then if needed assists with communicating the caller's needs regarding VA benefits, services, and health care needs to other VA care or service providers.
• Utilizes required extensive knowledge of VA programs such as MST, PTSD, homelessness, women's health care services, etc.
• Evaluating priority 30-day follow up calls and making outgoing calls to women Veterans across the nation to follow up with women Veterans to ensure they received the services they need.
• Conducts outreach calls to women Veterans not already enrolled in VA healthcare services
• Ensures all necessary information is obtained from the callers/contacts.
• Acts as the patient advocate and resolves Veterans needs to the best of her ability.
• The CR must be able to make appropriate independent decisions regarding suicidal crisis, medical crisis and homelessness situations based upon her assessment.
• Determine when to warm transfer Veterans to the Veterans Crisis Line and Homeless Line for emergent and urgent crisis needs.
• Makes referrals as necessary to national programs such as VBA, HEC, NCA, and VHA.
• Utilizes computer technology to ensure continuity of care through accurate information collection, communication, and documentation.
• Sends out packets of information to women Veterans based on call center interactions and individually tailors each packet to the callers' needs such as reproductive care, newborn care, survivors benefits, etc.
• Participates as a WVCC team member through various duties as assigned, multidisciplinary program meetings, direct interaction with the WVCC leadership team, and development and implementation of program procedures, goals, and objectives.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Set shift between Monday-Friday, 8:00am-10:00pm and Saturday, 8:00am-6:30pm

Telework : Not available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Contact Representative / PD08317A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Due to the exception to 5 CFR 332.407, there is a restriction to Female only employees in this contact representative position.
• 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
• 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 dentification 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 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, 10/05/2026.

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 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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.

• Gender Specific Requirement (Screen-Out): This vacancy has a Gender Specific Restriction. Only female applicants will be accepted for this vacancy. The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has authorized this restriction based on the program's primary function for meeting the needs of female Veterans. All documentation has been carefully reviewed and has met the condition of unusual circumstances as stated in section 5 CFR 332.407 and supports certification of single-sex recruitmentYou may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:
• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: specialized experience includes working in a patient care centered facility or in a call center setting performing clerical, secretarial or administrative support work; counseling and assisting patients with basic questions and concerns pertaining to benefits; inputting and accessing information through various data systems; answering telephone inquiries; analyzing problems and providing an accurate resolution; typing case notes. Applicants should possess exceptional interpersonal/communications skill and must have the ability to be an attentive listener. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end 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 4 years above High School. (Transcripts must be submitted with your application)

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 2 years above high school. (Transcripts must be submitted with your application)
• You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Attention to Detail
  • Customer Service
  • Decision Making
  • Flexibility
  • Integrity/Honesty
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Learning
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Reasoning
  • Self-Management
  • Stress Tolerance
  • Teamwork

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 of this position is primarily sedentary. No special physical demands are required. The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of locations such as offices, meeting and training rooms, and private or commercial vehicles. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated.

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

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.

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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.