Gardener

Employee will serve as a Gardner located at the Nebraska-Western Iowa Veterans Healthcare Administration in Grand Island, NE.

SCREEN-OUT/JOB ELEMENT: Requires the ability to do the work of a Gardener without more than normal supervision. Such experience must include performing gardening tasks such as maintaining shrub and flower beds to include cutting, weeding, trimming, pruning and planting; maintaining irrigation systems to include piping, meters, valves and irrigation heads; using various types of landscaping hand/power tools and equipment; assisting with fertilizing, transplanting, aerating, and applying chemicals according to directions. (See detailed position criteria in the announcement duties section. Resume(s) must clearly support this experience to receive credit.) PHYSICAL EFFORT AND WORK CONDITIONS: Performs landscape work which requires the full use of both hands and arms. The work requires the expenditure of a high degree of physical and mental effort in preparing and utilizing sod, flower beds and various other pieces of equipment. The person in this position sits for long periods operating mowers and equipment, frequently climbs ladders to prune trees and frequently lifts objects such as bags of fertilizer, grass seed, etc., weighing as much as 100 lbs. The gardening and tree farm tasks require considerable walking, stooping, climbing, lifting, kneeling, bending, squatting, carrying, and reach over/under. Will be exposed to weather extremes of hot and cold, both indoors and outdoors for extended hours and is exposed to infectious hazards, chemicals, hazardous materials, gases/fumes, and the possibility of burns, infection, scrapes, and broken bones. Employee is subject to insect bites and stings and exposure to poisonous plants such as poison Ivy and poison oak. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume. You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Dexterity and Safety Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Materials Measuring Instruments Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. 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; religious; 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.