Summary
This position is situated under the Office of the Director at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio and provides significantly sensitive and complicated administrative and coordination assignments in support of both the Chief of Staff (COS), Deputy COS and the Executive Assistant to the COS, as well as provides support to the subordinate staff.
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Duties
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Duties include:
- Prepare memoranda, letters, reports, and other documents.
- Route documents for approval and track to completion.
- Print, copy, fax, order supplies, and initiate work orders.
- Prepare travel arrangements for executive office.
- Manage calendar to include scheduling/rescheduling appointments and resolving scheduling conflicts.
- Manage correspondence for the department and coordinate responses on its behalf.
- Maintain office files.
- Track items through appropriate channels for timely submission.
- Answer telephone calls and route messages as appropriate
- Handle customer related issues with tact and diplomacy.
- Notify appropriate leadership and responsible parties of impending suspense dates.
- Provides general office support services such as obtaining handling service-/office level purchases through the purchase card program, procurement activities associated with office equipment, supplies and services, or answering questions concerning policies and procedures related to office services.
- Composes and prepares, in final form, timely replies to internal and external communications, ensuring procedural and grammatical accuracy and completeness.
- Coordinates the submittal of information from subordinate offices, reviews reports or outgoing correspondence for proper attachments, and monitors deadlines.
Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.
Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm.
Telework: This position is authorized for AD-Hoc Telework only.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/PD929460 and PD928330
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved.
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
Requirements
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Conditions of employment
- You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
- To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
- Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
- Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
- 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 identification 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, 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, 08/11/2026.
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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. For a GS-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07.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:
For the GS-07 Grade Level:
- Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience in performing clerical/administrative duties in an office environment; answering and directing phone calls; receiving visitors; preparing correspondence; maintaining files/records; scheduling and managing a calendar of appointments; using computer-based programs essential to coordinate all aspects of the position such as Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Adobe Acrobat, skill in word processing, editing, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and proper formatting to recognize and correct errors in material being typed or reviewed and organizes work, sets priorities, and determines resource requirements.
For the GS-08 Grade Level:
- Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience using programs, mission, goals, priorities and policies within the Federal Government; experience in an executive office and managing the time of high level executives in order to support senior leadership and facilitate timely and accurate work flow; experience in using personal computers and software packages to develop, prepare, and submit written reports, analyses, memorandum, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.; works/or independently or as a member of a team in order to coordinate work accomplishment; skill to effectively communicate both orally and in writing in order to provide information and instructions to coordinate work, and to meet and deal with various levels within the medical center, VISN, VACO, other agencies and non-Federal callers and visitors, and determines short or long term goals and strategies to achieve them.
Physical Demands: Work is primarily sedentary in nature. However, there may be some walking; bending; stooping and light lifting.
Work Environment: The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts which require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, meeting and training rooms or other hospital areas. Majority of work is in an office setting. The work area is adequately heated, cooled, and ventilated.
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/.
Education
There is no educational substitution at this grade level.
Additional information
The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act (or the Act) prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from requesting applicant criminal history record information before extending a conditional or tentative offer of employment. In accordance with 5 U.S.C § 9202(c) and 5 C.F.R § 920.201 certain positions are exempt from the provisions of the Act. Applicants who believe they have been subjected to a violation of the Act, may submit a written complaint within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged non-compliance to VA at vacofairchanceact@va.gov. Applicant written complaints should include the following:
- Administration name: Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
- Office name, employee name and contact information or contractor who made contact (if known).
- Date of contact.
- Details regarding the job opportunity announcement applied to, and copies of any documents or other evidence related to the complaint.
- Visit Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) for more information.
Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.
Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.
Benefits
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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
