Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Summary

The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist is assigned to the Housing and Urban Development VA Supported Housing (HUD-V ASH) program at the Coatesville VA Medical Center, including outpatient clinics. You will be responsible for recruiting, interviewing, completing vocational assessments, and assisting Veterans with severe disabilities and employment barriers in work hardening, work evaluation, finding, and retaining competitive employment.

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Duties

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The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist will provide and coordinate a wide range of vocational rehabilitation and case management services to assigned veterans, whose employability or work adjustment is impaired by a physical, mental, emotional or other disability, or by a lack of basic education and job skills. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Assesses Veterans' vocational needs through interviews, referrals, and evaluations to develop individualized vocational goals and objectives.
• Analyzes the impact of mental and physical disabilities on a veteran's motivation, training adjustment, and employment potential.
• Facilitates access to training programs and coordinates with resources to identify, evaluate, and select appropriate training facilities.
• Provides advanced rehabilitation counseling to veterans with severe and multiple disabilities, including traumatic brain injury and psychiatric conditions.
• Develops individualized, mutually acceptable rehabilitation service plans tailored to complex and non-standard vocational needs.
• Builds and maintains professional relationships with community businesses, service providers, and vocational/educational institutions.
• Refers eligible participants to appropriate funding sources, including Chapter 31, Chapter 34, state vocational rehabilitation divisions, or grant/scholarship programs.
• Educates employers and educators on reasonable accommodations and the value of hiring or training veterans with disabilities.
• Provides job placement and job-carving services, including resume assistance, application support, and interview preparation.
• Maintains ongoing contact with employers and community placement resources to identify job and small business opportunities.
• Collaborates with an interdisciplinary team to support participants throughout the job search and placement process.
• Provides continuity of care and job retention support, including problem-solving and guidance through workplace transitions.
• Helps employers understand participant limitations while promoting a positive perception of the veteran's capabilities.

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; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/ PD02564

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.
• Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. 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)
• A current, valid state-issued Driver's License is required for this position.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may 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, 10/14/2026.

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-9 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. For a GS-11 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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.

For the GS-9 grade, you may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience that provided a knowledge of training practices, techniques, and requirements as they relate to vocational development or rehabilitation. To be creditable, experience must have been at the GS-7 grade level in Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: work that required obtaining and applying occupational information for people with disabilities, knowledge of the interrelationships of the involved professional and specialist services, and skill in employing the methodology and techniques of counseling to motivate and encourage individuals served by the program. This experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit. OR,
• Education: A Master's or equivalent graduate degree, or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.B or J.D. with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. Transcripts required. OR,
• Combination: An equivalent combination of specialized experience and higher-level graduate education as described that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position. Transcripts required, and experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit.

For the GS-11 grade, you may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience that provided a knowledge of training practices, techniques, and requirements as they relate to vocational development or rehabilitation. To be creditable, experience must have been at the GS-9 grade level in Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: experience that demonstrated knowledge of the vocational rehabilitation problems characteristic of the disabled, including familiarity with available resources and skill in identifying, evaluating, and making effective use of such resources to serve individuals with disabilities; or of the disadvantaged, including knowledge of adjustment problems of the educationally or culturally disadvantaged, familiarity with available adult education and training resources, and ability to recognize problem areas needing special attention. This experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit. OR,
• Education: A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position. Transcripts required. OR,
• Combination: An equivalent combination of specialized experience and higher-level graduate education as described that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position. Transcripts required, and experience must be detailed in your resume to receive credit.

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.

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.