OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise – “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” – by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate care to Veterans?
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs employees who possess the energy, compassion, and commitment to serve those who served our Country. Whatever the job title, every position in VA will give you a chance to make a meaningful and personal contribution to the lives of truly special and deserving people – our Veterans. VA professionals feel good about their careers and their ability to balance work and home life. VA offers generous paid time off and a variety of predictable and flexible scheduling opportunities. Working for VA is one of the most emotionally satisfying and professionally rewarding ways to dedicate the best within you to your Country’s service.
If you are transitioning from the military or a Veteran already, we invite you to explore the benefits of continuing your career at the VA. The VA is committed to hiring Veterans. The VA is much more than just another employer. It is an honorable, open and welcoming community of those who care. Gratitude is our motivation and service is our mission.
The VA has adopted Core Values and Characteristics that apply universally across the Department. The five Core Values define “who we are,” our culture, and how we care for Veterans, their families and other beneficiaries. The Values are I ntegrity, C ommitment, A dvocacy, R espect and E xcellence (“ I CARE ”).
America’s Veterans need you!
To find out more, go to http://www.va.gov/jobs/ . TRAVEL REQUIRED
Not Required RELOCATION AUTHORIZED
No KEY REQUIREMENTS
You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job.
Pre-employment physical required.
You may be required to serve a probationary period.
Background investigation may be required.
Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 DUTIES:
NOTE: This is a TERM appointment (not-to-exceed 4 years).
Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration
(more than 1 year but not more than 4). Term employees are eligible to earn
leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including
health and life insurance, within-grade increases and Federal Employees
Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage. Term appointments may be
extended without further competition (up to the 4 year maximum). The
appointment to a Term position does not confer eligibility for promotion or
reassignment to other positions or the ability to be non-competitively
converted to permanent employment.
This position is located in the Veterinary Medical Unit
(VMU) at the Omaha VA Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska. As an Animal Caretaker you will be
responsible for the care of live laboratory animals to ensure a sanitary and
safe environment for research animals.
You will be responsible for animal husbandry and care of attendant
housekeeping. Major duties and
responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
·
Examines each animal daily for health
conditions;
·
Reports all abnormal or sick animals to the
animal facility supervisor or Veterinary Medical Officer (VMO) as directed by
the circumstances;
·
Maintains the transgenic and knock-out
rodent breeding colony within VMU;
·
Administer prophylactic treatment and
simple medications to animals, including injections of antibiotics, anesthesia,
etc., as directed by the animal facility supervisor or VMO;
·
Restrains all animal species, holds and
handles animal for various manipulations or ofor research investigators, as
directed;
·
Assists the animal facility supervisor or
Veterinary Medical Officer (VMO) in receiving and processing newly arrived
animals, including handling and restraint of the animals, performing
examinations for health conditions, administering vaccines, applying
identification methods, etc.;
·
Checks and maintains the animal and cage
identification system as directed;
·
Collects biological specimens for clinical
laboratory examination;
·
Provides food, water and cage care to the animals;
·
Cleans, sanitizes and sometimes sterilizes
the animal enclosures and feeding and watering equipment.
Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday through Friday,
8:00am – 4:30pm, will require occasional weekend work as needed.
QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:
Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM
Qualification Standard Handbook X-118C ( www.opm.gov/qualifications/x-118c ).
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:
·
ABILITY TO PERFORM THE DUTIES OF THE ANIMAL CARETAKER WITHOUT MORE THAN NORMAL SUPERVISION. Related experience includes:
working as an animal caretaker in a facility that maintains laboratory animals;
cleaning and sterilizing animal cages; feeding and watering animals; handling
animals of multiple species; observing animals for normal and abnormal
behaviors; and following/implementing
procedures and policies.(Screen Out)
·
TECHNICAL PRACTICES
·
INTERPRET INSTRUCTIONS
·
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
·
MATERIALS AND SAFETY
Physical effort and work conditions: The physical
strength and manual dexterity to safely work with all species of animals, both
wild and domestic are required. Animal enclosures, including cages, vary
in size from shoebox dimensions to the size of a moderate dining table, and can
be heavy and quite bulky. You will be required to manipulate these items
around a large cage washer and sterilization equipment, which also requires
strength and dexterity to work safely. The work environment varies from
aseptic, ideally controlled environment (such as that of the surgical suite) to
that of excesses of temperature, humidity and poor air quality encountered in field
conditions. Work in the rack/cage washing area involved exposure to high
temperatures and humidity. The work environment includes exposure to
allergens, humidity and odors in animal rooms and necropsy areas, exposure to
exotic and zoonotic disease, animal bites and scratches, and biological and
carcinogenic hazards.
IN DESCRIBING YOUR KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES, PLEASE
BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS. If your resume does
not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your
responses.
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.
Veteran’s Preference : When applying for Federal jobs, eligible veterans should claim preference on the Occupational Questionnaire in the section provided and provide a legible copy of DD-214(s) showing all dates of service as well as character of service (honorable, general, etc.). Additionally, veterans with service-connected disability of 10% or more must also submit a copy of their official statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or from a branch of the Armed Forces, certifying their service-connected disability and/or their receipt of compensation for service-connected disability. If the military member is within 120 days of separation and does not yet have a DD214, the member may instead submit any written document from the armed forces that certifies the service member is expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is signed.
Veterans with service-connected disability of less than 10%, non service-connected disability, and Purple Heart recipients, as-well-as those claiming derived preference for a spouse, widow or widower, or natural mother, should refer to and submit a completed ” SF15, “Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference ,” (go to http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf ) and required documentation with your application materials. For more information on Veterans’ Preference, please visit http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/veterans.aspx . HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:
Applicants will be ranked based on three quality groups, as follows: Best Qualified – applicants possessing knowledge, skills and abilities that substantially exceed the minimum qualifications of the position and who are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position;
Well Qualified – applicants possessing knowledge, skills and abilities that exceed the minimum qualification of the position and who are proficient in most of the requirements of the job;
Qualified – applicants possessing knowledge, skills and abilities that meet the minimum qualifications of the position.
After the vacancy announcement closes, reviewed applications are evaluated against the questionnaire responses and placed in the appropriate quality group. Qualified veterans will be afforded preference by being placed at the top of the appropriate quality group. Qualifying veterans with a service-connected disability of 10% or more will be placed at the top of the best-qualified group. The best-qualified group is the first to be referred to the hiring facility for further consideration and possible interview. The remaining groups may be referred based on the number of applicants available. BENEFITS:
VA offers a comprehensive benefits package. This link provides is an overview of the benefits currently offered: http://www.vacareers.va.gov/why-choose-va/benefits/index.asp .
The Federal Government has special excepted appointing authorities for persons with qualifying disabilities, such as Schedule A. Specific information can be found at http://www.opm.gov/disability/peoplewithdisabilities.asp . IMPORTANT: If you would like to receive consideration as a Schedule A applicant, you must contact the Human Resources office at the facility where this position is located at (402)995-4480 .
OTHER INFORMATION:
Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.
The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM’s Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ .
VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employees credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.
It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. HOW TO APPLY:
All applicants are encouraged to apply online.
To apply for this position , you must complete the View Occupational Questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below.
The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on Friday, April 01, 2016 to receive consideration. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package.
NOTE : It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login , select the Application Status link and then select the more information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process.
To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete. (Emailed applications are not accepted.)
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:
The following documents are required: Resume Responses to the Occupational Questionnaire Other documents – use this checklist to make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.
Faxing Applications or Supporting Documents : You are encouraged to apply online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application. If you are unable to apply online or unable to upload your supporting documents to your online application, follow the directions located at the following site: Fax Options . The Vacancy ID of the job opportunity announcement is 1655839 .
NOTE : If you applied online and your application is complete, do not fax the paper application (1203-FX) as this will overwrite your prior online responses and may result in you being found ineligible. AGENCY CONTACT INFO: VHA Nationwide DEU
Phone: (844)456-5208
Email: CAVHS.DEU@VA.GOV
Agency Information:
WESTERN IOWA HCS Omaha
PLEASE DO NOT MAIL APPLICATIONS
APPLY ONLINE OR FAX ONLY
Thank You,
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USA
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