Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
• Education
• Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
• Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited
• A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work
• Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work
• Licensure
• Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level
• Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/
• English Language Proficiency
• Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f)
• May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria)
• Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• GS-13 Program Coordinator Experience/Education
• You must possess one year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level
• Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to: Having significant personnel management responsibilities for a small to moderate sized professional and non-professional staff, including support staff and professional staff at the GS-12 grade level (or equivalent) and below
• responsible for the professional and administrative management of an area in a social work service, in a care/product line, or multiple facilities
• providing direct clinical services with or without program coordination responsibilities
• Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment
• Licensure/Certification
• You must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure
• In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs
• Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines
• Skill in a range of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement
• Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services by supervised social workers
• Ability to delegate authority, manage priorities, coordinate work, and follow up on pending issues to complete duties in an accurate and timely fashion
• Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems, develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the service
• Ability to provide staff training and development
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13
• The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-13
• Physical Requirements: No special physical qualifications are required to perform the work
• The work requires the ability to move around the office and facility
• See VA Handbook 5019.