Summary This position is in the Office of the Medical Director, located at the Fayetteville NC VA Coastal Healthcare System within VISN 6 Mid-Atlantic Healthcare Network. The incumbent serves as the Secretary (OA) for the Medical Center Director providing administrative support and coordinating the work of the Executive Office with the work of the subordinate services/offices associated. Responsibilities The duties include, but are not limited to the following: Screens callers/visitors by ascertaining name, affiliation, and purpose of call/visit, and based upon subject matter, determines whether matter should be referred to the AD or other appropriate staff members, or whether information can be supplied personally. Obtains needed background information before referring calls to supervisor, and uses independent judgment in referring, initiating, or disposing of inquiries and requests. Acts as liaison to other managers and staff within the organization and provides accurate advice on procedures, reports, requirements, and other matters necessary to implement the supervisor's policies, directives, and instructions. Receives and processes all correspondence and documents transmitted through the Light Electronic Action Framework (LEAF) Portal and the Executive Office for review, approval, and signature. Acts as a backup for EDMS and suspense actions in the absence of the primary administrative support assistant. Ensures correspondence conforms to regulations and special policies of the Medical Center, is in proper format, contains correct grammar, and if applicable. Composes and types, in final form, official correspondence such as personal acknowledgments, Congressional inquiries, and report transmittals, based on a knowledge of supervisor's views, desires, and past precedent cases; and from verbal instructions, prepares special reports, data, or correspondence using a personal computer with a wide variety of software. In the absence of the Director, the incumbent assumes responsibility for ensuring requests for action or information from the Executive Office are made known to the responsible personnel to satisfy the request. Establishes policies and procedures and provides guidance for subordinate clerical staff, conducts regular meetings with subordinate functional secretaries to advise them of required administrative changes, and plans and directs office procedures and formulates instructions for implementation of new office procedures. Takes notes and transcribes personal and telephone conversations; records, transcribes, and edits the minutes of various meetings (staff meetings, boards, and councils); prepares the minutes for distribution, singling out the action items; and follows up as required. Initiates personnel actions such as board actions, recruitment, appointments, promotions, special advancements, transfers, and separations, for personnel. Maintains competency folders and training files, and ensures appraisals, standards, etc., are done on a timely basis. Exercises control over supervisor's appointments with complete authority for commitments of time; establishing priorities at own discretion; setting up, rearranging, and when necessary, coordinating meetings with staff offices. Determines staff who should attend meetings or represent the organization at conferences. Such decisions are made based on knowledge of the supervisors' views on such issues. Arranges schedules of visits and transportation, prepares travel orders, arranges hotel reservations, equipment requirements, speaking topics, notifies organizations and officials to be visited; and submits travel vouchers. Maintains timecards for staff members under the Executive's time and leave codes and ensures accuracy and timeliness of postings. Functions as the ADP Coordinator for the service, which includes troubleshooting PC, telephone, and fax problems, and submits wort orders, as appropriate, for problems that employees cannot resolve. Sponsors employees for identification cards and appropriate access badges. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM (EST) Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: This position may be approved for Ad-Hoc Telework Only (ad-hoc is performed on an occasional, one-time, or irregular basis) as determined by agency policy, the discretion of the supervisor and the needs of the service line. Virtual/Remote: This is NOT a virtual/remote position Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/PD079590 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/16/2024. 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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. 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 specialized experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-08 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience is defined as clerical and administrative experience related to secretarial support for a large organization and/or in a large medical center setting. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: to organizes the work of an office and perform clerical and administrative duties; receives all correspondence; prepare travel arrangements; maintain executive schedule/calendar; meeting minutes; perform full range of secretarial and administrative duties. (Applicant's experience must be documented in detail on resume to receive full credit.) In addition to applicants meeting the specialized experience above, applicant must also meet the Typing Proficiency Requirements as described below: TYPING PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS: In addition to meeting experience requirements, applicants for these positions must show possession of the following skills, as appropriate. Applicants may meet these requirements by passing the appropriate performance test, presenting a certificate of proficiency from a school or other organization authorized to issue such certificates by the Office of Personnel Management local office, or by self-certifying their proficiency. Performance test results and certificates of proficiency are acceptable for 3 years. Agencies may verify proficiency skills of self-certified applicants by administering the appropriate performance test. Applicants must have experience and skill utilizing various types of office automation software (i.e., Microsoft Word and/or Excel) and a typing proficiency of at least 40 words per minute. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Clerical Computer Skills Customer Service Planning and Evaluating Reasoning 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: The work is basically sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. Work Environment: The work environment is in a typical office setting. The environment involves everyday risks or discomforts and requires normal safety precautions typical of such places as meeting and training rooms, libraries. or commercial vehicles. The work-area is adequately lighted, heated, 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 the GS-09 grade level for this position. Additional Information Receiving Service Credit or 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. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. 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. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.