Transportation Assistant

Veterans Health Administration; Providence (RI); On-site; USD 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Veterans Health Administration in Providence VA Medical Center’s Business Office is seeking a Transportation Assistant for a full-time 40-hour work week. The role supports transportation services, requiring time-in-grade compliance for current federal staff, and may involve coordinating connections, data entry, and reporting.

The position requires existing specialized experience or education as outlined for GS-05/06, with transcripts if applicable.

Qualifications

• You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation.
• Examples: preparing written instructions and correspondence; performing data entry; scheduling appointments and admissions; collecting, compiling, and tracking data; ensuring compliance with regulations and procedures.
• Education GS-05 requires 4 years of college education above high school; transcripts required.
• Alternative for GS-05: combination of specialized experience and education; an equivalent combination of post-high school education and specialized experience.
• Specialized Experience GS-06 requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-04; examples: coordinating transportation connections/scheduling; data collection and tracking; basic data analysis and reporting; entering data into automated tracking systems; planning and directing a program providing support services.
• Preferred Experience: Office work or customer service work preferred.
• Physical Requirements and Work Environment: exposure to stressful situations, high volume of work, and varying program demands; duties primarily in the Veteran Transportation Service program office with some trips to various locations within the Medical Center area.

Job description

This Transportation Assistant is located within the Business Office service at the Providence VA Medical Center. The position is full-time at 40 hours per week.

To qualify for this position

Applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/10/2026.

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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. 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.

Specialized Experience GS-05

You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• preparing written instructions and a variety of correspondence;
• performing data entry into an automated system;
• scheduling appointments and admissions;
• collecting, compiling, and tracking of data;
• and ensuring compliance with regulations and procedures.

OR, Education GS-05 (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)

Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 4 years above high school in any field for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. Transcripts must be submitted at time of application.

OR, Combination GS-05

Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education.

Equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (beyond the second year) and specialized experience as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. Transcripts must be submitted at time of application.

Specialized Experience GS-06

You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.

Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:

• performing transportation support duties such as coordinating connections/scheduling, documenting travel information;
• collecting, compiling, and tracking data on a daily basis;
• Performs a basic analysis of data and generates a variety of reports;
• entering data into automated tracking data bases;
• and planning and directing a program that provides support services.

Preferred Experience

Office work or customer service work preferred.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

Incumbent will be exposed to stressful working situations that require a professional attitude and collective reasoning. The incumbent is subject to a high volume of work, the need for accuracy, frequency of interruptions and ever-changing demands due to program changes.

Duties will be predominantly performed in the Veteran Transportation Service program office with intermittent trips to various locations throughout the Medical Center's catchment area both in and near patient care areas where there may be risk of exposure to disease.

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/.