← All jobs

Other

Employment Specialist

Veterans Benefits AdministrationLocation Negotiable After Selection

About this role

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/03/2026. 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. 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.

For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 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. 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. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-09 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-07). Specialized experience is defined as experience recruiting candidates with disabilities for a hiring firm or organization; or experience providing employment assistance duties for a non-profit or community organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Recruiting for/placing candidates for a hiring firm or large corporation; Employment assistance duties for a non-profit or community organizations Human Resources experience in staffing, employee relations or reemployment assistance OR Education Substitution: Master's or equivalent graduate degree (including LL.B. or J.D. if related) or two full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree and which demonstrates the competencies necessary to do the work.

GS-11 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-09). Specialized experience is defined as experience working with individuals with disabilities and providing individuals with work experiences, internships, or volunteer experiences related to overall employment goal. The experience may have been gained in the federal, military, or private sector.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Employment assistance duties for state or federal vocational rehabilitation offices; Account management/liaison for staffing or employment firms in the public or private sector; Federal Human Resources experience in staffing, ,employee relations or reemployment assistance OR Education Substitution: Ph.D or equivalent doctoral degree or at least 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related.

OR Combination: A combination of specialized experience as described in A, and more than two years but less than three years of education as described (To compute the percentage, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. NON-QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE: Vocational rehabilitation experience obtained prior to completion of the requirements for the master's degree is not qualifying.

If one year of work experience is credited for the Basic Requirement, that year cannot also be used for qualifying at the GS-11 level. GS-12 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-11). Specialized experience is defined as experience involving coordination of federal, private and public hiring authorities, working with veterans with disabilities to access veteran's employment goals and aligning them to the employment track that best meets their needs.

The experience may have been gained in the federal, military, or private sector. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Human Resources experience in the Department of Veterans Affairs or Veterans Service Organization that involves staffing and/or employment law; Employment coordination duties for private, public or government entities that involve coordinating targeted outreach at various career fairs, jobs clubs, and/or job labs.

There is no education substitution at the GS-12 grade level. 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. Volunteer Experience: 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.

Physical Requirements: The purpose of the contacts is to serve as an advocate for the employment of job-ready disabled veterans, influence potential employers to hire job-ready disabled veterans, assist qualified veterans in obtaining and retaining suitable employment, conduct work-site analysis to ensure work area is conducive to the. job-ready disabled veteran or encourage the employer to implement "reasonable accommodations", and assist case managers with the development of potential job alternative for job-ready disabled veterans.

The employee may encounter resistance due to organizational conflict with other VR&E staff, competing resources, or employers who may have doubts about the value of hiring disabled veterans and about the Employment Coordinator as a workforce consultant. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Source listing: usajobs