Department of Veterans Affairs

Maintenance Helper

Erie, Pennsylvania Full time

Maintenance Helper

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Erie, Pennsylvania

Salary Range: $22.81 - $26.63 Per Hour

Job Summary: This position is located at the Erie VA Medical Center, Facilities Management Services (FMS). The incumbent is under the direct supervision of the Supervisory Maintenance Mechanic. The main purpose of the position is to provide support to Maintenance Mechanics, Tradesmen, and the Interior Designer.

Major Duties:

  • Major Duties: Transport furniture, office equipment, interior design items (pictures, wall-hangings, etc.), tools and related items within the facility and off-campus. Ensures proper care in the use and maintenance of equipment and supplies. Troubleshoots issues with office furniture to determine viability for repair. Perform semi-skilled and unskilled minor maintenance and repair work on building. Perform special applications (i.e., wall mounting, level, structural connections, custom cuts and others.) Assists and support Maintenance Mechanics and Tradesmen with preventive maintenance, work order completion, repairs and renovations to improve the safety and efficiency of work being performed. Operates, forklifts, mechanical liftgates and mechanical platforms to facilitate loading and unloading of materials, as appropriate to the area of operation. Operates material handling equipment. Installs, moves, reconfigure repairs, cleans, office furniture. Troubleshoot issues with office furniture. Troubleshoots issue with office furniture to determine viability for repair. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 11:30 am - 8:00 pm. Compressed/Flexible Schedule: Not Authorized. Position Description Title/PD#: Maintenance Helper/PD02585A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/17/2025. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair Interpret Instructions, Specifications (includes blueprint reading) Materials Measuring Instruments Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Employee works in shops and at job sites. Strenuous physical exertion is often required. Employee may lift and move materials up to 40 pounds unassisted and routinely lifts or moves heavier items (furniture) with the assistance of lifting devices or other workers. Employee is required to stand, stoop, and bend. Work is frequently done from ladders, scaffolding and platforms. Working Conditions: Employee is exposed to moderate or high noise levels, sawdust, glue fumes, and others hazards associated with shop and job sites and related power equipment when performing work in shop area. Work at job sites exposes employee to the hazards of working on and around scaffolds and ladders. Employee is subject to cuts, bruises and contusions. Protective devices, such as, but not limited to, ear plugs, safety glasses, respirators, gloves are required.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 11/17/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12828445. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Application Deadline: 2025-11-17