Program Specialist

Summary

The incumbent serves as a Program Specialist within the Chief of Staff's office at the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Health Care System and is responsible for coordinating, developing, and directing the Facility Physician Recruitment Program.

Duties

Major duties for this position may include (but are not limited to): Explain recruitment/relocation incentives, Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), credentialing and privileging, as well as the stage of the recruitment process with prospective physician hires. Serves as the subject matter expert in recruitment and placement of Title 38 Physicians for all clinical services. Develop outreach techniques to locate qualified and diversified candidates for hard to fill physician positions. Coordinate with multiple services related to the onboarding process for new employees to include suitability, pre-employment physical examination, and credentialing and privileging. Serve as a liaison to local Universities and Colleges to ensure continued receipt of communication with qualified applicants. Develop and utilize multiple advertising and face-to-face methods to draw interest to the facility from qualified physician applicants. Advises and trains managers on recruitment strategies, sources of recruitment, and special recruitment programs. Coordinates with department leadership to identify and recommend appropriate recruitment incentives for key positions when needed. Develops and implements branding techniques and materials to entice interest while conforming naturally with current VA branding and marketing tools. Collaborates with the public affairs department to develop a marketing campaign designed to attract highly qualified individuals that may not initially be interested in relocating. Serves as a local facility expert for non-citizen and VISA eligibility for recruitment, as well as applicable standards and procedures for these types of appointments. Maintains routine contact with human resources, VISN, VACO, and other agencies to clarify and discuss issues related to the recruitment and placement of physicians. Analyzes trends and forecasts changes in workforce requirements and prepares reports and recommendations for improvement of the recruitment process. Develops a tracking system for biennial pay to ensure biennials are routed for processing within appropriate timeframes. Manages and/or prepares reports and coordinates the establishment and tracking of HR metrics, and reports these metrics regularly to hospital leadership. Coordinates the development of pay for performance standards with the hospital Chief of Staff, and tracks/reports the completion and improvement of these standards to hospital executive leadership. Performs other necessary duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30AM-4:00PM Telework: This position may be authorized for some AD-HOC only telework opportunities. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Program Specialist/PD110110 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/07/2026. 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 GS12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS11. 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 as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Communicating effectively with a wide range of customers, staff, and leadership at local, VISN, and National levels using written, oral, email, and presentation methods. Coordinating projects and tasks with multiple departments and staff. Reviewing processes and applying analytical and evaluative methods to develop plans of corrective action where needs for improvement exist. Possesses a thorough knowledge of Human Resources policies, law, and regulations related to recruitment. Physical Requirements: Work involves sitting at a desk and attending conferences/meetings. Some physical demands may evolve from stressful and protracted negotiations as the liaison with all services. Regular work is performed in a work environment that involves nominal everyday low risks. 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.