Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Huntington, West Virginia

Salary Range: $73939 - $96116 Per Year

Job Summary: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists (VRS) in the Department of Veteran's Affairs Medical Center provide and coordinate a wide range of vocational rehabilitative and case management services to veterans with disabilities and other eligible individuals. Vocational Services team members provide or share provision of services within special emphasis areas with a primary goal of assisting veterans in returning to and maintaining employment.

Major Duties:

• Duties include but not limited: Performing initial evaluations. Administration and interpretation of vocational testing. Administration and interpretation of work evaluation samples. Identification of transferable skills and strengths necessary for rehabilitation planning. Determination of level of academic and educational functioning. Determination of significance of disability, functional limitations, and residual capacities as they relate to client characteristics. Engagement and rehabilitation planning. Preparation of professional reports about veteran participants with recommendations for rehabilitation activities and goals. Job Coaching and shadowing Establishing, developing, and maintaining relationships with community employers, NISH organizations and other stakeholders. Developing and implementing performance improvement plans to enhance service delivery and improve outcomes. VRS may be assigned primary or shared responsibility for the compensated work therapy program/ Transitional Work. Responsible for the continuing promotion and development of the CWT program and the coordination with relevant resources within the Medical Center, it's satellite clinics, and the community at large. Responsibility for submitting NEPEC reports (admission, quarterly, and discharge) for all veterans in SE services. Management of records related to veteran participation and outcomes in SE services Management of account records to ensure close adherence to the SE fidelity model. Development of policies and procedures to meet Medical Center, SE fidelity, CARE and Joint Commission standards. Responsible for adherence to therapeutic benefit and client safety while in the CWT program. Evaluates selects and coordinates appropriate therapeutic CWT work sites with the Medical Center and community. Develops and implements the CWT program policies and procedures to ensure the safety and health of program participants in compliance with established policies for the VA and the Medical Center. Responsibility for the CWT account and the control point in compliance with VA fiscal policies and regulations. Management of weekly payroll for all CWT participants, ensuring that all participants are compensated properly in a timely fashion. Management of account records to ensure the integrity and accuracy of billing procedures while ensuring the appropriate follow up on delinquent accounts Preparation and presentation of the medical centers CWT annual budget. Soliciting, preparing, and signing binding Memorandums of Agreement and contracts with government and private businesses and industries to provide services and labor, following all applicable VA and Medical Center contracting policies and regulations. Meets the needs of customers while supporting VA missions. Consistently communicates and treats customers (veterans, their representatives, visitors, and all VA staff) in a courteous, tactful, and respectful manner. Provides the customer with consistent information according to established procedures and policies. Handles conflict and problems in dealing with the customer constructively and appropriately. Protects printed and electronic files containing sensitive data in accordance with the provisions of the privacy act of 1974 and other applicable laws, federal regulations, VA statutes and policy, and VHA policy. Protects the data from unauthorized release or from loss, alteration, or unauthorized deletion. Follows applicable regulations and instructions regarding access to computerized files, release of access codes, etc.as set out in the computer access agreement that the employee signs. Work Schedule: Wednesday 12:00 noon-4:30pm, Thursday - Friday 8:00am-4:30pm, Schedule determined by supervisor Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD22003O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved 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, 01/09/2026. 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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. 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: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Work that required obtaining and applying occupational information for people with disabilities, knowledge of the interrelationships of the involved professional and specialist services, and skill in employing the methodology and techniques of counseling to motivate and encourage individuals served by the program. Experience that demonstrated knowledge of the vocational rehabilitation problems characteristic of the disabled, including familiarity with available resources and skill in identifying, evaluating, and making effective use of such resources to serve individuals with disabilities; or of the disadvantaged, including knowledge of adjustment problems of the educationally or culturally disadvantaged, familiarity with available adult education and training resources, and ability to recognize problem areas needing special attention. Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems. . OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a PH.D or equivalent doctoral degree, successfully completed three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree, or LL.M., with a major study in vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an equivalent combination of successfully completed graduate level education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience, as described above, to meet the total requirements. The education portion must include graduate courses that demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do to the work of the Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist position. Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used to qualify applicants for positions at grade GS-11. Preferred experience: Experience in vocational rehabilitation or fields similar to vocational rehabilitation such as, employment specialists, career counselors, rehabilitation counseling, special education teachers, or disability case managers. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Organizational Awareness Planning and Evaluating Security 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 primarily sedentary, although occasionally light physical effort may be required. This includes lifting to 10 pounds when handling office supplies or delivering group materials. Additionally, there may be casual walking, generally less than half a mile, during worksite visits with patients. 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 01/09/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12857923. 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. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. 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/ 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. 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 for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. 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/. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-09