Clarification from the agency

This job is open to current permanent employees of the facility/CBOCs where this vacancy is located: Central Arkansas Veteran Healthcare System NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties of the Supervisory Clinical Laboratory Specialist include, but are not limited to:

• Develops methods for achieving work goals, objectives, and management strategies.
• Day-to-day supervision of highly complex test performance.
• Monitors test analyses and specimen examinations to ensure acceptable levels of performance.
• Assures corrective action is initiated when test performance deviates from established performance specifications.
• Implements and monitors quality management activities.
• Manages document control, develops performance standards, position descriptions, and functional statements and is responsible for technical and administrative management of an assigned area including budget execution.
• Interacts with administrative and clinical onsite personnel and exercises significant independent decision-making authority.
• Maintains effective interdisciplinary and interprofessional relations with other services to accomplish medical center goals.
• Rotates through multiple departments in the laboratory.
• Maintains and updates technical policies and procedure manuals.
• Ensures compliance with accrediting agencies and regulatory requirements and establishes and monitors the quality of pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical processes, initiating corrective actions as needed as part of the overall laboratory quality management program.
• Plans and executes performance and quality improvement projects.
• Performs a full range of supervisory duties including, but not limited to:
  • Plans and schedules on-going work.
  • Assures orientation, training, and competency assessment of staff.
  • Recommends appointments, awards, advancement, and disciplinary actions.
  • Ensures all staff and affiliate staff comply with accrediting and regulating bodies.
  • Adjusts staffing levels or work procedures to accommodate resource allocation decisions made at the executive level.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00am-3:30pm, with weekends and holidays, subject to change based on the needs of the facility.
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact Lashala.Goodman@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
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: Ad-hoc only
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 598-01160F
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 examination.
• 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.
• Must be able to independently operate Government Vehicle.
• Must provide clean driving record report from the DMV during the pre-employment process.
  

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

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. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7403 (f).
• Education. A bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university.
• Certification. (1) Candidates must meet one of the certification options below.
  • Generalist certification as an MLS given by ASCP BOC or AMT.
  • Generalist certification as an MT given by ASCP BOR or AMT.
  • Categorical certification or Specialist certification by ASCP or AMT.

NOTE: Categorical and specialist certifications are not acceptable for CLS Generalist positions or lab sections unrelated to the categorical or specialist certification held. Categorical or specialist certifications are acceptable for higher-graded positions within the relevant lab section or one of the non-section specific assignments (including, Ancillary Testing Coordinator, Education Coordinator, Laboratory Information Manager, Quality Manager, Laboratory Manager, Regional Technical Specialist, National Quality and Compliance Agent, Regional Program Manager, Regional Director, Laboratory Director, or National Quality and Compliance Officer).

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Grade Determinations:

Supervisory Clinical Laboratory Scientist, GS-13

Experience. 1 year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level is required for all GS-13 assignments.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:
(A) Knowledge of Federal and state laws and regulations, laboratory accrediting, and regulatory requirements to develop new policies and guidelines, formulate plans, and judge effectiveness of the operation.
(B) Knowledge of laboratory quality management procedures and principles sufficient to establish and monitor a laboratory quality management program and/or the education and training of laboratory staff.
(C) Skill in interpersonal relations and conflict resolution.
(D) Ability to provide the full range of supervisory duties, which includes responsibility for assignment of work to be performed, performance evaluations, selection of staff, recommendation of awards, advancements, and disciplinary actions.
(E) Ability to analyze organizational, technical, and administrative problems to develop and implement solutions that result in efficient laboratory operation.
(F) Ability to manage fiscal matters, forecast resource and equipment needs, and administer the allocated budget.
(G) Ability to set short and/or long-term goals for the section and conduct studies on technical and administrative problems including personnel shortages, organizational structure, and new technology.

Preferred Experience: Experience working with the current CBOC laboratory instrumentation.

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-13.

Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, puling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment.

Work Environment: Work is performed in an office/clinic setting with minimal risks that requires normal safety precautions; the area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. However, the work environment requires someone with the ability to handle several tasks at once in sometimes stressful situations.

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:

• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

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.

Resume Requirement: Your resume must include the following information: Job title, description of duties, beginning and ending date (month/year) of employment, and average hours worked per week.

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee

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.

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
• CV/Resume
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.

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