Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
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 to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).
- Education: Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
- Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.
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: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates.
Supervisory Social Worker, GS-13
- Experience/Education: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.
- Licensure/Certification: Individuals assigned as supervisory social workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
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:
- Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
- Skill in a range of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
- Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services by supervised social workers.
- Ability to delegate authority, manage priorities, coordinate work, and follow up on pending issues to complete duties in an accurate and timely fashion.
- Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems, develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the service.
- Ability to provide staff training and development.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit
https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
Preferred Experience: Knowledge of social work research concerns, health services research, peer review processes, experience in the preparation of study proposals meeting the guidelines of various funding agencies and preparing and managing research project budgets. Prefer previous experience as a Contracting Officer Representative (COR) Level 1. Prefer previous experience in in completing evaluations for contracts, submitting new and renewal acquisition packages, and collaborating with Contracting officer (s). In addition, previous experience in understanding payment processing is preferred. Anything about years experience as a supervisor, ability to manage and delegate work assignments, understanding of VA VERA and managing staff workload and productivity, training and experience of lean six sigma and preferred experience at a minimum of yellow belt level with successful projects, experience with Veteran geriatric population and addressing their unique needs regarding independent living to long term care, experience in building and maintaining positive professional relationships with internal and external stakeholders, demonstration of ability to work with staff at all levels and management/facilitate meetings, understanding and experience with data and managing by use of data.
Physical Requirements: Able to meet the physical demands of the position which would be light lifting/carrying/pushing/pulling, continuous to limited sitting, standing, walking, bending or stooping. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. They must have good manual dexterity. Must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of spoken and written word. Must be able to view and read information on computer screens. Day-to-day work involves driving, sitting, walking, standing and carrying light objects. Must have good manual dexterity. Must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of spoken and written word. Must be able to view and read information on computer screens. Work is typically performed in a solitary clinical setting that is not fully known or controllable, exposing the Supervisory Social Worker to communicable diseases and behavioral problems of the client population. The Supervisory Social Worker is required to drive and/or travel using personal vehicle or government vehicle to other sites of care within the NF/SG VHS, as well as, to community partners, as necessary to accomplish work assigned. Travel will be for long periods of time, up to three hours each way. Travel is expected at least 20% of work week. North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System is a very large level 1a facility serving approximately 138,000 unique Veteran each year at two VA Medical Centers (VAMCs), three large Outpatient Clinics (OPCs) and nine Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs).