Secretary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Grand Junction (CO); On-site; USD 42,000 - 68,000; Full time

Job summary

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Grand Junction, CO is seeking a clerical support professional to assist the Chief of Staff’s office.

The role emphasizes handling visitors, callers, and routine correspondence with accuracy and timely routing to appropriate staff. Responsibilities include preparing documents, taking minutes, and supporting office operations while ensuring adherence to Federal time-in-grade and qualification standards.

Qualifications

• One year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-5 in the Federal service, performing clerical tasks and routing correspondence.
• Experience including receiving visitors and callers, screening inquiries, and maintaining records with attention to detail.
• Ability to draft and format general business communications, and support office workflows.

Responsibilities

• Screen visitors and incoming calls and refer matters to the appropriate staff.
• Prepare and route correspondence and maintain filing systems.
• Take and transcribe meeting minutes and assist with routine reports and records.

Skills

Visitor screening

Telephone handling

Proofreading

Typing

Job description

The Secretary for the Chief of Staff's office performs duties to assist the Chief of Staff, and in some cases the subordinate staff of the Chief of Staff, by performing general office work auxiliary to the work of the organization. The position is the principal clerical or administrative support position, operating independently of any other such position in the office.

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/02/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. For a GS-7 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-6. For a GS-8 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-7. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience GS-6: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: receiving and screening visitors and telephone calls; escorting and referring callers to proper personnel; proofreading completed work for accuracy in spelling, grammatical construction, and punctuation; ensuring that correspondence is properly routed in a timely manner; typing into final form a wide variety of written materials; and informing and instructing typing and clerical personnel concerning procedures for preparation of correspondence.

Specialized Experience GS-7: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: receiving visitors and incoming calls, resolving problems of both general and specific nature, and referring matters to appropriate staff; screening incoming correspondence for matters which can be acted on personally and taking necessary action; obtaining information required by management from various sources within the VA; composing correspondence on own initiative based on a knowledge of supervisor's views and desires; and taking meeting minutes, composing letters, endorsements, messages, office instructions and reports with responsibility for sentence structure, grammar, and spelling.

Specialized Experience GS-8: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-7 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: providing clerical and administrative assistance to the organization; receiving all visitors and telephone calls to superiors; controlling activities, schedule, and reminds managers of appointments; reviewing correspondence and documents prepared for signature of or requiring coordination by managers for conformance with regulations, grammar format, and special policies of the installation; obtaining information required by management for various sources within the VA; composing correspondence on own initiate, based on a knowledge of supervisor's views and desires; and preparing regular and special records such as, but not limited to, time/attendance, leave, degree of use of filing space, and amount of material present in offices.

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/.