Staff Assistant

Summary

The incumbent serves as the Staff Assistant located within the Office of the Chief, Facilities Management Service (FMS) at the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System. This position is organizationally under Facilities Management Service (FMS) and the incumbent works directly for the Administrative Officer, FMS, who reports to the Deputy Chief, FMS. The complexity and multidimensional aspects of the FMS require the incumbent to have an overall knowledge of the organization, its mission, and goals.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Handles administrative matters independently, prioritizing the work to assure that deadlines are met.
• Refers items to other staff members, as appropriate, and forwards to the Administrative Officer only the items requiring his/her attention.
• Prepares appropriate responses for the signature of the Service Chief, Assistant Chief, and sections chiefs on routine matters.
• Serves as resource person on all questions regarding services provided by FMS; questions from within the Service, this health care system, other institutions and individuals.
• Processes incoming and outgoing materials such as correspondence, reports, memorandum and requests for computer access.
• Maintains the service SharePoint site; Coordinates incoming data from a variety of sources.
• Coordinate appointments, meeting, conference and distributes related information.
• Helps with drafting the meeting minutes as required.
• Coordinates personnel actions related to recruitment, salary adjustments, terminations; performs on-boarding tasks associated with new employees; and assists Administrative Officer with maintaining all necessary personnel records.
• Serves as the senior timekeeper for the service, with primary responsibility for all T&Ls except for Biomedical.
• Monitors fund control point balances as assigned and recommends reprogramming of funds as needed.
• Assist with budget formation, justification, and execution; financial management; and financial reporting.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: 7:30am - 4:00pm

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Staff Assistant/ PD01287O

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): 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
• 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 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, 07/14/2026.

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-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 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 and/or education 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: Knowledge in applying analytical and evaluative techniques to the identification, consideration, and resolution of issues or problems of a procedural or factual nature to support the broad and diverse administrative work; Knowledge of and skill in applying organizations missions, functions, goals, objectives, work, process, and sources of funding; commonly used budget and/or finance practices, procedures, regulations, precedents, policies and guides that specifically pertain to the work; excellent working knowledge of computers and software, particularly spreadsheets, graphs, tables and databases such as Excel, Work, and PowerPoint.; Ability to research and assemble data; ability to communicate and deal effectively with others; evaluate the utilization and management of human resources, material, and financial resources, and advice on straightforward management and fiscal problems. (This experience must be well documented in your resume or application package.). OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have: Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related to substitute for the specialized experience listed. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond: 1 full year of graduate level education. This may be computed by first determining the total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level; then determining the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level; and then adding the two percentages. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for this grade level.

Physical Requirements: There are no unique physical demands other than the ability to work under frequent telephone and/or personal contact interruptions by staff, and team members. Most of the work is sedentary, but some mobility is required such as walking. standing, bending, lifting, and carrying light items such as books, papers and files.

Work Environment: Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate-controlled office.

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.

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.