Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist (VRS)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement 05/07/2024.

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.

For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level.
For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level.

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. These requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement and those applying for a Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

If you are a current VBA employee seeking reassignment or change to lower grade via this vacancy announcement, you must currently hold the GS-09 (or higher) and the promotion potential of your current position must be at least GS-11.

The Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist series requires that all applicants meet both the Basic Requirement per the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) AND the Specialized Experiencedescribed below:

Individual Occupational Requirements

Education
Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position.

**NOTE: ALL TRANSCRIPTS MUST HAVE A CONFERRED DATE**

OR

Experience

Specialized Experience: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-09 Grade Level:

• Specialized Experience: To qualify, applicants 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. Specialized experience is defined as experience in rehabilitation, counseling, disability, therapy, health, employment, wellness or human development theory and principles; experience in career development process and career development theory, OR
• Education Substitution: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree: Major study - vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position, or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 1 full year of graduate level education

GS-11 Grade Level:

• 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. Specialized experience is defined as experience in rehabilitation, counseling, disability, therapy, health, employment, wellness or human development theory and principles; knowledge of rehabilitation counseling skills, techniques and resources needed to work with Veterans with multiple disabilities, homebound veterans, veterans with acute or chronic mental disabilities and those with problems adjusting to social and occupational requirements. 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: Major study - vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position, or 3 full years of progressively higher- level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related. OR,
• Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond 2 full years of graduate level education.

Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information.