Student Trainee - Administrative Office Management

Student Trainee - Administrative Office Management at Veterans Health Administration · Department of Veterans Affairs. Grade: 5-5. Applications close 2026-10-26.

Summary

The Pathways Internship Program allows students to join VA in career positions that emphasize long-term training and development. This program provides students with work experience directly related to their degree and career goals while offering eligibility for conversion to permanent employment upon completion of the program requirements.

Duties

• This position is being filled under the Pathways Internship Program. The program is designed to provide students enrolled in a wide variety of educational institutions, from high school to graduate level, with paid work opportunities in agencies to explore Federal careers while still in school. The Internship provides managers with a ready source of student employees and potential permanent employees upon completion of the program requirements. It also provides the student with work experience directly related to the curriculum studies or career goals while offering eligibility for non-competitive conversion to permanent employment upon completion. For more information on Internship opportunities within the Department of Veterans Affairs, please visit: https://www.va.gov/EMPLOYEE/pathways-internship-program/. The Student Trainee provides technical, analytical, and administrative support to the Executive Offices of the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center. The position is part of the Pathways Internship Program and is designed to provide practical experience aligned with Master's level studies in Health Administration, Business Administration, Public Administration, or related fields. The incumbent supports the Executive Management Team-including the Medical Center Director, Associate Director, Chief of Staff, and Assistant Director, and Service Chiefs-by assisting with operational activities, data-driven projects, and organizational initiatives. The trainee spends approximately 50-60% of the internship period engaged in project-based work and is encouraged to participate in shadowing, observational experiences, and professional interactions with senior administrative and clinical leaders. Participate in assigned and self-developed projects that address operational, administrative, or clinical support needs of the medical center. Design, organize, and manage project work plans; collect and analyze data; prepare findings; and present recommendations to improve medical center operations. Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of operational processes, service needs, staffing data, and performance measures. Provide structured recommendations using data to support planning, priority setting, and program development efforts. Interact regularly with senior leaders including the Medical Center Director, Associate Director, Chief of Staff, Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Assistant Director, Chiefs of clinical services, and other medical center leaders. Participate in leadership briefings, service-level reviews, and clinical/administrative rounds, as appropriate. Engage in shadowing and observational learning experiences to gain understanding of executive decision-making, service line operations, and the integration of clinical and administrative leadership functions. Observe and participate in interdisciplinary interactions to understand how clinical and administrative functions align within a complex healthcare organization. Attend a range of medical center committees, councils, and workgroups, including the Leadership Council and other governance meetings. Provide staff support to committees by tracking action items, preparing agendas, producing meeting minutes, and managing follow-up tasks. Support leaders in gathering and synthesizing data or background information to inform committee discussions and decisions. Provide administrative and clerical support as needed within the Executive Offices. Assist with document preparation, scheduling, coordination of meetings, tracking deadlines, and maintaining organized electronic files. Support internal and external customer service needs in alignment with the VA mission, ensuring courteous, tactful, and respectful communication with veterans, visitors, and staff. Protect sensitive and confidential information in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and all applicable VA policies. Ensure proper use of electronic systems, safeguard passwords and access codes, and follow all regulations governing access to computerized data. Adhere to standards of professional conduct, continuous learning, leadership development, and ethical responsibility. Demonstrate cultural competence and maintain positive working relationships across diverse teams. Work Schedule: Part-Time Hours: 20 hours per week. 40 hours per pay-period/bi-weekly. Mon - Fridays, Day Shift. (Exact Hours To Be Determined by the Hiring Manager).

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/26/2026. Internship Program: To be eligible, applicants must be accepted for enrollment or currently enrolled and seeking a degree (diploma, certificate, etc.) in a qualifying educational institution, on a full or half-time basis as defined by the institution in which you are enrolled. You may qualify based on education and/or experience as described below: You must be a current student that has been accepted for enrollment or are enrolled at least half-time in an accredited high school, college, professional, technical, vocational, or trade school pursuing a qualifying degree or certificate. You must remain enrolled and will be required to provide transcripts to be eligible for this program. Completed four full academic years of post high school leading to a bachelors degree or equivalent degree (transcripts must be submitted) In good academic standing with the college or university that you are enrolled in. Preferred degree programs in the field of Health Care Administration. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Flexibility Interpersonal Skills Learning Problem Solving Self-Management Technology Application 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. 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/. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job You must be at least 16 years old (by closing date of this vacancy announcement) Selective Service Registration-required males (over 18) born after 12/31/59 Must be accepted for/currently enrolled in a qualified educational institution Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Grade Point Average (G.P.A.). Students must possess an acceptable average G.P.A. as defined by the educational institution to be eligible for appointment and to remain eligible for participation in the Program. As applicable, at the time of appointment and upon request, students must demonstrate an overall Grade-Point Average (G.P.A.) of 2.5 or above on a 4.0 scale as recorded on the official transcript.

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 10/26/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13088006. 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/ 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.