Your steps to apply
Clinical Lab Scientist
Veterans Health Administration · Albany, New York · Closes in 6 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public.
Open to the public. The announcement lists U.S. citizens, nationals, and people who owe allegiance to the U.S., but its conditions section says you must be a U.S. citizen to apply.
Experience: You need 1 year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-10) for this GS-11 job. One year of experience as a clinical laboratory scientist is preferred but not required.
Education: A bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university is required. Alternatively, you may qualify with 3 full years of progressively higher graduate education, or a Ph.D. or other doctoral degree in medical technology or a directly related science.
Licenses and certifications:
- Generalist MLS certification from ASCP BOC or AMT, or Generalist MT certification from ASCP or AMT
- Categorical or specialist certifications do not qualify for this Generalist position unless they match the lab section
Experience can be paid or unpaid, volunteer work included: if it matches the duties, it counts. The full rules are in the announcement.
2 Resume and documents
Write a federal resume for this job. For each job you held, give the month and year you started and ended, your hours per week and what you did, using the words of the experience the announcement asks for. Many announcements accept resumes of up to 2 pages: check this one.
3 Apply on USAJOBS
Closes in 6 days (November 9, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).
You sign in to USAJOBS with a Login.gov account, answer the questionnaire and upload your documents, then you submit. Answer the questionnaire honestly: your resume must show what you claim.
How they rate you: You are rated on how well you meet the listed qualifications, and your documents will be verified. Eligible applicants are referred in this order: current permanent employees of the facility, other VA employees, current permanent federal employees of other agencies, then all other applicants; missing required information can lead to an ineligible rating or a lower score.
4 After you apply
In USAJOBS, under Applications, you can see where your application stands: received, reviewed, referred to the hiring manager or not, then selected or not. It can take a few weeks.
For the interview, prepare three examples with the STAR method: the Situation, the Task, what you did (Action) and the Result.
If they choose you: a tentative offer, then a background check, a security clearance (Other), then the final offer with your start date.
Tips for this job:
- Use a long-form resume or CV that clearly shows your lab work, with dates and hours per week.
- If using education to qualify, send transcripts; foreign degrees also need a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency.
- If you want EDRP, plan to submit that application within four months of appointment.
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