The work involves operating telephone switchboard equipment to connect incoming and outgoing calls, routing calls to the appropriate destination, and providing telephone and organizational information to callers. The employee will be assigned to the Telecommunication Section at one of the following locations within the Veteran Healthcare System: Hobbs, New Mexico; Abilene, Texas; Big Springs, Texas; Fort Stockton, Texas; Odessa, Texas; or San Angelo, Texas.
To qualify for this position at the GS-4 level, you must meet one of the following: EXPERIENCE: At least one (1) year of general experience that has equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of a Telephone Operator GS-4. General experience is defined as progressively responsible clerical, office, or other work that indicates your ability to perform the duties of this position. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title; duties; month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. ~OR~ EDUCATION: Two (2) years of education above the high school level for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. This education must have been obtained at an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. ~OR~ COMBINATION: Equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education and general experience, as described above, which meet the total qualification requirements for this grade level. NOTE: Your experience must be documented in your resume and transcripts are required. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Information Management Technical Competence Telecommunications 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. Physical Requirements/Working Conditions: The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; or driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. The work is normally performed in a well-lighted, temperature-controlled room. Normal safety precautions are required. 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/.
***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Duties include, but may not be limited to the following: Places and receives local, regular, and special long distance calls using government lines, commercial circuits, or other systems; Provides directory service assistance to callers by retrieving organizational information from computerized directory databases; Maintains records of all calls for computing charges; and provides primary or alternate routing service for high precedence calls; Prepares files for end of month reporting; Monitors vital circuits and emergency type calls such as those to security, the police, the fire department, and other departments; and monitors alarm systems and surrounding buildings and takes appropriate action upon receiving an alarm notification; Operates various paging systems (long range, in-house, overhead call); Makes routine and emergency broadcast announcements during environmental disasters or emergent medical situations; Issues and receives staff pagers in the absence of the assigned supervisor; Retrieves and updates relevant information in computerized databases using instructions and established guidelines pertaining to customer assistance, record keeping and call receiving, placing and monitoring; Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved