Clarification from the agency

Current students enrolled in an accredited educational institution

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This position is being filled under the Pathways Internship Program. The program is designed to provide students enrolled in a wide variety of educational institutions, from high school to graduate level, with paid work opportunities in agencies to explore Federal careers while still in school. The Internship provides managers a ready source of student employees and potential permanent employees upon completion of the program requirements. It also provides the student with work experience directly related to the curriculum studies or career goals while offering eligibility for non-competitive conversion to permanent employment upon completion. For more information on Internship opportunities within the Department of Veterans Affairs, please visit: https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/pathways-internship-program/.

***REMINDER: YOU MUST BE CURRENTLY ENROLLED AS A FULL TIME OR PART TIME STUDENT AT AN ACCREDITED EDUCATION INSTITUTION AND PROVIDE PROOF OF CURRENT ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE IN THE FORM OF UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS OR PROOF OF ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE FROM AN ACCREDITED EDUCATION INSTITUTION AT TIME OF APPLICATION.***Duties for the position may include but not limited to:

• Prepares, composes, or reviews correspondence prepared for the purpose of obtaining or supplying information.
• Searches records or files to compose responses, including electronic data banks including searches to retrieve and summarize hard-to-locate data.
• Locates materials that would verify information given.
• Composes statements or develops factual information which supplement model letters or standard paragraphs.
• Searches for and selects from the available documents the most pertinent information to the question or issue raised.
• Processes incoming or outgoing mail, including the processing of express mail.
• Routes mail to a high number of distribution points, e.g., 150 or more.
• Monitors and reports time and attendance.
• Prepares, maintains, reviews, and certifies time and attendance reports for a variety of pay plans, types of leave and special pay situations.
• Determines appropriateness of hours being charged and types of special pay being authorized.
• If time and attendance reports from subordinate organizations are reviewed, and errors or discrepancies are noted, returns them to the originating organization for corrections or makes corrections after contacting the originating organization.
• Forwards all reports to the appropriate office for processing.
• Arranges records for storage/reference, scheduled disposition, and retrieval.
• Determines file retention and disposal including determining applicable authorities, screening, and preparation of files for retention and disposal.
• Performs other related duties as assigned

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule: Part Time; Tour of Duty TBD; Subject to change to meet the needs of the Agency

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• You must be at least 16 years old (by closing date of this vacancy announcement)
• Selective Service Registration-required males (over 18) born after 12/31/59
• Must be accepted for/currently enrolled in a qualified educational institution
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Pre-employment physical required
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/21/2023.

Internship Program: To be eligible, applicants must be accepted for enrollment or currently enrolled and seeking a degree (diploma, certificate, etc.) in a qualifying educational institution, on a full or half-time basis as defined by the institution in which you are enrolled. **MUST HAVE A 2.0 GRADE POINT AVERAGE (GPA).

NOTE: YOU MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF ENROLLMENT ON A HALF-TIME to FULL-TIME BASIS OR ACCEPTANCE OF ENROLLMENT AT THE TIME OF APPLICATION - FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN LOST OF CONSIDERATION.

You may qualify based on education/experience as described below:
GS 4 Minimum Qualification

• General Experience: one year or 52 weeks of general experience that equipped me with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Examples of creditable general experience includes progressive level of creative thinking, customer service and administration and management.
• OR
• Education: Completed two (2) full academic years of post-high school study (i.e., at least 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours) or possess an associate's degree. NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH THE APPLCIATION MATERIALS. CONFERRAL OF DEGREE(S) EARNED SHOULD BE PRESENT ON TRANSCRIPT(S). UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT(S) OK.
• OR
• Experience/Education Combination: I possess a combination of education and experience as described above. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

GS 5 Minimum Qualification

• Specialized Experience: one year of specialized experience, equivalent to at least the GS-04 level in the federal service, that equipped me with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position and that is typically in and/or related to the position being filled. Specialized experiences include prepares, composes, or reviews correspondence prepared for the purpose of obtaining or supplying information, processes incoming or outgoing mail, including the processing of express mail, routes mail to a high number of distribution points, prepares, maintains, reviews, and certifies time and attendance reports, arranges records for storage/reference, scheduled disposition, and retrieval.
• OR
• Education: completed four (4) full academic years of post-high school study leading to a bachelor's degree or equivalent degree. ( i.e. at least 120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours) [NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with the application materials. Conferral of degree(s) earned should be present on transcript(s). Unofficial transcript(s) ok.(TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)
• OR
• Experience/Education Combination: I possess a combination of education and experience as described above. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Administration and Management
• Clerical
• Computer Skills
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)

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.

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/.

Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. There may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers, books, or small parts. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

PATHWAYS CONVERSION:A Participant Agreement must be completed and signed to set forth the expectations for the internship-The Intern's job may be related to their academic career goals or field of study. As applicable, at the time of appointment and upon request, students must demonstrate an overall Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) of 2.0 or above on a 4.0 scale as recorded on the official transcript. For students in educational institutions that do not use a G.P.A. system, the HR Officer/Director or designee should request that the student provide verification of achieving an average or above standing with the institution. Within 120 days of post degree conferral date after successful completion of the internship Program (640 hours), the intern may be converted to a career/ career-conditional position or term position. Students working in agencies through third-party intern providers may count up to or waive 320 hours career-related work experience under an Internship Program appointment and demonstrates high potential by outstanding academic achievement and exceptional job performance as provided in 5 CFR 362.204(d) they work toward the 640-hour requirement. To be eligible for conversion, interns must complete their degree or certificate requirements, meet the qualification standards for the position to which the Intern will be converted, meet agency specific requirements as specified in the Participant's Agreement, and perform their job successfully.

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/90 PART II APPENDIX N AND APPENDIX F4

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

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.

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.