Program Support Assistant

This position is organizationally aligned to the Caregiver Support Program, Social Work Service, at a John J. Pershing VA Medical Center. The primary duties of the Program Support Assistant (PSA) are program development, assist with data collection, analysis of trends, and implementation of best practices. This position will be under the supervision of the Caregiver Support Program Manager.

**Qualifications:**
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 04/20/2026. 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-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. For a GS-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. 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. Preferred Experience: 2 years of clerical/admin support in an office setting with additional emphasis in a mental health or social work environment or duties. To qualify for this position at the GS-6 level, you must meet the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to: Knowledge of office administration and systems development to prioritize work assigned, track and direct the flow of referrals, provide information to customers in a timely manner, and organize program information for easy accessibility and retrieval. Knowledge of departmental and agency programs, regulations, policies, organizational structure, and procedures to carry out fact-finding, analysis, and evaluation functions. General knowledge of VA and community resources and services as appropriate. Knowledge and skills to operate a variety of standard office and VA computer programs and databases to gather, analyze and display data utilizing templates, graphics, and spreadsheets. Experience utilizing office automation systems and word processing the Microsoft Office suite of products (Excel, Power Point, Access, Word, SharePoint etc.). Experience with VA Vista system and CPRS. To qualify for this position at the GS-7 level, you must meet the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of office administration and systems development to prioritize work assigned, track and direct the flow of referrals, provide information to customers in a timely manner, and organize program information for easy accessibility and retrieval. Knowledge of departmental and agency programs, regulations, policies, organizational structure, and procedures to carry out fact-finding, analysis, and evaluation functions. Practical knowledge of Caregiver Support Programs structure as it relates to the agency's mission. General knowledge of VA and community resources and services as appropriate. Knowledge of and ability to perform data validation and understanding of its relation to the operations, workload statistics, planning, and decisions of the medical centers and VISN. Knowledge of program goals and desired outcomes to analyze problems, assess alternatives and make clear, well-defined recommendations. Working knowledge of the work processes and procedures of an administrative field (e.g., office administration, travel, agreements, human resources) to assist supervisor and program coordinators in achieving goals of the programs, including disseminating information to caregivers, obtaining equipment and materials necessary for Outreach Events and Support Groups, etc. 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/.