Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Full Job Description

The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist is responsible for the ongoing orientation and training of the Homeless Services continuum in order to connect Veterans to the most appropriate and and least restrictive VA and/or community-based employment services.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/08/2026.

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-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. 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.

Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR).

You must possess education or experience as follows: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position.

OR Experience: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: 1.) Work that required obtaining and applying occupational information for people with disabilities, knowledge of the interrelationships of the involved professional and specialist services, and skill in employing the methodology and techniques of counseling to motivate and encourage individuals served by the program.

2.) Experience that demonstrated knowledge of the vocational rehabilitation problems characteristic of the disabled, including familiarity with available resources and skill in identifying, evaluating, and making effective use of such resources to serve individuals with disabilities; or of the disadvantaged, including knowledge of adjustment problems of the educationally or culturally disadvantaged, familiarity with available adult education and training resources, and ability to recognize problem areas needing special attention.

3.) Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems.

In addition to the individual occupation requirements listed above, you must also have: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Conducted independent vocational assessments and developed individualized vocational rehabilitation plans for Veterans with mental illness, substance use disorders, physical disabilities, and homelessness; Provided community-based vocational rehabilitation services, including job development, job search assistance, and employment support for Veterans.

OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a Ph.D.

or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree.

OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education as described above.

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/.

Major Duties:

Duties include but are not limited to: Provides information, pre-employment assessment and workforce re-entry planning services, linkage, and coordination for VA and non-VA services and community-based follow-up services to integrate Veterans into the community through competitive employment.

Provides guidance and training to all homeless programs across the VAMC on resources that enhance and result in competitive employment outcomes for Veterans, in particular those who are homeless or have other barriers to employment.

Works with local staff in developing templates for concise, individualized Veteran centered assessments to determine the needed intensity level of employment services for homeless Veterans.

Leads efforts to establish a local employment collaborative which includes VA and Non-VA members and community-based employers, and documents access points, requirements for participation and points of contact as indicated.

Coordinates with homeless, Compensated Work Therapy Program and community program managers on rapid access and placement strategies for Veterans that reduce barriers to employment and identify appropriate resources to sustain outcomes.

Conducts bi-monthly conference calls with all the members of the local employment collaborative serving Veterans and resolves barriers to rapid job placement.

Develops and maintains a database on referral and placement outcomes and provide feedback to the collaborative members as well as national homeless leadership.

Provides feedback to the homeless program staff and VAMC leadership on system resources, strengths, accomplishments, challenges and recommended corrective actions on a quarterly basis.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm Telework: Ad-hoc telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Position Description/PD#: Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist/PD090230 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved