Your steps to apply

Medical Support Assistant
Veterans Health Administration · San Diego, California · Closes in 3 days

1 Check you can apply
2 Resume and documents
3 Apply on USAJOBS
4 After you apply

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1 Check you can apply You are here

Who can apply: The public.

Only U.S. citizens can apply. The announcement says the job is open to the public, and the agency clarified that it is for United States citizens.

Experience: No experience is required for the GS-5 level. You can also qualify with one year of experience at the next lower grade (GS-4) that is comparable to this work.

Education: A high school diploma, GED, or state proficiency certificate meets the basic education requirement. For GS-5, two years of education above high school can qualify you instead of one year of experience.

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.

Resume ready: dates, hours per week, duties Long-form resume or CV showing job title, duties, start and end dates (month/year), and average hours worked per week High school diploma, GED, or proficiency certificate Transcript if you use college education to qualify DD-214 if you claim veterans' preference SF-15 if you claim 10-point veterans' preference or have a disability letter for 10-point preference SF-50 if you are a current or former federal employee (dated 2026, not an award SF-50) Disability letter if claiming Schedule A or VA disability status Separation notice (RIF) if applicable

3 Apply on USAJOBS

Closes in 3 days (November 6, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).

The job will close when the VA receives 50 applications, which may happen before the closing date of 11/06/2026.

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 will be rated on how well your resume, supporting documents, questionnaire answers, and any required assessments match the qualifications. USA Hire online assessments may be required, and reference checks are done. Missing required information or errors may lower your rating or make you ineligible.

Apply on USAJOBS ↗

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:

Your resume must list the start and end month and year for each job, plus average hours per week, or you may be rated lower
If you use college to qualify, upload your transcript because it is required for that path
Claim veterans' preference in the questionnaire and upload your DD-214 and any SF-15 if you apply that way
Apply before the closing date because the job may close early after 50 applications

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