Your steps to apply
Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor
Veterans Health Administration · Augusta, Georgia · Closes in 26 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public.
Open to U.S. citizens only. Eligible veterans can claim veterans' preference when they apply.
Experience: You need at least one year of progressively complex licensed mental health counseling experience at the GS-11 level, plus five years of experience after licensure that shows advanced practice skills. You must also be licensed to supervise trainees or unlicensed counselors. Two years of clinical psychotherapy experience is preferred.
Education: You need a master's or doctoral degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling, or a related field from a program accredited by CACREP (Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs). Related fields include Addiction Counseling, Community Counseling, Gerontology Counseling, and Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling. Traditional rehabilitation counseling programs, even if CACREP-accredited, do not qualify.
Licenses and certifications:
- Full, current, unrestricted license to independently practice as a Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, including diagnosis and treatment
- License to provide clinical supervision to trainees or unlicensed counselors
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 26 days (December 1, 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: Your application is rated on how well you meet the listed qualifications. Your application, resume, CV, and supporting documents will be verified, and reference checks may be done. Errors or missing required information may 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, then the final offer with your start date.
Tips for this job:
- Your license must be full, current, and unrestricted, and you must upload a copy with your application.
- Check that your degree comes from a CACREP-accredited program, since traditional rehabilitation counseling programs do not count.
- To claim veterans' preference, select it in the questionnaire and upload your DD-214 and, if needed, an SF-15 with proof.
Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.