The Primary Purpose of the Position is to serve as a telephone operator within the West Texas Health Care System. The Organizational Location of the Position is within the Health Administration Service (HAS) at the West Texas VA Health Care System (WTVAHCS) and can be located in one of 6 locations (Hobbs, New Mexico; Abilene, Texas; Big Spring, Texas; Fort Stockton, Texas; Odessa, Texas; or San Angelo, Texas).
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/14/2025. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: General Experience: You must have one year of general experience. That is progressively responsible clerical, office, or other work that indicates ability to acquire the particular knowledge and skills needed to successfully perform the duties of this position and that is typically in or related to the position being filled. General experience includes: Skill in dealing calmly and courteously with people who are extremely upset or irate and skill in questioning callers, who often can provide only sketchy information, in order to direct them to the proper organizational component; Knowledge of alternative routing options and procedures to make efficient outgoing connections and to connect high priority or emergency calls when ordinary methods fail; A knowledge of the capabilities of the telephone system and skill in the procedures necessary to connect a number of parties on one or both ends of complicated conference calls, and to arrange two-party or conference calls by appointment. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have two years of education above high school. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college, or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education as described above. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Computer Skills Customer Service Critical Thinking 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 work is sedentary. Some work may require movement between offices, hospitals, warehouses, and similar areas for meetings and to conduct work. Work may also require walking/standing, in conjunctions with travel to and attendance at meetings and/or conferences away from the work site. Incumbent may carry and lift light items weighing less than 15 pounds For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
The incumbent is an experienced telephone operator who operates the hospital switchboard for a majority of the time during administrative duty hours under normal technical supervision. Traffic handled during administrative duty hours is regularly moderate to heavy, resulting in a hectic tempo of telephone operations. The facility is affiliated with the Texas Tech University, and other teaching facilities, complicating locating and keeping track of physicians, residents, and other allied health professionals. Calls handled include a full range of local, long distance and special calls. In addition, the incumbent must regularly handle a variety of difficult calls requiring extensive personal involvement, i.e.: A. Next of kin calls. B. Emergencies, such as cardiac arrest, blood bank, sprinkler, refrigeration, oxygen or narcotic alarms. C. Calls requiring tactful handling of confused, abusive or threatening individuals. D. Calls from relatives of patients demanding to speak to medical staff about the condition or treatment of the patient. E. Calls from irate beneficiaries regarding appointments, lack of treatment, etc. F. Calls from the public requesting information when the nature of the request is unclear, or the party does not know what office or program is involved. G. Emergency calls to locate particular physicians or medical support personnel when their response is critical. H. Calls from mentally incompetent, alcohol or drug addicted persons who require special attention by the operator. I. Calls involving physicians on rotation where locating is complicated by continual turnover, geographic problems, etc. J. Calls from affiliating physicians or for consultants and attending physicians when location is complicated by varying schedules. K. Calls of varying difficulty, incoming and outgoing, at such rapid pace that the tempo of pressure creates unusual demands on the operator. The pace of the switchboard is such that incoming and outgoing calls must be handled in rapid succession; a number of calls must be handled simultaneously, and difficult calls requiring prolonged personal involvement must be handled without recourse to assistance from the supervisor. The incumbent must have a sound knowledge of the station's organization and diverse programs in order to function effectively at a regularly hectic pace. In this kind of environment, the operator is required to handle a large volume of calls of varying technical complexity (e.g., local, FTS, commercial long distance) and of varying critical nature under continuous pressure. Such volume and tempo of pressure is present for a majority of time. Additional duties include operation of a paging system, monitoring of various alarm systems and initiating emergency call procedures. Also performs necessary clerical functions pertinent to switchboard operations and other Office Operations Section functions, as required. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Telephone Operator/PD01169A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized