Secretary (OA)

Summary

The incumbent serves as a Secretary to the Associate Medical Center Director. The incumbent provides technical and clerical assistance to the Associate Medical Center Director and when necessary, the Director, Assistant Director, Chief of Staff, Associate Director of Patient Care Services, and other top management staff.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

Duties include but not limited:

• Ensures practices and procedures used by secretaries in subordinate administrative offices and throughout the VA-AAHS are consistent with those of VA national directives and policies.
• Exercises exclusive control over the Associate Medical Center Director's appointments with complete authority for commitments of time.
• Screens all calls and visitors, answering questions, and completing business involving established policy of routine matters without making referrals to the Associate Medical Center Director, whenever possible.
• Exercises independent decision-making in routing and assigning actions and suspense dates on all correspondence coming to the Associate Medical Center Director's office on a daily basis.
• Maintains a log for all action items (reports, responses to VA and outside source correspondence) to monitor the timely completion and submission of responses.
• Receives and reviews all correspondence for the Associate Medical Center Director and replies to mail not requiring the Associate Medical Center Director's attention.
• Screens all correspondence prepared for the Associate Medical Center Director's signature for clarity, completeness of reply, grammatical, and procedural correctness.
• Establishes meetings at the VA-AAHS as well as other sites in VISN 10. This includes creating agendas, notifying participants, and arranging support items (lunch, tours, special equipment, etc.). Attends, records, and distributes minutes of meetings.
• Works independently in gathering background information and preparing agendas for meetings.
• Attends meetings, prepares minutes, and ensures their timely distribution. If scheduling priorities arise and rescheduling is needed, independently notifies committee members of the changes via electronic mail.
• Prepares written documents, charts, and graphs. Many of these documents are original forms or reports which require extensive experimentation to determine proper layout and format.
• Makes and maintains copies of all outgoing correspondence signed by the Associate Medical Center Director (letters, memoranda, etc.) so that as questions arise, the referenced correspondence will be available as a source of information.
• Provides technical and clerical assistance, when necessary, to the Director, Assistant Director, Chief of Staff, Associate Director of Patient Care Services, and other top management staff.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-4:30PM

Telework: This position may be not authorized for telework.

Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/ PD014500

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Help

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
• Must pass pre-employment examination.
• 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 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. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service.

• NOTE: You must submit a copy of your most recent personnel action/SF50 . Additionally, 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.

Interchange Agreement: Applicants must be eligible under the VA Interchange Agreement, having served continuously for at least one year in the other merit system under this interchange agreement. For more information regarding the VA Interchange Agreement please visit: may qualify based on your experience as described below:

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-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: Knowledge of the organization, policies, mission, goals, procedures, and organizational structures, as well as the Medical Center Director's responsibilities to help ensure the smooth functioning and efficient operations for the Office of the Director. Exercises independent decision-making in routing and assigning actions and suspense dates on all correspondence coming to the Associate Medical Center Director's office on a daily basis.
• Knowledge of substantive programs of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (V AAAHS) -as they relate to the healthcare system's clerical and administrative functions.
• Skill in taking and producing accurate minutes and dictated documents.
• Skill in human relations appropriate for coordinating an office environment, resolving problems, conducting training, and providing liaison with personnel within and outside the healthcare system. Ability to handle disruptive and sometimes angry individuals.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, in order to effect necessary changes and carry out program objectives.
• Skill in use of automated data processing equipment and the software associated for word processing, data processing (charts, graphs, illustrations etc.), PowerPoint presentations, etc.

Proficiency Requirements - 40 words per minute typing speed

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 incumbent's work is mostly sedentary; however, some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light to medium weight items is required.

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.

Help

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.

Review our benefits

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.