Recreation Assistant

Recreation Assistant

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Salary Range: $44959 - $58445 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Whole Health Service at Tennessee Valley VA Health Care System - Alvin C. York VA Medical Center in Murfreesboro, TN. The Recreation Assistant is responsible for implementing the objectives of the VHA Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation and Recreation Therapy Services.

Major Duties:

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: Supporting the Recreation or Creative Arts Therapist (RCAT) by planning, organizing, and implementing recreation therapy (RT) and complementary integrative health (CIH) programs in inpatient and outpatient settings Providing instruction in Tai Chi, Qigong, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness to promote, restore, and preserve Veterans' physical and mental well-being Designing and delivering therapeutic, rehabilitative, and diversional activities to achieve rehabilitation, maintenance, and prevention goals based on patient assessments Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to adapt and modify therapeutic interventions aligned with individualized treatment plans Coordinating daily recreation programs across Community Living Centers, Mental Health units, Adaptive Sports, Residential Recovery & Treatment Programs (RRTP), and outpatient clinics Organizing and supervising community outings, special events, pet therapy, and volunteer-led activities while ensuring Veteran safety and program effectiveness Evaluating patient participation, engagement, and progress while documenting outcomes and workload through the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) Maintaining therapy and recreation equipment by performing cleaning, preventive maintenance, and minor repairs while training staff, volunteers, and students in proper equipment use Ensuring patient and volunteer safety during on- and off-station programs and transporting Veterans as needed while exercising sound judgment and professionalism Scheduling, promoting, and publicizing RT/CIH programs to attract and motivate participation while ensuring compliance with facility standards Collaborating with community agencies and volunteer services while orienting and guiding new volunteers according to VA procedures Performing other assigned administrative and clinical duties to support the goals of the Recreation Therapy Service NOTE: Must be able to obtain a driver's license to operate all government vehicles that do not require a commercial driver's license. Work Schedule: Tuesday to Saturday; 10:30 a.m. to 07:00 p.m. (negotiable with night/weekend requirements) Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Qualifications: Minimum Requirement: The following are minimum requirements for appointment as a Recreation Assistant in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which all applicants must met. Specialized Experience (GS-06): You must have one (1) year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (i.e., GS-05). Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: (a) Group leader, counselor, or similar work in public and private recreation programs for adults or children such as summer camps, local playgrounds, YWCA and YMCA clubs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, urban community centers, or resort recreational activities; (b) Teacher's aid in elementary school recreation or physical education program, with emphasis on development of general recreational skills and abilities; (c) Aid or assistant assignments in recreation while on active military service; (d) Aid or assistant in the organization and administration of recreation activities, such as preparing activities calendars, maintaining attendance records, and providing information concerning schedules and activities; (e) Summer aid in a State or national park, with duties related to the recreational activities of visitors to campsites, trails, picnic areas, nature and raft centers, and boating and fishing areas (e.g., demonstrating camping techniques and park safety, conducting nature tours, and overseeing farm animal areas provided for children); (f) Sales or stock clerk in a recreation supplies and equipment shop; (g) Aid or assistant in the issuance of authorized property, and in the maintenance of inventory control and accountability for such property in a recreation facility; and (h) Aid or assistant in a hotel or resort recreation service, with duties such as setting up areas for games, tournaments, and other organized group recreational activities. (CLEAR DETAILS OF EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: Your resume must show complete information for each job entry, such as beginning and ending dates of employment, duties performed, and/or total hours worked per week.) OR, Education (GS-06): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have six (6) months of graduate education (i.e., 9 semester hours) in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position (e.g., recreation or physical education). NOTE: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. (UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.) OR, Combination (GS-06): 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. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position. (UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.) AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. AND SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR: This position includes a Selective Placement Factor (skill, knowledge, ability, or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirement for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. The Selective Placement Factor for this position is: Experience applying the knowledge of the standard techniques and treatment procedures for movement and exercise Recreation Therapy program for clients of various ages and disabilities meeting their individual needs. Preferred Experience: Tai Chi or Yoga Instructor Certification, Aquatic Therapy & Rehabilitation Certification, or additional certification in recreation or health & wellness is preferred. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Clinical Data Collection/Documentation Communication Patient Care Technical Competence IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. Physical Requirements: Recreation Therapy is considered a vocation that requires "medium" work. Medium Work entails: exerting 20 to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or 10 to 25 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects. Physical Demand requirements are in excess of those for light work. (i.e.: more than exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.) Examples of the medium strength required by incumbent are as follows: Standing, walking, squatting, bending, and sitting, and changing from one position to the other frequently throughout the day; Sitting at a desk and using upper extremities to reach, grasp and place papers, charts, and binders; Reaching, lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling: 1-10 pounds constantly, 10 -25 frequently, and 25 -50 pounds occasionally. Recreation Therapy requires good manual dexterity to manipulate tools and equipment with examples as follows: Operating all aspects of a computer - keyboarding, mouse, and control buttons; Demonstrating the use of all aspects of adaptive equipment for patient teaching; Assembling equipment with the use of hand tools such as screwdrivers and pliers; The work is primarily very active in nature with some sedentary work involved when performing clerical/administrative work. 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/.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 11/19/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12831922. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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 (i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities), and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (615) 327-4751. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) 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/.

Application Deadline: 2025-11-19