Your steps to apply
Staff Optometrist
Veterans Health Administration · Hot Springs, South Dakota · Closes in 82 days
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1 Check you can apply You are here
Who can apply: The public, Internal to an agency.
Open to U.S. citizens, nationals, and those who owe allegiance to the U.S., and to current federal employees of the hiring agency. Non-citizens may be appointed only when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens.
Experience: You must have completed an approved residency training program, or have two years of licensed clinical optometry practice in the United States that involved managing medically complex patients. No specific federal grade level is stated.
Education: You need a Doctor of Optometry degree from a school approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for the year you finished your studies. Schools must be accredited and recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Foreign education requires a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency.
Licenses and certifications:
- Current, full, and unrestricted license to practice optometry in a U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, or D.C.
- Passed all parts of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry exam needed for basic licensure
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 82 days (January 26, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time).
This is an open continuous announcement, so it may close or be filled before the listed closing date.
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 online questionnaire and documents. Your application and resume will be verified, and errors or missing information may lower your rating or make you ineligible.
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:
- Make your long-form resume or CV show the exact dates and details of your residency or clinical optometry practice.
- If you use your degree to qualify, attach your transcript and confirm your school is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education recognized agency.
- Former EDRP participants cannot apply, so check this before you apply if you want the loan repayment benefit.
Kandidatu is an independent website: only the official posting counts. Read it before you apply.