Duties include, but are not limited to :

• Perform a variety of roles that include welcoming Veterans into the local system, orienting them to the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program concepts, coordinating and connecting Veterans to resources and programs based on preferences, assisting Veterans in articulating their goals for health and well-being, learning and practicing new self-care skills, helping them monitor their progress, supporting them in advocating for themselves to obtain effective services, and providing tools and resources to assist in navigating the HCHV System.
• Have knowledge of internal and external resources to support the Veteran journey through the HCHV system and connects Veterans to the best options to support their health and well-being and obtain permanent housing, while establishing an ongoing relationship.
• Coordinate and perform a wide range of tasks to assist Veterans with social services/resources who are struggling with issues of homelessness and striving for independent community living.
• Assignments are primarily of an advisory and technical nature and involves screening, triaging, advising, and assisting veterans and their significant others who present to the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center Health Care for homeless services.
• The HCHV Program is based out of the Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC).
• Supports the professional staff by serving as the initial contact for veterans and families who are seeking treatment, experiencing problems and requesting housing assistance information.
• Provide assistance to staff in all Homeless Programs and supports them in completing referrals for Veterans to access housing.
• Greet veterans requesting assistance; puts them at ease by listening to their requests; determines the nature of Veteran's care needs, questions, or complaints.
• Answer questions, provides information, gives guidance, and initiates action, as appropriate based on the identified barriers to obtaining and sustaining permanent housing.
• Provide assistance at the CRRC front desk and operates the program shuttle, as appropriate.
• Receives phone calls from veterans and family members regarding program availability and eligibility, as well as calls from care providers, and resolves problems.
• Reviews housing placement progress and provides direct assistance to Veterans regarding housing-related issues.
• Receive SSI/SSDI Outreach Access and Recovery (SOAR) training and functions as the Homeless Program SOAR point of contact. SOAR is designed to increase access to Supplemental Security Income/Social Security Disability Insurance (SSI/SSDI) benefits for eligible adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and have a mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.
• Assist Veterans to complete SSI/SSDI applications and ensures that the application is accurate and complete.
• Work independently and in consultation with a social worker to provide social services which support the agreed upon housing and treatment plan.
• Keep updated progress records; documents interventions and interdisciplinary interactions in the Veteran's electronic medical record.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm
Telework: Not Available
Position Description/PD#: Social Services Assistant/PD12729A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

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 dentification 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, 11/26/2025.

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-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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 as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  • Group leader in community or residential recreation or training programs.
  • Counselor in a youth summer camp.
  • Instructor in a training program for the development of job skills.
  • Work that demonstrated the ability to be responsible for and to lead and train members of a job crew.
  • Group activities leader in the Armed Services.
  • Unit leader-monitor-proctor for a dormitory group in a boarding school or other residential facility.
  • Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff in such fields as personnel (private or government), employment guidance in a vocational or academic institution, social service, or manpower development.
  • Aid or assistant to professional or associate staff engaged in work of a social services nature in private, public welfare, government program, or community organizations, or in voluntary activities.
  • Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff working with individuals who are addicted to or abuse alcohol and/or drugs.

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

• Clerical
• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)
• Patient Care

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.

Preferred Experience:

• Knowledge of pertinent laws, regulations, policies and precedents of all facets of benefits for the homeless Veteran program available through the Medical Center and outside agencies, such as Social Security, HUD, SNAP and various utilities providers.
• Knowledge to determine the impact on the housing recovery goals and plans and related support resources to assist Veterans in getting additional support or care when required, as well as navigate the personalized health inventory, personalized health planning, in the community to support their personal health plans.
• Knowledge of VA rules and regulations regarding eligibility, enrollment, income assessment, and insurance for veterans' medical care in order to provide educational guidance to the Veteran.
• Knowledge of VA inpatient and outpatient programs and operations, admissions, scheduling, sharing agreements, and travel as well as knowledge of laws and regulations relating to the protection of the privacy of medical information.
• Must be familiar with the mission, organization and programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS), and the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program, and related community agencies.
• General knowledge of the problems faced by Veterans who are homeless or are faced with pending homelessness in order to arrange appropriate, situationally based housing and interventions, often on an emergency basis.
• Skill in the use of computer equipment and program equivalent to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. as well as VA proprietary programs such as VISTA and CPRS, etc, to input and obtain data, prepare reports, spreadsheets, and correspondence; enter and store workload statistics to accomplish program analysis.
• Ability to interpret, select and apply verbal and written instructions, guidelines, policy memorandums, etc., as well as the ability to gather, organize and compile factual material. Must be able to compile and summarize information and data, identify inaccuracies or anomalies in the information, and make written recommendations to resolve discrepancies based on interpretation of applicable regulations and procedures.
• Must have adequate typing skills to facilitate sufficient timely and efficient entry and retrieval of system data and documentation in the medical record.
• Must have knowledge of medical/psychiatric terminology, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and required formats to prepare correspondence and reports.
• Must have working knowledge of laws governing release of information activities, Privacy and Freedom of Information Acts, and HIPAA.
• Possess communication skills, both verbally and in writing, sufficient to converse and correspond with individuals and groups of varying cultural backgrounds, experiences, educational levels, in order to interview ad advocate for homeless Veterans.
• Ability to independently plan, coordinator, organize, prioritize and implement assigned tasks under strict deadlines and multiple changing priorities.

Physical Requirements: This is primarily a sedentary position, but the work requires some walking, bending, stooping, standing, stretching, and the carrying of moderately heavy objects. There will be regular, daily driving between the CRRC, VA Medical Center, CBOC's, and community agencies. Concentration and sustained performance under prolonged stress is required because of the time factors involved in completion of work assignments within deadlines. This position also requires frequent use of the hand-held telephone while accessing different computer systems or while writing.

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.

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
• 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 to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• PCS Orders
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

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.

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit Feds Hire Vets - Veterans - Job Seekers - Veterans' Preference.

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