Psychology Technician

Summary

The Psychology Technician provides psychological services as requested by licensed psychologists including biopsychosocial evaluations, assessment and written reports of patient behavior and mental status during examination, management and completion of clinical consult requests for comprehensive psychodiagnostics assessments, and administration and scoring of protected, restricted, and standardized psychometric instruments.

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Duties

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Psychological Services:

Under the direct supervision of a fully licensed psychologist, the incumbent aides the psychologist in conducting psychological and neuro-psychological evaluations of patients. Duties include skillful administration and scoring of a broad range of specialized tests measuring cognitive, intellectual, sensory, and motor functioning. These measures could include, but not be limited to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Wechsler Memory Scale, and Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery. In performing these duties, the incumbent would utilize general knowledge of important psychometric issues, such as adherence to standardized test administration and precise scoring techniques.

Incumbent would be able to establish rapport and gain cooperation of patients in a congenial manner that utilizes motivational techniques which do not violate standardized test administration. With input from the requesting or supervising psychologist, the incumbent determines ways to best communicate with patients exhibiting language or processing difficulties.

The incumbent exercises good judgment and readily consults with the requesting or supervising psychologist if patients exhibit distress or reveal dire personal problems during testing. The incumbent collects pertinent patient information from a variety of sources to assist in the acquisition of a thorough clinical history.

The incumbent would be expected to perform other clinically-related duties as designated by the Behavior Health Supervisor.

Professional relationships:

The incumbent develops and maintains necessary professional relationships with other healthcare service providers and maintains related records and confidentiality. The incumbent provides necessary information concerning work projects, workload, and statistical data for clinical and administrative purposes.

The incumbent maintains client records as part of the VHA medical records system and follows Federal Privacy Act Regulations, Title 5, U.S. Code, Section 552(a), HIPAA, and other relevant privacy regulations. The incumbent provides veteran healthcare services in accordance with established professional ethical standards as pertaining to clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology.

Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8:00am to 4:45pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Psychology Technician GS-0181-07 PD# 756-01339A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

This is a Bargaining Unit Position.

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, 07/07/2026.

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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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.

Basic Requirement: The following are basic requirements for appointment as a Psychology Technician in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which all applicants must met.

• Education: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in an appropriate social or biological science, which included or was supplemented by 12 semester hours in psychology. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

In addition to meeting the basic requirements one of the following minimum requirement criteria must be met to be qualified for this position.

• Specialized Experience: One year of technical work under the direction of a professional psychologist in a program of professional services, training or research.

OR,

• Education: One full year of graduate study (18 semester hours) in psychology in an accredited college or university may be substituted for 1 year of experience and meets in full the requirements at the GS-7 level. (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.

Physical Requirements: Applicants must be physically and mentally able to efficiently perform the essential functions of the position without hazard to themselves or others. Depending on the essential duties of a specific position, usable vision, color vision, hearing, or speech may be required. However, in most cases, a specific physical condition or impairment will not automatically disqualify an applicant for appointment. The loss or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthesis or mechanical aid. Reasonable accommodation may also be considered in determining an applicant's ability to perform the duties of a position. Reasonable accommodation may include, but is not limited to: the use of assistive devices, job modification or restructuring, provision of readers and interpreters, or adjusted work schedules.

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. Failure to provide transcript may result in non-referral of your application if your education cannot be verified.

Basic Education Requirement: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in an

appropriate social or biological science, which included or was supplemented by 12 semester hours in

psychology. TRANSCRIPTS ARE REQUIRED

Substitution of Education for Experience (not a substitution for basic requirement): Graduate study in psychology from an accredited college or university.

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:

Note: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

Note: If your school was accredited by the Department of Education at the time of graduation but is no longer listed on the Accreditation: Postsecondary Education Institutions | U.S. Department of Education website, you must provide documentation of accreditation with your application packet.

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.