Secretary

Summary

The Secretary for the Chief of Staff's office performs duties to assist the Chief of Staff, and in some cases the subordinate staff of the Chief of Staff, by performing general office work auxiliary to the work of the organization. The position is the principal clerical or administrative support position, operating independently of any other such position in the office.

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Duties

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Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Receives calls and screens visitors and telephone calls, i.e. identity, purpose of call and relative importance in relation to availability of staff members. Takes messages and/or provides information as to availability of the supervisor. Refers matters to appropriate staff on the basis of knowledge of the various organizational components and individual responsibility.
• Reviews, composes and prepares all correspondence received by the activity for necessary action. Composes correspondence on own initiative, based on a knowledge of superiors views.
• Types into final form from written material, brief instructions and/or voice recordings pertaining to intra-agency and public correspondence, narrative and tabulated reports, travel documents, personnel actions, etc., using manual, electric, or automated typing equipment.
• Assists supervisor's subordinates in the procedural aspects of expediting the work of the office, including distributing the workload of clerical help to take care of fluctuating workload.
• Takes meeting minutes accurately, and captures action items from the meeting.
• Provides information within standard office procedure, generally pertaining to any of the duty areas herein described and within caller's "need to know". Authorized to give out administrative and technical knowledge to callers upon determination of their right to receive it.
• Reviews documents prepared for signature of or requiring coordination by management for appropriate tone; conformance with regulations, grammar, format and special policies of the activity and completeness of information.
• Returns inadequate communications to originator for correction when not in conformance with known policies, or when correspondence regulations have not been followed.
• Prepares regular and special reports such as, but not limited to, time/attendance, leave, and degree of use of filing space, etc.
• Provides assistance for a variety of problems and inquiries which are received in person, telephonically or by referral from other secretaries in the organization.
• Responds to requests for information and/or develops one-of-a-kind reports covering organizational or technically oriented matters when information is available in office records and/or files.
• Follows up on projects resulting from conferences to insure that schedules are met and reports progress to managers.
• Keeps the superiors informed of important details of the office, visitors, and various events where failure to recognize significant matters might impair the effective operation of the organization.
• Decided whether the importance of business such as to require personal attention of superiors or referral to the appropriate division concerned with specific subject.
• Establishes priorities, sets up reschedules or refuses appointments, accepts or declines invitations to meetings and arranges for representation by a subordinate official. Controls activities schedule and reminds managers of appointments.
• Advises and instructs subordinate offices through discussions with author or typist on all phases of correspondence procedures to obtain higher degree of compliance with general activity policies and correspondence regulations.
• Processes incoming correspondence and material. Screens correspondence for matters which can be acted on personally and takes necessary action.
• Obtains information required by management from various sources within the VA, requiring a comprehensive knowledge of the VA's complex organizational structure.
• Refers to supervisor those cases which the incumbent is aware supervisor will want to act on personally or be made aware of.
• Reply to general inquiries not requiring a specialized knowledge of programs and projects under supervisor's control.
• Researches regulations applicable to the subject for presentation in one package along with any previous correspondence on the same subject.
• Reviews and proofreads outgoing correspondence, completed work, and other documents for format, policy conformance, and typographical and grammatical accuracy and ensures that all necessary background material is attached as circumstance requires.

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: Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm

Telework: This position may be authorized for telework on an Ad-hoc basis.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Secretary/ PD122170, PD122160, and PD122150

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
• 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, 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-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. For a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. For a GS-8 position you must have served 52 weeks 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.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience GS-6: 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: receiving and screening visitors and telephone calls; escorting and referring callers to proper personnel; proofreading completed work for accuracy in spelling, grammatical construction, and punctuation; ensuring that correspondence is properly routed in a timely manner; typing into final form a wide variety of written materials; and informing and instructing typing and clerical personnel concerning procedures for preparation of correspondence.
• Specialized Experience GS-7: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: receiving visitors and incoming calls, resolving problems of both general and specific nature, and referring matters to appropriate staff; screening incoming correspondence for matters which can be acted on personally and taking necessary action; obtaining information required by management from various sources within the VA; composing correspondence on own initiative based on a knowledge of supervisor's views and desires; and taking meeting minutes, composing letters, endorsements, messages, office instructions and reports with responsibility for sentence structure, grammar, and spelling.
• Specialized Experience GS-8: 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: providing clerical and administrative assistance to the organization; receiving all visitors and telephone calls to superiors; controlling activities, schedule, and reminds managers of appointments; reviewing correspondence and documents prepared for signature of or requiring coordination by managers for conformance with regulations, grammar format, and special policies of the installation; obtaining information required by management for various sources within the VA; composing correspondence on own initiate, based on a knowledge of supervisor's views and desires; and preparing regular and special records such as, but not limited to, time/attendance, leave, degree of use of filing space, and amount of material present in offices.

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

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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.

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.