Social Work Associate

Social Work Associate

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Bath, New York

Salary Range: $50460 - $65599 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Behavioral Health Care Line in the Domiciliary Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (DRRTP) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VA Medical Center, in Bath, NY. The primary purpose of the Social Services Associate is to facilitate Veteran entry into DRRTP program, or referral to community agencies, so professional staff can triage their unique behavior, medical, substance abuse, PTSD, or homelessness needs.

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*** Major duties and responsibilities will include: Manages and tracks the entire intake screening process and manages a database of information pertinent to the screening process. Receives and tracks all screening consultations until they are completed Tracks and ensures intake screening appointments are scheduled through the centralized scheduling department and admissions are scheduled and prioritized based on patient needs. Receives and assembles all screening packets and ensures all required information is obtained. Provides follow up to patients regarding status of screening committee decisions, if approved utilizes internal systems to coordinate admission. Manages day-to-day of patient's requests Serves as the intake point of contact and provides case management to individuals, families, and internal and external referring agencies Explores needs of care for patients Provides consultation and education to patients, their families and referring agencies Serves as the primary point of contact for all referrals and inquiries during the screening process. Evaluates referral information and asks clarifying questions Documents all interactions and counselors in the internal systems and databases Provides telephone and written follow up to patients who no-show screening or admission appointments, or who are deferred due to pending requirements. Triages the needs of patents and suggests and refers to alternative resources if appropriate Connecting patients with appropriate resources and guides to meet all patient needs. Provides para-professional counseling to patients Maintains regular contact with patients awaiting placement and provides non-professional counseling and guidance. Collects required intake data used to determine eligibility for services Research and provides direction in assessing resources which may be available to assist with transportation Perform other related duties as assigned Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; Full - Time, 7:30am-4:00pm Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved

Qualifications: QUALIFICATIONS To apply for this position, you must have the following qualifications: INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENTS Basic Education: Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in major fields of study such as: social welfare, sociology, psychology, public administration, philosophy, education, anthropology, history, economics and/or English. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) -AND- SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: One (1) full year of specialized experience as a social welfare worker or social work assistant in voluntary, public, social, or health agency. The experience must be at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to the next lower grade in the Federal service. Specialized experience includes: managing the day-to-day intake screening process for a rehabilitation treatment program: collecting required intake data (e.g., demographics, physical location and living situation, hospitalization history, etc.) and information necessary to determine program eligibility; communicating by telephone and electronic means with the patients/their family, clinicians/medical staff, and other officials affiliated with the program based on the individual's needs; assisting clients and referral agents by connecting and referring them to agency resources, community resources, or other social resources; NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week 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 assessment and submission of the required documentation specified in the Required Documents section above. 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 questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12941899. 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, 04/28/2026. After submitting the online application, you will be notified whether or not you are required to take additional online assessments through the USA Hire Competency Based Assessment system. This message will be delivered to you via email notification. The email may be routed to your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. IMPORTANT: If you are asked to take the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be presented with a unique URL to access the USA Hire system. Access to USA Hire is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Be sure to review all instructions prior to beginning your USA Hire Assessments. Click here for Computer System Requirements. 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 at a later time, you can re-use the URL sent to you via email and also found in your USAJOBS account under the "Track my application" link for the corresponding application. 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 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: 2026-04-28