Psychology Technician

Description:

This position is located within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6), Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (HVAMC), under the Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences Service Line. This position is aligned with the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program/Outpatient Programs (BHIP/Outpatient) and is located at the North Battlefield Campus.

Requirements:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/02/2026.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. 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.

Basic Requirement: The following are basic requirements for appointment as a Psychology Technician in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which all applicants must met.

• Basic Education : Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in an appropriate social or biological science, which included or was supplemented by 12 semester hours in psychology. ( TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.)

In addition to meeting the basic requirements one of the following minimum requirement criteria must be met to be qualified for this position.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have two (2) year of technical work under the direction of a professional psychologist in a program of professional services, training or research. NOTE: Candidates for grades GS-9 must have had at least 6 months of experience comparable in difficulty and responsibility to the next lower grade (i.e., GS-08) in the Federal service, or 1 year comparable to the second lower grade (i.e., GS-07) in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience that involved the observation of and assistance in the application of techniques relating to behavior, capacities, traits, interests, and activities of either humans or, under laboratory conditions, animals. Experience may have been gained in connection with a program of research or direct services in psychology that gave a practical understanding of some of the principles, methods, and techniques of psychology needed to assist professional psychologists.

OR,

• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have completed two (2) full years of graduate study in psychology in an accredited college or university. NOTE: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the 1 year of full-time study requirement. Part-time graduate education is creditable in accordance with its relationship to a year of full-time study at the school attended. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED: If you do not submit your transcript, your application may not be reviewed.)

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Interpersonal Skills
• Psychology
• Self Management
• Technical Competence
• Technology Application
• Writing

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: The environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, meeting and training rooms, libraries, residences, or commercial vehicles, e.g., use of safe work practices with office equipment, avoidance of trips and falls, observance of fire regulations and traffic signals. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated.

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/ .