Therapy Assistant (Recreation)

This position is located at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), within the Phoenix VA Medical Centerdical Center. The purpose of this position is to develop, plan, organize, implement, conduct, monitor, and evaluate a wide variety of recreational therapy interventions and programs for patients with an array of physical and/or mental health conditions within the Phoenix VA Healthcare System.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/26/2026.

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 a 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:

Specialized Experience:

GS-6: In addition to meeting time in gradeyou must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include but are not limited to: Work as an assistant to one of the specialized therapies such as occupational, physical, manual arts, corrective, or educational therapy; or Experience gained as an assistant or aid in patient care, social work, or psychology where the duties involved actual participation in physical medicine and activities of a hospital or clinic. ~OR~

EDUCATION

Have successfully completed six months of graduate education, or an internship meets the specialized experience required only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the Therapy Assistant position.

NOTE:

Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. ~OR~

COMBINATION

Have equivalent combinations of successfully completed directly related graduate education and specialized experience to qualify. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to

Detail Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Reading Comprehension Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork Note :

A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. 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.

Physical Requirements:

Physical Demand requirements for Moderate 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/ .