Summary The Supervisory Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor/Assistant Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Officer (AVREO) will provide administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Division at the Phoenix Regional Office and satellite offices. Responsibilities The Assistant Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Officer (AVREO) will serve as the professional consultant and expert in conduction, administering and advising in the areas of education, psychology testing and evaluation, counseling, rehabilitation, job accommodation, and placement for professional counseling staff. The AVREO is responsible for the administration and workload management of the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Division, to assure that performance goals in the areas of timeliness, accuracy, cost, customer satisfaction and employee development are achieved. The AVREO has familiarity with all phases of the VR&E Division to interview claimants' in-person or over the telephone and to elicit information essential to resolve concerns or obtain necessary evidence so claims may be properly adjudicated for disabled Veterans receiving Veterans Administration (VA) benefits. The incumbent will provide administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the VR&E Division at the Phoenix Regional Office and satellite offices as full assistant to the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Officer as follows: -Ensures consistent, correct determinations are accomplished in situations where existing guidelines do not readily yield identifiable answers. -Gathers and interprets a wide range of data addressing service concerns, and recommends appropriate actions based on the data. -Communicates with other federal, state, and rehabilitation agencies to coordinate services. -Communicates with various schools in resolving training problems. -Addresses program issues with contractors and other VR&E offices. -Resolves Veteran issues through in-person, telephone, and written communication. -Analyzes and interprets laws, regulations, and rules as they effect the establishment of new policies, procedures, and methods of service delivery. -Plans and assigns work activities for subordinates, with final technical authority over the final work product. -Provides advice, counsel, and instructions to individual employees on both technical and administrative matters. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday. 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: At the discretion of the hiring office. Telework: Available, per agency policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor/ 002760 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Required Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/25/2024. 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-13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12. 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. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status (career, career-conditional, or excepted service), time in grade requirements have been met, and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate possession of time in grade requirements. In this instance, you must also submit your most recent Promotion or Within Grade Increase SF-50, or a Promotion or Within Grade Increase SF-50 that indicates the highest grade/step previously held. DO NOT submit Award SF-50s and/or General Adjustment SF-50s as they cannot be used to verify time in grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying using the for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) eligibility. This position does have an IOR (Individual Occupational Requirement) that must be met in addition to the Time-in Grade and regular Specialized Experience qualifications. To qualify for this position, you must have the education listed below: Satisfactory completion in an accredited college or university of all the requirements of a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling (including a supervised internship), or a master's degree in counseling psychology or a related field, including at least 30 semester hours of coursework in such areas as foundations of rehabilitation counseling, human growth and development, counseling theories and techniques, vocational assessment, career development, job placement, case management, and medical/psycho-social aspects of disability. For master's degree programs without a supervised internship, substitution of successful professional experience **following completion of your degree** must be one full year in direct delivery of vocational rehabilitation services to adults with disabilities in rehabilitation programs, other than those in correctional facilities. (Please submit transcript(s) with degree date awarded/conferred) Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level or higher. Specialized Experience is defined as thorough knowledge of 1) general laws affecting Veterans' testing and evaluation rehabilitation; 2) job development and job placement; 3) full and complete knowledge of Chapters 18,30,31,34, and 35 of Title 38, USC; 4) documented specialized experience will illustrate the ability to conduct, administer, and advise in areas of education, training, counseling, and psychology affecting the entire field of VA's vocational rehabilitation and employment programs. 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 performed mainly in an office environment with minimal exposure to injury. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. 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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html. Additional Information VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Receiving Service Credit or 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. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities , and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/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 (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.