Secretary (OA)

Summary This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration, Erie VA Medical Center, Office of the Director. This position will serve as the office manager and Executive Secretary to the Medical Center Director. Responsibilities Major duties include but are not limited to: Synchronizes daily office routine with those of the Quadrad (Medical Center Director, Associate Director, Chief of Staff, Associate Director for Patient Care Services). Ensures all appropriate correspondence and communications are shared and concurred upon. Stays abreast of all VISN and VACO protocol, templates, and reports, and will be responsible for tracking heads up and issue briefs submitted by the facility. Adheres to general office management practices and as necessary, developing processes and procedures to achieve maximum results. Determine what needs to be done, develop action plans to achieve positive results, and develop monitors to ensure on-going success. Reviews all correspondence addressed to the Director. Responsible for maintaining an effective suspense system to ensure actions are completed appropriately and submitted on time. Reviews and/or prepares correspondence for the signature of the Director. Instructs and assists secretaries on procedural matters such as the correct procedures to follow in preparing correspondence, the necessary routing of correspondence, etc. Develops responses to inquiries and administrative problems brought to the Executive Suite/Office of the Director by internal staff as well as external VHA, local health care entities, Commonwealth or Congressional officials, and veterans as needed. Responsible for control over, and management of, the Directors appointment schedule to ensure that no conflicts of commitments occur. Maintains the Directors electronic appointment calendar and independently makes all arrangements for recurring and one-time conferences and committee meetings conducted by the Director. Prepares agenda, gathers source materials, notifies all attendees of topics, coordinates meetings and ensures all equipment and space is properly handled after the meeting. Interacts with Executive Leadership members, Department Managers and clerical staff within VAMC, and with other top management government and private sector officials (i.e., VISN, VACO, Congressional Offices, Veterans National Service Organizations, Soldiers and Sailors Home, etc.) to provide liaison for projection of a positive and professional image of the Directors Office, and to encourage support for the V AMC goals and objectives Receives and discreetly screens all calls and visitors by using independent judgment in making appropriate disposition of calls and visits. Develops and administers an effective document filing system that allows for efficient identification and retrieval of filed documents. Reviews all correspondence received in the Executive Suite, and determines if replies are necessary. Coordinates all aspects of travel arrangements for the Director. Ensures all materials and references required are organized and readily available for the Director. Screens all publications, directives and periodicals and only refers appropriate documents to the Director. Distributes publications to appropriate functional components, as necessary. Responsible for maintaining an effective suspense system to ensure the medical center memorandums assigned to the Directors office are current. Ensures that routine and special reports are prepared and presented in an acceptable format. Ensures that data is gathered, assimilated and analyzed within timeframes to meet varying deadlines imposed by external entities. Effectively interacts with external computer databases to input, edit and retrieve data to generate reports for Director. Maintains electronic mail and electronic data records on external computer systems. Ensures that an effective time and attendance system is maintained for those under the direct supervision of the Medical Center Director. Monitors leave schedules to ensure adequate administrative/clerical coverage in the Office of the Director. Determines problem areas, develops review approaches, conducts studies of identified problem areas and implements solutions on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Executive Suite/Directors Office operations. Work Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:00-4:30pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/PD031320 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorzied 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) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) – See “Additional Information” below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/23/2024. 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-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. Proficiency Requirements: To qualify for this position, you must have a typing speed of at least 40 words per minute. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: 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: Perform secretarial and administrative duties for a large organization; Extensive work with various computer programs to perform duties including MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint; Independently planning and/or organizing activities of an office; Receive all correspondence; prepare travel arrangements; maintain schedule/calendar of a department or work space; Taking and preparing meeting minutes; Assisted with budget and financial programs in order to perform a range of financial functions assigned; Communicate orally and in writing with people from a wide variety of educational and socio-economic backgrounds. (Experience must be clearly demonstrated in your resume.) Preferred Experience: Computer skills, preparing agendas and minutes, answering phones, filing, preparing/editing correspondence, timekeeping responsibilities, and fund control point duties You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Clerical Customer Service Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Manages and Organizes Information Writing 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: Majority of duties are performed in the Executive Suite, with occasional meetings in various areas of the Medical Center. The incumbents work is mostly sedentary, however, some walking, standing, bending and carrying light items is required. Because of intensity of the Executive Suite activity, the incumbent is routinely subjected to high stress situations and sometimes requires him/her to stay after regular hours in order to complete necessary work. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Managements 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. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. 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. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicants 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.