Social Services Assistant

Summary

This position works for the Community Housing and Outreach Services (CHOS) Program within Social Work Service for the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. The VA Puget Sound Health Care System is a multi-site medical center that includes a major-medical facility in Seattle, WA, outpatient and residential facilities at the American Lake division in Tacoma, WA and seven Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC's) spread throughout the Puget Sound area.

Duties

The position serves five primary purposes: to provide administrative support to over 120 staff members of varying professional disciplines and trainees who comprise the Community Housing and Outreach Services (CHOS) Program within Social Work Service, to assess Veterans' needs and triage to the appropriate program/department or Social Worker, provide direct intervention with Veterans and families who have psychosocial needs, maintain networks with other services and community providers to ensure optimal, up-to-date resources are available to Veterans and their families, and to provide outreach and education in the community regarding VA homeless Veteran services, including to returning combat military personnel and Veterans. Duties may include, but are not limited to: Make an assessment of Veteran needs, identify problems, inform them of the VA services or benefits available. Provide supportive counseling, refer Veterans to appropriate programs and resources. Assist Veterans in linking up with a Social Worker or housing program that can be of most assistance. Perform a wide range of functions involving the review, analysis and evaluation of the full range of services (functions) provided within this program; Performing consults, referrals and performance measures, Providing professional support in the analysis, evaluation, and presentation of information and data pertaining to the delivery of CHOS services; Conducting reviews and providing data pertaining to a wide range of activities associated with the delivery of CHOS services identifying trends, patterns, and other characteristics in data that may provide opportunities for enhancements in policies, procedures, practices and other operation activities to improve on the delivery of CHOS services. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 8am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: May be authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Social Services Assistant/PD41378A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved 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, 11/12/2026. 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. This occupational series (0186) has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR). An IOR is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for the Social Services occupational series. All applicants, regardless of grade level, must meet the specialized experience requirements. Applicants must meet one of the following requirement. Have experience working in Social Services. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Group leader in community or residential recreation or training programs. Counselor in a youth summer camp. Instructor in a training program for the development of job skills. Work that demonstrated the ability to be responsible for and to lead and train members of a job crew. Group activities leader in the Armed Services. Unit leader-monitor-proctor for a dormitory group in a boarding school or other residential facility. Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff in such fields as personnel (private or government), employment guidance in a vocational or academic institution, social service, or manpower development. Aid or assistant to professional or associate staff engaged in work of a social services nature in private, public welfare, government program, or community organizations, or in voluntary activities. Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff working with individuals who are addicted to or abuse alcohol and/or drugs. AND In addition to meeting the Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) this position has specific Specialized Experience or Education that is also required. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as 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: Experience with providing customer service; Experience with using computer skills on a variety of software programs, including MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, VISTA, MS Outlook; Experience with creating and maintaining various spreadsheets and data bases for program support; Experience with recognizing and responding appropriately to deviations from normal behavior; Experience with assisting in evaluating mental health clients to determine required services. OR, Education (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed one (1) year of graduate education that it is directly related to the work of the position. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. 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

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. 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/.