Recreation Assistant - Activities Program Assistant

Recreation Assistant - Activities Program Assistant

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Spokane, Washington

Salary Range: $40542 - $52700 Per Year

Job Summary: This position is located in the Nursing Service Community Living Center (CLC) Unit at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, WA. The primary purpose of this position is to assist in the provision of recreational activities for the residents under the direction of the CLC Nurse Manager and in collaboration with the Recreation Therapists.

Major Duties:

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Duties include, but are not limited to: Conduct outings with residents weekly (i.e., lunches, dinners, sports activities, etc.) Supervise residents during off-station activities and provide transportation using facility-provided vehicles or other modes of transportation Coordinate with volunteers for services that augment Veteran interaction with activities Individually bake/cook and garden once per week Conduct an individual birthday party for each resident on their birthday Conduct resident hand massages Develop regularly scheduled intergenerational programs in which children interact with residents Develop learning circles held twice per month for resident meetings to give each person an opportunity to share opinions Perform job duties as directed by the Nurse Manager to facilitate opportunities for CLC residents to engage actively in normal pursuits Additional Activities May Include: Exercise programs Healing touch and hand massages Music programs Baking, cooking, and serving food Gardening Games Coordinating out-of-facility outings (i.e., lunches, dinners, sports, fishing, bowling, picnics, etc.) Coordinating with volunteers for services (i.e., field trips) Arts and crafts programs Conducting individual resident birthday parties Arranging community meetings and developing regularly scheduled intergenerational programs General Resident Care Duties: Assist residents with activities of daily living (oral care, grooming, bathing, dressing, hygiene, etc.) Set up, serve, and assist residents with dining and maintain a home-like environment Turn, move, and transfer residents safely using proper techniques and lifting devices Prepare and transport residents as needed for tests or discharge Transportation: The Activities Program Assistant is required to drive a GSA vehicle to transport residents to activities throughout the local community. Work Schedule: Irregular, Varied days, 8-hour day shift Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved

Qualifications: English Language Proficiency: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. In addition to meeting the English Language Proficiency requirement, you must also possess one of the following: Specialized Experience: At least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-4) in the Federal service that has given you the particular knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of this position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. Qualifying specialized experience includes serving as a group leader in community or residential recreation or training programs; serving as a counselor in a youth summer camp; serving as an instructor in a training program for the development of job skills; performing work that demonstrated the ability to be responsible for and to lead and train members of a job crew; serving as a group activities leader in the Armed Services; serving as a unit leader-monitor-proctor for a dormitory group in a boarding school or other residential facility; serving as an aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff in such fields as personnel (private or government), employment guidance in a vocational or academic institution, social service, or manpower development; serving as an aid or assistant to professional or associate staff engaged in work of a social services nature in private, public welfare, government program, or community organizations, or in voluntary activities; serving as an aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff working with individuals who are addicted to or abuse alcohol and/or drugs. NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. -OR- Education (Transcripts required): Successful completion of a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to this occupation. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must show date degree conferred and must be submitted by the closing date. Education cannot be credited without documentation. -OR- Combination of Experience and Education (Transcripts required): An equivalent combination of successfully completed education and specialized experience as described above which meets the total requirements for this grade level. Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. (e.g., One full academic year of study, or 30 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience.) This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted by the closing date. Education cannot be credited without documentation. DRIVER'S LICENSE REQUIRED: A current, valid state-issued Driver's License is required for this position. NOTE: We cannot accept photographs, therefore; please do not submit a copy of your license with your application package. If an interview is requested, you will be required to provide a copy of your current, valid state-issued Driver's License. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Accountability Creative Thinking Customer Service Decision Making Interpersonal Skills IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. Physical Requirements: Work requires the Activities Program Assistant to spend most of the tour (up to 10 hours per day) on his/her feet with intermittent walking, bending, pushing, and pulling. The work requires the Activity Program Assistant to be in good health and physically strong. The assistant may need to physically exert themselves in organizing the physical environment for various recreation activities and in handling the tools and materials of such activities, lifting up to 45 pounds (an effort is made to find assistance when the lifting of heavier objects is required). The employee is required to safely use mechanical devices and proper body mechanics for lifting. The use of a mechanical device is required for all lifting of residents. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

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 11/07/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12828580. 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. 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/ Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. 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. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (509) 434-7000. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) 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: 2025-11-07