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Veterans Health Administration is Hiring a Rehabilitation Technician -Recruitment Incentive Authorized Near Des Moines, IA

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/10/2024.

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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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 and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. The specialized experience is defined as experience that involved the observation of and assistance in the application of techniques relating to behavior, capacities, traits, interests, and activities of either humans or, under laboratory conditions, animals. Experience may have been gained in connection with a program of research or direct services in psychology that gave a practical understanding of some of the principles, methods, and techniques of psychology needed to assist professional psychologists. This also includes experience working with those with mental health and substance abuse disorders. OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study in or at least 24 semester hours in any combination of subject studies such as psychology, statistics, or other directly related subjects. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree in the course studies listed above. (Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to l year of specialized experience.)

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

• Influencing/Negotiating
• Interpersonal Skills
• Quality Assurance
• Technical Documentation

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.

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

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/.

Responsibilities:

Major duties and responsibilities of this position are, but not limited to:

• Develops and maintains a therapeutic, professional, helping relationship with residents admitted to the Domiciliary.
• Provides orientation to new residents by explaining Domiciliary policies/procedures, treatment expectations and goals.
• Interviews each resident to assess skills, needs, associated activities of daily living, leisure and work interests, personal hygiene, interpersonal communication, etc.
• Maintains close contact with residents to ensure that their behavior and social adjustments are satisfactory.
• Oversees assigned Domiciliary floor comprising of 16-24 residents, per floor.
• Provides individual counseling as needed, applying past experience and knowledge of problems.
• Appropriately identifies or resolves residents problems or refers them to staff with specific clinical expertise.
• Makes self accessible to residents and serves as a role model for appropriate behavior.
• Provides crisis intervention in situations of a medical, psychiatric and/or behavioral nature. Utilizing high degree of independent judgment, promptly assesses the situation and initiates appropriate action to secure medical care or police assistance.
• Monitors Veterans in the area of substance use by obtaining UAs and breathalyzers per unit policy.
• Monitors Veterans for signs and symptoms of substance abuse and/or withdrawal from substances and initiates appropriate action to secure medical, clinical and police assistance as needed per policy.
• Routinely tours the domiciliary unit to ensure a safe and therapeutic environment conducive to recovery of Veterans. Notes building issues in area of cleanliness, repair needs and security issues and follow procedures for notification of EMS, Engineering and Safety per domiciliary policy.
• Performs regular administrative functions, e.g. processes residents for admit clearance, completes entries in cardex and shift report, completes progress notes.

Work Schedule: Full Time, may vary as 7:30am-4:00pm, 3:30pm-midnight, or midnight-8:00am. Will be expected to work rotating weekends and holidays. Work schedules will be discussed during the interview process.
Telework: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Recruitment Incentive: Authorized for highly qualified candidates
Position Description/PD#: Rehabilitation Technician/PD30165A
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Bargaining Unit Position: Yes, AFGE/1272

Job Summary