Social Worker

We're Looking for a skilled Social Worker in the Veterans Health Administration based in Menlo Park, California. Read through the job description to see if it matches your current experience.

The Successful Applicant

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Noncitizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency. Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005 Part II chapter 3 section A paragraph 3j. Experience and Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other postmasters degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience. http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation/AccreditedPrograms.aspxLicensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for licensure. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Experience/Education. The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which one year must be equivalent to the GS11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other postmasters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty. Licensure/Certification. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Preferred Experience: Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level the higherlevel duties must consist of significant scope complexity (difficulty) and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25 of the time. Program coordinators at the GS12 grade level are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to Veterans in a major specialty area such as but not limited to: Spinal Cord Injury Homeless Continuum Veteran Program Hospice and Palliative Care Program Suicide Prevention Program Veterans Justice Outreach Caregiver Support Program and Community Nursing Home Program. The program coordinator may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. The program coordinator oversees the daily operation of the program develop policies and procedures for program operation and prepare reports and statistics for facility VISN and national use. They may be responsible for the programs budget developing and monitoring staff compliance with practice standards and guidelines on documentation workload data entry ethical practice and service delivery. The program coordinator provides analysis and evaluation of clinical program data and computerized programs to identify systemwide trends and needs to enhance the quality of service. They may be responsible for or contribute to the programs resource and fiscal management monitoring control points developing the annual budget operating within that budget and accounting for appropriated funds. The program coordinator is administratively responsible for the clinical programming and prepares reports and statistics for facility VISN and national use. They provide leadership direction orientation coaching inservice training staff development and continuing education programs for assigned staff. They initiate and conduct a variety of program or service audits and complete designated clinical practice audits and reports including productivity assessments. They oversee program operations and evaluations identifying areas for improvement gathering relevant data assessing the data developing and implementing ideas for improvement and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts. Demonstrated Knowledge Skills and Abilities. In addition to the experience above the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation negotiation and monitoring. (b) Knowledge and ability to write policies procedures and/or practice guidelines for the program. (c) Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program. (d) Skill in organizing work setting priorities meeting multiple deadlines and evaluating assigned program area(s). (e) Ability to provide training orientation and guidance within clinical practice. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS12 Physical Requirements: Work is performed in an office setting. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard please visit VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 dated: September 10 2019.

What’s on Offer

The role offers excellent opportunities for top performers to further develop their competencies as a social worker and improving the lives of people.