Secretary (OA)

Summary This position is located at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) in the Office of the Director. The incumbent serves as the Executive Secretary to the Director and provides a wide variety of administrative and management support for the work performed in the Office of the Director. Responsibilities Major duties include, but are not limited to: Serves as the Office Manager for the Executive Leadership Office and ensures that the practices and procedures used by secretaries in subordinate offices are consistent with those of the Director's Office. Recommends changes in administrative policies. Devises and installs office procedures and practices to be used by secretaries in subordinate offices. Prepares agenda for and conducts periodic secretarial training sessions for all secretaries to department heads. Responds to inquiries and administrative problems brought to the Director by members of the staff and officials of the agency's central office. Notifies the appropriate staff officials of the need for information or recommendations, and either prepares the response or follows up to ensure a timely response by others. Exercises exclusive control over the Director's appointments, with complete authority for commitments of time. Screens all calls and visitor's answering most questions and completing most business involving established policy or routine matters without referring people to the Director. Coordinates secretarial staff coverage and effectively communicates office operations information and expectations to the entire executive leadership team. Provides public contact support services such as answering the telephone, referring visitors, or providing information about the office, its functions and standard operating procedures, as well as similar information. Refers Veterans' concerns to the Patient Advocate Office and assists services under the Director with general correspondence procedures, reports, requirements and other matters necessary to implement the Director's policies, directives and instructions. Processes incoming and outgoing materials for the Director such as correspondence, reports, memoranda and other forms of written communication. Performs the following types of duties: edits letters and reports, reviews correspondence for accuracy and completeness, prepares presentation outlines and develops form letters. Appropriately uses the computer system and other office automation equipment and processes to accomplish writing, transmitting, receiving and forwarding electronic mail; writing, editing, formatting and printing word processing and spreadsheet documents to meet established timeframes provided by the Director. Serves as a liaison for several high-level councils and committees and is required to prepare agendas, accurately takes and transcribes all taped and handwritten notes and prepares meeting minutes for the Director's signature. Material presented in final form is virtually always free of typing, format, and/or assembly errors. Provides general clerical mail and correspondence services such as preparing a variety of recurring reports, reviewing outgoing correspondence for proper attachments, or consolidating/coordinating submittals of information. Advises the Director and Supervisory Health System Specialist of important office issues arising during the Director's absence, and brings significant items in reports, files and correspondence to the Director and Supervisory Health System Specialist. Independently electronically schedules and maintains appointments, coordinates meetings, V-Tels, VANTS/SKYPE calls (tele-conferences) and/or schedules conferences for the Director. Performs electronic calendar maintenance to ensure appointments are accurate and non-conflicting. Reminds the Director of subject matter prior to the meetings and makes administrative arrangements as required. Attends meetings when required, notes commitments and advise staff of their commitments in order to track actions for compliance. Coordinates all leave with the Secretaries in the Office of the Director to avoid instances of lack of Executive Leadership Office coverage. Serves as a purchase card holder for the Director's Office for supplies and services, which includes purchases and timely reconciliation of purchases. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Supervisor's discretion Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/PD12825O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Requirements 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 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, 06/22/2026. 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 this GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. 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. 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-08, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: executive-level secretarial support and administrative duties, office coordination and management, public contact work (answering telephones and screening calls, referring visitors, receiving inquiries), processing incoming and outgoing materials such as correspondence, reports, memorandums, and other forms of written communication, electronically scheduling and maintaining appointments, timekeeping, and purchasing office supplies and equipment. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Attention to Detail Customer Service Decision Making Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Learning Reading Comprehension Reasoning Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork 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: This work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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. 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