Program Support Assistant

Summary

The Phoenix VA Health Care System's Mental Health department is actively recruiting for two Program Support Assistants. The incumbents will assist with programming—performing record keeping duties—customer service and data tracking—as well as providing miscellaneous support as needed to the staff of the program.

Applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement—06/26/2026. 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 the GS‑05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS‑04. For the 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 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 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Program Support Assistant – GS‑05:
  Specialized Experience – Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS‑04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include— but are not limited to: organizing and maintaining an efficient and effective office operation; providing administrative support; receiving and responding to—on own initiative—those administrative correspondence which do not require supervisory action;
  
  composing and typing routine correspondence; receiving—screens— and distributing all incoming material— handling routine correspondence personally with minimal instructions and coordinating routine administrative matters with other medical center departments.
• Education – Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a 4‑year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor’s degree with courses related to the occupation.
• Combination – Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. For GS‑5 level positions—only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor’s degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study— or 60 semester hours—beyond the second year is equivalent to 1 year of specialized experience.
• Program Support Assistant – GS‑06:
  Specialized Experience – Applicants must possess at least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS‑05) in Federal Service that has equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this Program Support Assistant position—and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled.
  
  Examples of specialized experience would typically include— but are not limited to: conducting data collecting—compiling data—tracking data and statistical information from existing databases; coordinating incoming data from a variety of sources—reviewing documents—reports and/or applications for omissions and inconsistencies; ensuring data entry is complete and accurate; generating a variety of reports; maintaining appointment calendar—scheduling—coordinating meetings—preparing meeting minutes and scheduling conferences and serving as a timekeeper.

For more information on these qualification standards—please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management’s website at…