This position serves as in Compensated Work Therapy/Transitional Work and is responsible for the provision of a full range of Vocational Counseling and Rehabilitation Services in an independent and full professional manner that includes planning and development of individual rehabilitation programs for Veterans whose employability is impaired by problems stemming from physical and/or mental illness, educational or job skill deficits, as well as substance abuse problems.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/12/2025. 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-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. Individual Occupational Requirements: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position; or Specialized Experience (for positions above GS-5): 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. 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. Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems. In addition to the Individual Occupational Requirements, 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-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: 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; (2) 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.; and (3) Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or; LL.M., if related. OR, Combination: You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond a master's degree or more than 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling or related discipline. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Experience must be clearly indicated in your resume. 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/Working Conditions: Incumbent will be exposed to stressful working situations that require a professional attitude and collective reasoning. The incumbent is subject to a high volume of work, the need for accuracy, frequency of interruptions and ever-changing demands due to program changes. 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/.
Major duties include but are not limited to: Providing vocational and readjustment counseling to Veterans. Plans and conducts individual and group counseling sessions. May meet with Veterans' families to assist in counseling activities. Conducting interviews designed to evaluate the Veteran's vocational aptitudes and potential: educational and work history and psychiatric and physical limitations, which may impede the educational process. Administering and interprets a full range of standardized objective tests of scholastic aptitude, interests, achievement, motor performance and personality measures. Completing vocational counseling consultation requests integrating all data derived from interviews, tests administered, medical records and counseling. Developing individual vocational plans based on Information derived from assessment and counseling activities to achieve an educational or occupational goal. Documenting in the Veteran's medical record results of counseling sessions and Veterans progress toward attainment of educational and occupational goals and placement activities. Supervising Veterans assigned to CWT/TW, performing work evaluations of performance, conducting inventories, assessing Veteran's progress toward rehabilitation goals and monitoring attendance and performance. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm. Work Schedule is subject to change based on agency need. Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Not Authorized. Position Description Title/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD09174A