Senior Social Worker- Health Care for Homeless Veterans

Clarification from the agency

First area of consideration will be given to current permanent employees from the Tampa VAMC( Facility Only). Second area of consideration will be for permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Healthcare for Homeless Veterans Grant Per Diem Liaison duties include, but are not limited to:

The Senior Social Worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-­service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation.

Adhere to Service Line Agreements, (SLA) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for documentation. Adhere to approved templates and required standards for documentation as outlined by accrediting bodies such as Joint Commission, CARF, and/or revenue sources providing funding to VHA.

Provide documentation sufficient to meet the needs of various interdisciplinary teams engaged in the discharge planning process both within the facility and for potential placement and/or aftercare programs/facilities.

Adhere to SLA, SOP, and directives for clinical contact with patients, families, and collateral providers over the course of treatment, which includes pre-admission, program participation, and post discharge follow up.

Provide individualize care coordination and discharge planning highlighting patients strengths, needs, abilities, and preferences within patient interaction, Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) meetings, along with family and collateral contacts.

Advise supervisor and IDT on identified treatment goals, priorities, and disposition options and progress.

Ensuring patients have access to care via completion of required documents, 1010s, Advanced Directive, and other forms that assist with access to care within the VA or the community

The incumbent will participate in survey accreditation(s) ensuring standards are adhered to within their social work practice, unit/service and at the facility level as well (i.e. infection control and safety).

The incumbent will participate in continuous survey readiness through ensuring reports, Pl projects, and other documentation required for accreditation are current and up to date.

The incumbent will participate in all assigned supervisory meetings to include individual, team huddles, and will participate in, both social work and matrix, staff meetings.

The incumbent will participate on all assigned committees, work groups within or external to the facility. Supervisory approval is required prior to working with a committee within or external to the facility. (See business compliance regarding non-VHA committee participation).

The incumbent will participate in coverage for social work services on the assigned unit/service, and when needed for other social work teams inpatient and outpatient as needed.

The incumbent will maintain a social work license.

For positions that require use of a government vehicle the incumbent must have and maintain a valid driver's license and pass Occupational Health screening.

Perform other duties as assigned.

Preferred Experience:

• Selective Placement Factor
• Quality Ranking Factor

Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM-4:30 PM
Recruitment/Relocation Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): 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)
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 available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: #72257F
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• 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.
• 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• 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

While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. These are the KSA's for this subject position:

1. Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management.
2. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
3. Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes.
4. Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.
5. Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area.

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty. Social Worker must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patients, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the Social Worker or others. Ability to drive a government car.

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 other supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Area of Consideration-Eligible applicants will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility (Tampa VAMC).
2. Permanent employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

This vacancy announcement is exempt from Veterans Preference.

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.

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

• Resume

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.

• License (License and Registry Certificate - if applicable)
• Transcript - with Degree Conferred and GPA
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action - If you are a current or former VA or Federal Employee, you must submit a copy of a current and/or highest grade held SF-50 - Notification of Personnel Action (Not an award SF50)
• Resume - To determine your eligibility, please ensure resume includes the below:
  • Job title
  • Grade Level (for Federal positions)
  • Duties (be as detailed as possible and ensure they demonstrate how you meet the specialized experience and/or Knowledge, Skills and Abilities required for the position
  • Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008)
  • Full-time or part-time status
  • Include hours worked per week

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.

Next steps