Staff Assistant

Summary

The Executive Staff Assistant provides executive administrative support and is assigned to the Director's Office. Utilizing specialized experience and knowledge of the fundamentals of healthcare, fundamentals of human resources, and fundamentals of correspondence management to develop strategies to ensure time management of their associated Executive Leadership Team (ELT) member. Responsible for coordinating and assigning all administrative support activities for the Director's Office.

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Duties

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Include but not limited to:

• Identifies problems, analyzes data, and recommends resolutions based on organizational objectives.
• Resolves quality-of-care issues and consumer complaints.
• Prepares responses and issue briefs for various levels of VA leadership.
• Assists with designing work processes and systems that are responsive to customer needs and use customer feedback to plan and improve services.
• Reviews policies and procedures that are in conformance with overall philosophy related to all aspects of healthcare programs.
• Analyzes new technological trends and develops phased implementation plans after analyzing feasibility, costs, benefits, opportunities, and constraints.
• Primary liaison with Human Resources for timely, accurate, and efficient processing of all actions.
• Performs administrative work, which includes management of an office's schedule or day-to-day plans.
• Develops and reviews administrative and strategic operational initiatives.
• Manages space assignments and operates within budget constraints.
• Plans and prioritize resource allocations.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Staff Assistant/ PD06117A

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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 is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be 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, 07/23/2026.

Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current VA 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-09 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. 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 additional SF-50 (s) to clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade.

You will not be contacted for additional information . For appropriate SF-50(s) to submit please see "Required Documents" section below for examples of SF-50(s) to include.

In addition to meeting the Time-In-Grade Requirement you must meet the Minimum Qualification Requirement below.

Minimum Qualification Requirement: 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: Oversee administrative programs including records management, inventory, and time sheets. Tracking and routing of office mail, patient letters, issue briefs, electronic work orders, action items, DocuSign and Congressional items. Reviews and reconciles resource requests, FTEE information, and organization charts. Manage recruitment activities including executives and senior leaders. Prepares responses and issue briefs. Manages Governance Council(s) or committee(s) by initiating actions plans, recording minutes, drafting agendas, and updating/maintaining charters. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree; or, two full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; or, LL.B. or J.D. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have the appropriate combination of GS-07 level specialized experience and only graduate-level education beyond the first year (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours).

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.

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 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.