Secretary (OA)
What you'd do
The position is at the full performance level located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in the Anesthesiology Service. The primary purpose of the position is to perform duties to assist the Chief of the Anesthesiology Service by performing general office work auxiliary to the work of the organization.
Major duties
Duties include preparing correspondence and reports using office automation, screening calls and visitors, and directing them appropriately. Review all incoming correspondence, publications, regulations, and directives affecting the Anesthesiology Service, determining what requires personal action or referral. Use initiative to clarify information when needed. Assist Anesthesiology Service staff and clerks with vague instructions, brief the Chief on activities, and monitor deadlines. Prepare and review reports, memos, and correspondence for signatures, ensuring proper format, content, and compliance with policies. Handle technical correspondence with medical terminology. Maintain and update files, manuals, and procedures related to the Anesthesiology Service, ensuring timely follow-up on reports and responses. Record minutes for meetings chaired by the Chief or Assistant Chiefs and distribute them to relevant personnel. Train and support Anesthesiology Service secretaries, clerks, students, and volunteers in proper procedures and report writing. Oversee all word processing activities, conduct training, and provide ongoing technical assistance. Manage the Chief's calendar, schedule appointments and meetings, and prepare background materials. Arrange travel logistics and compile related reports. Serve as backup timekeeper, entering leave data, monitoring overtime, leave, and absences to ensure VA policy compliance, and escalate issues as needed. Requisition supplies, equipment, and publications, coordinate maintenance requests, and manage key distribution for staff. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30 am to 3:30 pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Secretary (OA)/PD10471O Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/04/2026. 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. Non GS applicants with one year of specialized experience equivalent to a GS-05 mentioned in this announcement are encouraged to apply. The next sentence applies to current GS applicants. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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 SF-50 you submit 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. Submission of an SF-50 is required by ALL current Southern Arizona VA Health Care System employees. Albuquerque, NM VAMC applicants. 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 GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Receive and screen telephone calls and visitors, receive incoming correspondence and determine which items should be brought to the supervisor's attention or forwarded to other staff for action, maintain the activity calendar and schedule appointments, conferences, and meetings on own initiative based upon personal knowledge of the workload and current issues of importance. 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/.
Before you apply
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