Secretary (OA)

About the role

The position is located within the Office of the Deputy Director of the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS), serving as the clerical assistant and advisor to the Deputy Director.

Responsibilities

• Determines nature of call or business of visitors - if business requires the attention of technical or staff specialists, decides whether the importance of business such as to require personal attention of superiors or if the visitor should be referred to the appropriate organizational component concerned with specific subject.
• Responds to inquiries and administrative problems brought to the Deputy Director's Office by Direct Reports, Services, and other internal and external stakeholders.
• Screens all calls and visitors, answering most questions and completing most business involving established policy or routine matters without referring people to the Deputy Director.
• Screens all publications, directives, and periodicals, and brings those of significance to the Deputy Director's attention.
• Maintains the manager's daily calendar, making appointments and arranging conferences and meetings without specific prior approval, based on a knowledge of the manager's schedule.
• Schedule appointments, audio and video conferences, and meetings.
• Coordinate training and travel for the Deputy Director.
• Prepare training requests and documents attendance.
• Receive, review, and distribute all of the Deputy Director's surface mail, inter-office mail, electronic mail, and facsimile mail, delegating responsibility for replies as appropriate.
• Maintain correspondence processes affecting work in the Office of the Deputy Director.
• Guide others in the preparation of correspondence and inform them of procedural changes.
• Advise the Deputy Director of significant items of interest in correspondence, files, and reports.
• Respond to correspondence not requiring the Deputy Director's personal attention.
• Use varied functions of several types such as word processing, data base management, electronic mail, as well as graphics, spreadsheet, and database management software.
• Prepare letters, memoranda, messages, agendas, and minutes either self-composed, from handwritten notes, dictation, or recorded media with responsibility for content, format, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• Utilize a variety of office automation systems and various software packages to accomplish work.
• Utilize knowledge of software utilities and function commands to manipulate text to accomplish formats, revisions, deletions, and additions.
• Prepare a variety of narrative and statistical material, correspondence, reports, etc.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement - 07/13/2026. 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-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. 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 (VEVO) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• GS-08 Specialized Experience: Specialized experience includes but not limited to: Proofreading all incoming and outgoing correspondence to ensure grammar and punctuation are accurate; editing letters and reports for accuracy and completeness; monitoring and tracking actions to ensure timely submission; independently developing and presenting information; scheduling conferences and meetings and shifting schedules as needed; providing accurate advice on procedures and reports; preparing travel arrangements; maintaining confidentiality on all sensitive items and prioritizing actions.

Proficiency Requirements

• Clerk-Typist - GS-2/4; Office Automation Clerk/Assistant (any grade); (Typing) (any grade); and (Office Automation) (any grade): 40 words per minute typing speed

Physical Requirements

The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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/.

Duties

This position ensures that the different and varied administrative support functions for which he/she is responsible for are handled in a manner to enhance the efficiency of the Office of the Deputy Director as a whole for a multi-facility healthcare system. The Office of the Deputy Director has oversight of Engineering/Facilities Management, Healthcare Technology Management, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Environmental Management, Facility Planning, and Employee Engagement and serves as an executive liaison for local and VISN HR, OIT, and Information Security.

Travel

You may be expected to travel for this position. This is a dual campus facility. Weekly travel is required between CAVHCS campuses located in Montgomery and Tuskegee, Alabama. Occasional travel to CAVHCS Community Based Outpatient Clinics located in Alabama and Georgia will be required.