Secretary (OA)

Summary

This position serves as the Executive Secretary of the Office of the Assistant Director for the VA Central California Health Care System in Fresno, CA. They are the principal clerical and administrative support position to the Office of the Assistant Director and are responsible for carrying out and coordinating all the clerical and day-to-day administrative support activities for the service.

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Duties

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Major duties include:

• Performs program support work, such as program or office planning, correspondence control, serving as a liaison between administrative services and the Assistant Director or the Health Systems Specialist that supports the Assistant Director.
• Provides administrative and technical information to callers after determining that the caller has a right and need to receive the information.
• Reviews all incoming correspondence for the Assistant Director and the Health Systems Specialist, determining proper disposition and refers to appropriate staff as necessary.
• Reviews outgoing correspondence and reports prepared by staff, ensuring proper format, correct grammatical content, mathematical correctness, and coordination of facts/routing in accordance with established policy.
• Exercises exclusive control of the Assistant Director's calendar and the Health Systems Specialist for the Assistant Director, with complete authority for notifying appropriate staff of needed information and recommendations necessary for the meetings.
• Gathers materials for use in reports, presentations, and speeches.
• Accumulates and organizes information for the Office of the Assistant Director required for evaluating programs and their requirements.
• Reviews all documents, forms, proposals and travel requests before submitting them to the Health Systems Specialist or the Assistant Director.
• Makes necessary arrangements for routine and professional staff meetings, which may include coordinating agendas, background information, hotel and travel arrangements, luncheons, speakers, correspondence, and transportation.
• Will serve as a back-up timekeeper for the Secretary to the Director and the Secretary to the Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Associate Director and Secretary to the Director.

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 - 4:30pm

Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/ PD02903O and PD02902O

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.
• 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, 07/09/2026.

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-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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.

NOTE: Must type 40 words per minute.

GS-7 Minimum Grade Requirements:

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  • Communicates effectively, both orally and in writing.
  • Experience reviewing incoming and outgoing correspondence, ensuring proper format and correct grammatical content. Returns inadequate submissions and advises author of inadequacies for corrections.
  • Experience screening and referring telephone calls and visitors.
  • Experience working in an office setting utilizing administrative practices and procedures.
  • Skill in use of automated data processing equipment and the software associated for maintaining calendars, word processing, data processing (charts, graphs, illustrations etc.), PowerPoint presentations, etc..

GS-8 Minimum Grade Requirements:

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• 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:
  
  
  • Experience working in an office setting utilizing advanced administrative practices and procedures.
  • Communicates effectively, both orally and in writing, to effect necessary changes and carry out program objectives.
  • Experience screening telephone calls and visitors to the office, referring to staff members and forwarding to the supervisor only those calls or visitors requiring that person's attention.
  • Experience reading all incoming correspondence and determining proper action. Reviewing outgoing correspondence and reports prepared, ensuring proper format, mathematical correctness, correct grammatical content, and ascertaining that all necessary coordination of facts has been completed and is in accordance with established policy. Returns inadequate submissions and advises author of inadequacies for corrections.
  • Experience handling requests for information and resolving problems, meeting and dealing with all levels of government, private sector and/or the public.
  • Maintains a suspense log or tracking system for all recurring/nonrecurring reports to assure that replies are submitted within established time frames.
  • Advanced skill in use of automated data processing equipment and the software associated for maintaining calendars, word processing, data processing (charts, graphs, illustrations etc.), PowerPoint presentations, etc.

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.

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.