Your steps to apply
Social Worker
Veterans Health Administration · Boise, Idaho · Closes in 5 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public, Federal employees - Competitive service, Federal employees - Excepted service.
The announcement is open to U.S. citizens and current federal employees. The conditions of employment also say you must be a U.S. citizen to apply.
Experience: For GS-11, you need at least one year of experience after your master's degree at the GS-9 level, in health care or other social work settings, plus a state license to practice independently. For GS-9, no experience beyond the basic requirements is needed, but you must show the required skills (called KSAs) in your application.
Education: You need a master's degree in social work from a school fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). A doctoral degree in social work cannot replace the master's degree. For GS-11, a doctoral degree in social work can replace the one year of clinical social work experience.
Licenses and certifications:
- State license or certification to practice social work independently at the master's level (required for GS-11; GS-9 may be waived pending exam prerequisites)
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 5 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 will be rated on how well you meet the qualifications, based on your full questionnaire, resume, and supporting documents, which will be verified. Missing information or errors may result in an ineligible rating or a lower overall rating.
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:
- Be clear and specific about your social work experience, including dates and hours per week, because the agency will not assume anything.
- Send a transcript with your application, since it is required for every applicant.
- Complete the full occupational questionnaire, because incomplete answers can lead to an ineligible rating.
Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.