Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Washington, District of Columbia

Salary Range: $85447 - $111087 Per Year

Job Summary: The incumbent serves as a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS) in the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) Program in the Mental Health Care Line. The VRS provides a wide range of rehabilitation services that meet individual patients' needs; promote recovery from substance abuse, mental illness and homelessness; and enhance independence and community integration and employment.

Major Duties:

• Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Provide extensive vocational rehabilitation services to patients with a history of homelessness, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, and physical disabilities. Provide rehabilitation services to the chronic mentally ill: substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, and dual diagnosis (serious psychiatric disorder and substance abuse). Provide vocational rehabilitation services that are goal directed; focused on positive outcomes; and respect the basic rights, dignity, and safety of each veteran. Case Management: Utilizes case management procedures to provide rehabilitation services. Coordination and integration of identified health care services requires the specialist to be aware of the unique and complex needs of the patient. Case management will consist of the following activities: assessment and reassessment of individual needs, goals, and preferences; resource assessment and management; outreach and support to encourage patient participation in the services required; coordination and assistance in crisis intervention and stabilization; liaison with community supports and programs; referrals to appropriate VAMC clinics and programs for necessary care; utilization of vocational rehabilitation programs such as VA-Vocational Rehabilitation and DES-Vocational Rehabilitation; community linkages; transportation, legal and financial concerns; enhancement of functioning in daily living activities; and review and monitoring of the services provided with documentation (treatment plan and progress notes) of progress toward individual goals. Aftercare and Follow-up: Provide aftercare and follow-up services to CWT graduates to ensure continuous support in adjusting to success, and handling the full range of social, living, personal, financial, and vocational issues. Rehabilitation Systems: Keeps abreast of current rehabilitation methodology, counseling techniques, and related professional literature and participates in continuing professional education. Provide in-service training for Mental Health staff, and presents educational lectures to other Mental Health programs. Maintains current occupational/career information such as career development, occupational trends, work-site modifications, educational and job training sites in the community. Consultation: Provide consultation services required by patients referred to CWT. Will determine required assistance, inform referral source of findings, and develop a plan of action. Documentation: Will complete all required documents (electronically or hard copy): admission assessments, efficiency reviews, treatment plans, progress notes, discharge summaries, exit surveys, correspondence, and other necessary forms or documents. Preferred Experience: Familiarity working with Veterans in the Substance Abuse Recovery Program, an intensive outpatient program serving Veterans diagnosed with a mental illness and SUD. Familiarity and skill in evidence-based practices is important for this role, while working in a Veteran Centric environment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice in mental health and substance abuse treatment. The incumbent has a post 2 years independent clinical license or certification by a state at the advanced practice level, which includes an ASWB advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advance practice level. The Senior Social Worker may have certification or other post- masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday - 07:30am - 04:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD25128A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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, 05/08/2026. 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-09. 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 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Applying specialized technical knowledge and methods related to vocational rehabilitation. The work affects the livelihood and quality of life of the individuals and the operation of the agency programs. Responsible for placement of patients in vocational programs, contracted community work sites and community. The specialist is integral to Rehabilitation Services and other health care services within the VAMHCS, and the independent employment. Serves as a liaison between MHCC Vocational functioning of programs for the rehabilitation of the veteran. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D., equivalent doctoral degree, or, 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree, or an LL.M. Transcripts required. OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education as described that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position. Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 lbs.); light carrying (under 15 lbs.); reaching above shoulder; use of fingers; walking (intermittent); standing (intermittent); hearing (aid permitted); clear speech. The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Work Environment: Work is typically performed in an adequately lighted and climate controlled office in a medical center setting or in a community setting. Emphasis will be on dealing with Veterans, employers and contacts in the community. The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts associated with traveling in the community or working in an office environment. There may be occasional risk of harm from a violent patient, which requires special precautions and training to deal with. Specialist may use government vehicle to transport Veterans to work sites, community resources, etc. and must have a valid driver's license. Specialist performs duties at any of the sites comprising the VA Maryland Healthcare System. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: 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/12944722. 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, 05/08/2026. 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: 2026-05-08