Field Examiner

Clarification from the agency

This vacancy is open to current, permanent (career/career conditional) employees of the Lincoln NE, VBA Regional Office and CTAP eligible only. For purposes of this job announcement, Fiduciary Hub bargaining unit employees in the commuting area are considered facility employees. Geographical Limitation: You must live within 50 miles of the location being announced.

Specific duties include:

• Performs visits to veterans and beneficiaries to evaluate physical and mental conditions or capacity; independently determine ability to handle or manage funds.
• Conducts field examinations to determine who to appoint as fiduciaries for incompetent or minor beneficiaries.
• Verify the welfare and adequate living conditions of veterans under fiduciary care and make arrangements for deficiencies.
• Conduct background investigations on proposed fiduciaries.
• Reviews and reports on fiduciary performance; conduct investigations involving the misuse of VA funds.
• Explain laws and regulations governing fiduciary responsibilities to veteran, beneficiary, and fiduciary.
• Investigate and make determinations on identified misuse, complaints, allegations, contested claims for benefits, special apportionments, eligibility for VA compensation, etc.
• Work with representatives of other Federal, State, and local police, social and protective services agencies and courts regarding the safety, protection and living conditions of Veterans.
• Supervises veterans transitioning to financial independence under the direct pay program.

Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The grade progression for this position is GS-9, GS-11

Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Compressed/Flexible: Available
Telework: Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Field Examiner; PD35902A and PD36002A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized.
Financial Disclosure Report: Required.

Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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 Federal service.

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

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• 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 I-9 Acceptable Documents.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:06/17/2026.

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.

• For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7 level.
• For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9 level.

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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Conducting professional interviews or investigations involving issues/cases such as benefit claims, workplace safety claims, employee/labor allegations, fraud, abuse, or embezzlement for the purpose of gathering factual information to make a determination.
• Interpretation and application of Federal, State and/or Local benefit programs (i.e., compensation/pension, healthcare, mortgage/lending, insurance, etc.) that comply with related laws, policy, regulations.
• Establishing and reviewing budgets for expenditures, verifying, or monitoring the use of funds, and balancing or reconciling finances for individual or business.

OR

Education substitution of a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree in Social Work, Counseling Rehabilitation, Criminal Justice, or another degree specifically related to the duties of this position which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work (submit your transcripts).

OR

Equivalent combinations of Specialized Experience and Graduate level education. To compute, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond one year by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.


OR

Equivalent combinations of Specialized Experience and more than two years, but less than three years of education, as described above. To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.

Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information.
Volunteer Experience: 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.
Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.
Physical Requirements: On a routine basis, the incumbent in this position will be required to operate a government- owned motor vehicle; therefore, incumbent must possess a valid state driver's license. Periodic overnight travel may be required based on mission needs; up to two to three weeks travel per month is possible. The job requires driving in government owned automobiles, often very long distances. Some walking and climbing of stairs is required since interviews with VA beneficiaries are conducted at the residences of the beneficiaries.


For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://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.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), your responses on the application questionnaire, and your responses to all assessments required for this position.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

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

• Decision Making
• Technical Competence
• Writing

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package to include the documents detailed below. Resumes may not exceed two pages and must be legible for review of eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume and supporting documentation will be verified. Failure to submit the documents as specified may result in loss of consideration for this job announcement.

• Resume:
  • Contact Information:
    • Name and how best to contact you, including email address and phone number
  • Relevant Work Experience:
    • For each relevant work experience, make sure you include:
      • Job Title and Employer (including series and grade for any Federal positions)
      • Start and end dates with month/year (e.g., 05/2019 - 08/2022)
      • The number of hours you worked per week
    • Ensure work experience descriptions are aligned with the job announcement and address all required qualifications. Brief descriptions should demonstrate your ability to perform the tasks at the required level as stated in the job announcement
  • Education/Certification/ Licensure:
    • When relevant or required for the position, include your possession of education/ certification/license and provide any required documentation such as transcripts, and/or details (type and date) of certifications and/or licenses
      • Education information should include:
        • Name of school/institution
        • Completion date
        • Degree type
        • Cumulative Grade point average (GPA)
  • Optional Details:
    • When relevant, include:
      • Current Security Clearance
      • Job-related training
      • Language skills
      • Organizations and affiliations
      • Professional publications
      • Eligibility for special programs (e.g., military spouses, individuals with disabilities, etc.)
• Current Federal Employees:
  • Your most recent APPOINTMENT SF-50. The most recent 1XX or 5XX SF-50 proving status. This SF-50 should identify your appointing legal authority, position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted).
  • Your SF-50 reflecting when you entered your highest grade and step (e.g., Within Grade Increase, Promotion, Appointment, etc.) in order to verify time-in-grade requirements.

Additional Documents accepted:

• Most recent Performance Appraisal (VA Form 0750)
• Award SF-50s
• CTAP documentation - RIF notice, SF-50 showing VA employee, and performance appraisal

Next steps

Additional locations