Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. This announcement is open to The Public - US Citizens Veterans' Preference: Does not apply to this announcement per OCHCO Bulletin, Annual Determination of Staffing Shortages, dated September 25, 2025

This job is also open in another announcement to:

Federal employees - Competitive service

Federal employees - Excepted service

Internal to an agency

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties at the GS-6 level:

Unit Dose Medication Management:

• Fills unit dose and automated dispensing cabinet orders.
• Receives inventory from vendors using provided technology, applies barcode or other labeling as indicated and restocks shelves.
• Inventories and replenishes emergency cart trays and carts.
• Operates and provides routine maintenance for pharmacy equipment, such as automated dispensing machines and barcode label printers.
• Repackages a wide variety of pharmaceuticals, labeling them properly and leaving them for final verification.
• Performs automation replenishment and processes requests for ward stock; performs record keeping for these activities.
• Uses proper inventory management of Omnicell and proper procedures when adding medications to the Omnicell.
• Inspects ward stock supplies for unapproved items, storage practices, and outdates; performs record keeping for these activities. Sterile

Compounding:

• Prepares sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounded sterile preparations (CSP's) using aseptic technique and safe handling of hazardous medications described in chapters 797 and 800 of the US Pharmacopoeia.
• Verifies correct formulation and ingredients; selects and measures appropriate components; mixes components in a safe and appropriate manner; inspects the final product for accuracy, appearance and pharmaceutical elegance; labels the product; takes responsibility for ensuring timely delivery.
• Follows established protocols in determining appropriate beyond-use dates on all pharmaceuticals prepared.

Controlled Substances:

• Abides by the laws and regulations pertaining to controlled substances and follows all VHA, DEA and local facility requirements.
• Knows and follows standard operating procedures for maintaining complete, accurate, and readily retrievable controlled drug accountability records.
• Fills inpatient and clinic requests for controlled substances, fills outpatient prescriptions for controlled substances.
• Participates in routine inventory counts and inspections, identifies questionable circumstances or unusual trends in narcotic usage.
• Immediately reports discrepancies to the supervisor.
• Prepares expired or unusable controlled substances for destruction.

General:

• Teaches pharmacy technicians, students, and proper technique for the preparation of sterile products and teaches students and technicians procedures for the unit dose management system.
• Interacts with patients, pharmacists, nurses and other clinical staff as required. Answers general questions, and refers therapeutic problems to the
• Demonstrates the ability to prioritize and make appropriate decisions in urgent or fast-paced situations.
• Notifies supervisor of safety or quality concerns in a timely fashion.
• Performs tasks unique to outpatient pharmacy as needed, including filling outpatient prescriptions, wrapping mail, answering phones, dispensing medications at the window and working in the vault

Work Schedule: Monday Thru Friday 3:00pm-11:30pm with some weekends and holidays
Recruitment Incentive : Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station : Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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 dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

NOTE: THE 2-PAGE RESUME REQUIREMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS OCCUPATIONAL SERIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, REFER TO REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BELOW.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency: Pharmacy Technician candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Education or Experience:
  • None required.
  • For all grade levels and positions that accept both education and experience to qualify, equivalent combinations of qualifying education and experience that total at least 100% are qualifying. The combined percentage is determined by adding total qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the grade level to the education as a percentage of the education required for the grade level.
• Foreign Education: To be creditable, education completed outside the U.S. must be deemed at least equivalent to that gained in a conventional U.S. program by a private organization specializing in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials.

Grade Determinations:

Pharmacy Technician, GS-06

Education or Experience: One year of experience equivalent to the next lower level.

In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

1. Knowledge of Federal and state laws related to pharmacy practice.
2. Knowledge of preparation, storage and distribution of medication products including those requiring special handling and documentation.
3. Ability to use pharmacy information systems or operate pharmacy dispensing equipment.
4. Knowledge of basic inventory procedures.
5. Ability to communicate with patients and staff and direct questions to appropriate personnel.

Assignments: Pharmacy technicians at the full performance level may fill orders, dispense/deliver medications using automated systems or provide technical customer service to Veterans related to prescription needs. Duties will include delivery of medications to floors/patients, filling medications for the pharmacist to review, checking for expired medications, answering phones with appropriate disposition, preparing sterile products (when applicable) and assisting with basic inventory management such as putting up stock and identifying when medications need to be ordered.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-6.

Physical Requirements: This work requires moderate lifting and carrying (15-44lbs), reaching above shoulder, use of fingers, standing, repeated bending, near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, ability to distinguish basic colors and mental & emotional stability. Environmental factors are constant noise, extensive keyboard/mouse use, working closely with others, and working alone.

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 MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

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.

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.

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

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

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

• Resume

RESUME REMINDER: Your resume must include the following information for each job listed:
-Job title-Month & Year start/end dates (e.g. June 2016 to April 2018)
-Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week)
-Duties (be as detailed as possible)
-Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held.
Failure to provide this information will result in resume disqualification and non- referral.

Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.

Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Transcripts required if utilizing education
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Next steps