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: You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required 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/.
- Differentiating Independent Practice from Advanced Practice Level. Experience must be evaluated to differentiate between independent practice and advanced practice levels. A social worker practicing at the independent level has a generalized knowledge of practice, (which is required for all social workers at the full performance level and above.), whereas the social worker practicing at the advanced level has specialized knowledge of practice typically related to a particular diagnosis or patient population. The advanced practice social worker can be further differentiated from the independent practice social worker by their ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced social workers, develop innovations in practice interventions, and provide clinical supervision for social work licensure or certification. A social worker with advanced practice skills and personal qualifications that meet the standard for the senior social worker will have passed an advanced generalist or clinical Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) examination and be assigned to a position that requires use of the advanced practice skills in order to be considered for the senior social worker grade.
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).
Grandfather Provision. A Social Worker employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (9/10/2019) who did not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:
1. Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
2. Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/ registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/ certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.
3. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
4. Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.
5. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
Grade Determinations:
Supervisory Social Worker, GS-12
Licensure Requirement: You must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
Experience Requirement: You must possess one year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment.
Examples of specialized experience at the GS-11 include, but are not limited to: assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and/or intimate partner violence; use of clinical social work skills; maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives; acting as an advocate with appropriate community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the patient and family members/caregiver; independently assessing the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members, identifying the patient's strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and psychosocial acuity.
In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
- Knowledge of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
- Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services.
- Ability to provide staff training and development.
- Skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees, team leaders, and managers.
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 work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, training rooms, and libraries. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The incumbent must also work outdoors in all types of weather. There may be occasional exposure to moderate risks or discomforts in storage areas or hazardous waste sites.
The work is primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required, e.g., walking, standing, climbing ladders, stooping, kneeling, and carrying light items such as manuals or briefcases, or driving or traveling by motor vehicle.
Job entails the ability to have active listening, reading, observing and evaluating verbal and non verbal behavior; walking, speaking, writing clinical notes, writing and reading policies and procedures, using office equipment such as computers, telephones, fax machines, copy machines and cell phones.