Summary This position is located at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 5, Health Services Area (HSA) 5.2 and serves VA Northern California Health Care System (VANCHCS). VANCHCS is the 8th largest VA Health Care System in the country serving VISN 5. The VANCHCS is a Level 1a complexity healthcare system and ranks among a complex system in the Veterans Affairs serving VISN 5, HSA 5.2. Duties This position is organizationally located in Nursing Service and reports to the Supervisory Administrative Officer, Nursing Service/Associate Director for Patient Care Services (ADPCS), with a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Nurse Manager, Patient Flow. The position is nonsupervisory and has no direct reports.
The primary purpose of the position is to provide specialized administrative and program support to the Patient Flow team within Nursing Service. The incumbent performs continuing support functions associated with Patient Flow, Staffing Methodology, staffing variance monitoring, Nursing Service recruitment support, education and training coordination, and related administrative processes. The duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
- Regularly reviews and audits Patient Flow information for completeness, accuracy, and consistency and identifies missing, inconsistent, or potentially inaccurate information affecting the reliability of Patient Flow reports and administrative processes.
- Organizes, maintains, and compiles staffing-related information needed by Patient Flow
and Nursing Service leadership and responds to requests for information within the scope
of assigned responsibility.
- Prepares or assists in preparing meeting materials; records accurate and detailed minutes; identifies administrative action items arising from meetings; maintains appropriate tracking mechanisms; and follows up with responsible parties concerning outstanding actions and established due dates.
- Maintains, retrieves, reviews, and updates administrative and operational information into various system used in support of Patient Flow and Nursing Service activities.
- Monitors staffing information across nursing units, reviews available data for discrepancies or changes requiring attention, and communicates relevant information to the Nurse Manager, Patient Flow; Chief Nurses; Nursing Supervisors; Nurse Managers; and other appropriate Nursing Service officials.
- Maintains administrative records associated with assigned education, training, and program activities and follows up on incomplete actions or outstanding requirements.
- Provides individual or group instruction, as appropriate, concerning established processes and assists users in understanding system requirements and procedures.
- Coordinates follow-up on identified administrative discrepancies and obtains or verifies information needed to maintain accurate staffing records and supports timely staffing decisions by responsible Nursing leadership.
- Provides status information on outstanding administrative actions to the Nurse Manager, Patient Flow, Supervisory Administrative Officer, or other appropriate officials.
Preferred Experience: At least one year of experience, preferably working with a the Patient Flow Unit, or using information systems such as Bed Management System (BMS), Emergency Department Integration Software (EDIS).
Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 08:00am - 04:30pm
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Program Support Assistant/PD035200
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/06/2026.
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-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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 experience and/or educationas described below:
- Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-06 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Regularly reviews and audits Patient Flow information for completeness, accuracy, and consistency and identifies missing, inconsistent, or potentially inaccurate information affecting the reliability of Patient Flow reports and administrative processes, Organizes, maintains, and compiles staffing-related information needed by Patient Flow and Nursing Service leadership and responds to requests for information within the scope of assigned responsibility, Prepares or assists in preparing meeting materials; records accurate and detailed minutes; identifies administrative action items arising from meetings; maintains appropriate tracking mechanisms; and follows up with responsible parties concerning outstanding actions and established due dates, Monitors staffing information across nursing units, reviews available data for discrepancies or changes requiring attention, and communicates relevant information to the Nurse Manager, Patient Flow; Chief Nurses; Nursing Supervisors; Nurse Managers; and other appropriate Nursing Service officials. This experience must be well documented in your resume or application package.
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
- Attention to Detail
- Data Management
- Communications
Preferred Experience: At least one year of experience, preferably working with a the Patient Flow Unit, or using information systems such as Bed Management System (BMS), Emergency Department Integration Software (EDIS).
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 primarily sedentary. Some assignments require walking between offices or work areas, stair climbing, bending, stooping, and carrying lightweight files, documents, or similar materials.
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 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/.
Requirements
- You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
- All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
- Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
- Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Some assignments require walking between offices or work areas, stair climbing, bending, stooping, and carrying lightweight files, documents, or similar materials.
- Subject to background/security investigation
- Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
- Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:
- your performance and conduct;
- the needs and interests of the agency;
- whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
- whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.
Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.How you will be evaluated IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.
Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.
The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.
For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.
Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.
It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.
Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.How to apply All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 11/06/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13100419.
- To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
- Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package.
NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.
Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.
Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.
Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.
Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume:
- Prioritize most relevant and recent experience
- Use concise, results focused language
- Align language from the job announcement
- Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies
- Remove outdated or unrelated experience
- Use the USAJOBS resume builder
Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at:
- https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit
- https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/
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/.
During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.Other information Receiving Service Credit for 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.
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.
Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's 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.