Administrative Support Assistant

Clarification from the agency

This position is open to Current Permanent Miami VA Facility employees ONLY

The Administrative Support Assistant incumbent (ASA) serves as the principal office assistant to the Chief of Psychiatry in the Mental Health, and Behavioral Sciences (MH&BS) Service at the Miami VA Medical Center. The MH&BS Services include the MH Social Work Service, Psychiatry Service, Psychology Service, Recreational Therapy, and Vocational Service, with MH services provided at the 7 Community-Based Outpatient Care (CBOCs). MH&BS activities are widely distributed between several areas and geographic locations, which adds to the complexity of coordinating administrative tasks.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Requires a thorough knowledge and understanding of Mental Health & Behavioral Science administration and all associated programs.
• Coordinates and monitors the provision of Mental Health Services to a diverse group of customers, which include various medical center product lines such as Medicine, Surgery, Mental Health, and Extended Care.
• Responsible for coordinating and monitoring all information involved in the credentialing, privileging, licensing, and tracking of continuing education for the doctorial staff (licensed staff, post-doctoral, and practicum);
• Coordinating and monitoring all information involved in tracking performance improvement monitors for the Psychiatry service.
• Works independently, using a general understanding of the expected outcomes and the scope of the assignments, and draws upon experience and subject expertise in resolving complex situations that routinely arise.
• Uses his or her judgment to select the appropriate part of the most relevant guideline to apply to each of a large variety of actions and tasks, such as the assignment of staff coverage, requesting clarifying information from customers, providing follow-up information and feedback to customers, scheduling of clinical services, creation of appropriate workload document and processes, and instructing and monitoring staff in documents services.
• Responsible for updating Mental Health & Behavioral Service guidelines and policies.

Work Schedule: 7:30am-430pm
Position Description/PD#: Administrative Support Assistant/PD076880

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/02/2026.

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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. 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 aas described below:

Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• Completes, accurately and promptly, comprehensive reports and special projects delegated by higher management.
• Responsible for the follow-up actions on items decided upon in conferences and meetings, by way of obtaining additional information and preparing memorandums as needed.
• Functions as primary secretarial support and will perform those tasks and duties routinely identified as secretarial functions.
• Maintains provider files and ensures they have updated CMEs, licenses and certificates, accomplishments, and CVs.
• Takes and prepares minutes of meetings.
• Supports staff with PIV cards, market pay reviews, credentialing initiation, ePas, working with pharmacy to get the providers access to prescribing medicine, working with the data team to give them access to close-out consults, secure message access, clozapine prescriber access, technology requests, office assignments, and orientation guides.
• Maintains time and attendance records.
• Coordinates requests for supply items prepares justification for requested equipment items.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Decision Making
• Flexibility
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork

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: Work is performed in an office setting with frequent visits to the Psychiatry areas and other services throughout the Medical Center complex and/or other divisions. The work involves everyday risks or discomforts which require normal safety precautions. There is a certain mobility (walking) factor associated with the position in physically visiting, for observation or problem-solving, on site locations of the users. No special physical demands are required to perform the 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 you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation. You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Cover Letter
• Other (1)
• Performance Appraisal
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing 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
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
• Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
  • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
  • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
  • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Next steps