Recreation Specialist

Recreation Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Cincinnati, Ohio

Salary Range: $64290 - $83582 Per Year

Job Summary: The incumbent serves as the Recreation Specialist within the Rehabilitation Care Line (RCL) consisting of the following Sections: Audiology; Chiropractic Care; Medical Support Services; Occupational Therapy; Physical Therapy; Physical Medicine; Recreation/Creative Arts Therapy; and Speech Language Pathology. The Recreation Specialist plans, coordinates and implements programs of activities primarily within the Spinal Cord Injury and Dysfunction (SCI&D) Clinic and Community Living Center (CLC).

Major Duties:

• The Major Duties of the Recreation Specialist position include, but are not limited to: Spinal Cord Injury & Dysfunction (SCI&D) Team Coach: a. This position is exclusively responsible for sports training, activities, and attendance at all minor and major sports activities and athletic activities that expand outside the facility at local, state, and national levels. b. This position must know the physical and psychological factors in individual and team sports, and the nature, purpose and organization of individual and team sports activities. c. This position is the key to the success of activities directed toward developing and teaching spinal cord injury patient athletes in the skills, techniques, and rules of individual and team sports. d. This position must possess knowledge of the planning, organization, and conduction of inter-facility, local, state, and national competitions and tournaments. e. This position bears heavily upon the success of team relationships and of public relations with officials, the press, competitors, fellow patients and the general public. f. This position is responsible for developing individual athletes and teams of athletes with varying level skills based on disabilities who can compete in competitive sports activities that range from mild to highly competitive. g. This position must possess and apply a basic knowledge of the goals, principles, methods, and techniques of the broader field of recreation, including not only sports, but a great variety of other leisure time activities. h. Is responsible for planning and carry out of local, state, and national team sporting events under the direction of the Recreation Therapy Supervisor. Community Living Center (CLC) Activity Coordination: a. Responsible for planning, organizing and directing activities and recreation programs (including such activities as games, parties, music, social programming, electronic gaming, sports, and arts and crafts) to effect improvement and achievement in the physical, mental and social well-being of the patients. This meets the therapeutic objectives of diminishing emotional stress, providing a sense of achievement, channeling energies and interests, aiding physical and mental rehabilitation, and promoting successful community re-entry. b. Administers a wide variety of recreation treatment, modalities and procedures outlined in the plan of care provided by a Recreation Therapist as part of the total plan of care of patients which range from spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, rehabilitation short stay/long stay, dementia, and respite/end of life. c. Uses recreation or creative art activity modalities to maintain or achieve rehabilitation of physical and/or mental health. d. Conduct group and individual recreation activities according to patients' needs, capabilities and interests; determine and implement necessary precautions in exercising responsibility for the care and safety of patients. Consult with certified therapeutic recreation therapists (CTRS), nursing personnel, medical staff and other members of the health team to assess the recreational needs of patients. e. Collaborates in the development, implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of the patient's comprehensive plan of care to achieve anticipated outcomes. f. Uses advance practice skills to plan, develop, implement and evaluate outcomes of individual and group activities for all patients. g. Serves as a mentor and clinical resource for staff and students to promote an atmosphere of continual learning. h. Participate in patient care conferences and makes recommendations concerning new recreational therapy methods and techniques. Additional Responsibilities of Duties Described Above: a. Documentation: Responsibility for the documentation associated with the programs like plans of care and individual, group and special group sessions. b. Equipment and Work Areas: Utilize equipment for patient treatment, assess equipment needs and maintains stock and inventory by ordering and receiving the needed supplies. c. Administrative Responsibilities: Maintain records, report ideas to improve operations, participate in weekly section care planning meetings, and assist with workload data entry, tracer methodology and peer review. d. Purchase Card Holder: Serve as an additional purchase card hold for the service, as directed by the Administrative Officer. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Ad-Hoc only, per agency policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Recreation Specialist/PD928670 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/29/2026. 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-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. 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. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Individual Occupational Requirements: Recreation Specialist, GS-9. Undergraduate and Graduate Education (This would be a Bachelor's Degree or higher): Major study -- general recreation, or one of the appropriate fields of recreation such as outdoor recreation; recreation and parks leadership; wild land recreation management; natural resources recreation; youth recreation; public, urban, or community recreation; special populations recreation (e.g., senior citizens, institutional, etc.); or physical education. OR, Specialized Experience: Experience that demonstrated the ability to apply the principles of one or more specialty areas of recreation. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Planning, organizing, coordinating, supervising, or evaluating community, industrial, outdoor, institutional, or other recreational programs. Planning, establishing, or evaluating a recreational curriculum for junior college or higher academic levels. Instructing in the principles and techniques of recreational program planning and management. Serving in a leadership role in the programs and activities of local, regional, and/or national recreational organizations. Grade Level Requirements, GS-9 Recreation Specialist. Specialized Experience: Experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-7, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience for this position would include: 1. Knowledge of physical and psychological factors in individual and team sports activities. 2. Knowledge of planning, organization, and conduction of inter-facility, local, state, and national competitions and tournaments. 3. Ability to maintain public relationships with officials, the press, competitors, fellow patients and the general public. 4. Skill in working individually with each patient to ensure schedules and training sessions are set up based on the patient's expertise or programming/sporting event categories. 5. Ability to maintain financial account information, data on attendance, and class participation. OR, Education: A Master's or equivalent graduate degree or, 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or, LL.B. or J.D. (Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work and transcripts must be provided.) OR, A Combination of Experience and Education. Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 year of graduate level education may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grades GS-09. The education and experience must be directly related to the work of the position to be filled. Physical Requirements: The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion such as standing or walking for prolonged periods of time; frequent bending, reaching, stooping, and stretching to set up and take down equipment and apparatus; lifting and repositioning patients; and pushing or pulling heavy objects. The work may require specific physical characteristics and abilities such as above-average dexterity to perform intricate activities/procedures. Moderate to heavy lifting (between 5-50 pounds) is required for assisting patients. The work involves standing, lifting, and walking, with some physical exertion required to assist the patients in wheelchairs, power mobility or specialty sporting device and/or with impaired mobility. 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: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12930622. The application process is as follows: 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. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 04/29/2026. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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

Application Deadline: 2026-04-29