# Student Trainee (Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor) Internship Program at Veterans Benefits Administration

- Company: [Veterans Benefits Administration](https://usajobs.gov)
- Location: Multiple Locations
- Type: Internship · Internship
- Salary: $50k – $82k per year
- Posted: 2026-11-09
- Apply: https://www.usajobs.gov:443/job/892051300
- Page: https://newgrad.ai/jobs/student-trainee-vocational-rehabilitation-counselor-internsh-d1047039

## Summary by newgrad.ai

What you'll do:

- Assist counselors in managing cases and providing services to disabled Veterans.
- Process payments, review academic progress, and schedule appointments for program participants.
- Support initial evaluations and respond to routine inquiries regarding benefits and allowances.

What they're looking for:

- Current enrollment in a degree or certificate program at an accredited institution.
- Completion of one year of graduate study or a bachelor's degree with 3.0 GPA.
- Enrollment in counseling, social work, or related graduate-level fields.

Pay and perks:

- Paid work experience with potential for non-competitive conversion to permanent federal employment.
- Flexible work schedules available between 20 and 80 hours per pay period.

## Posting

### Summary

The Pathways Internship Program allows students to join VA in career positions that emphasize long-term training and development. This position is located in the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) Division within a VA Regional Office. Positions filled utilizing Pathways Student Internship Authority, provide students enrolled in a variety of educational institutions, from high school to graduate level, with paid work opportunities in federal agencies while in school.

### 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, or technical/vocational degree or certificate (which may include Registered Apprenticeship Programs, Job Corps, Climate Corps, AmeriCorps, and Peace Corps), with paid work opportunities in agencies to explore Federal careers while still in school. The Internship provides managers 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 Pathways Intern will be assigned to a Supervisory Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (SVRC), who will be responsible for overall supervision, oversight, accountability, and performance management, including establishing performance expectations and completing performance evaluations. Assistant staff in providing services to eligible Veterans with disabilities from application through discontinued status. Send forms and letters to contractors and Veterans. Assist with conducting and documenting Case Management Appointments and Annual Reviews, as well as assisting with scheduling initial and follow-up appointments. Make recommendations to the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) on the purchase of tools, supplies, and equipment to include special equipment required by the training facility. Review vouchers and invoices and prepares payment authorizations for goods and services; monitors program costs to assure cost do not exceed the authorized program limits Review grade, academic or training progress reports to determine the Veteran's progress toward rehabilitation goals, recommends appropriate action, and follows through to implement approved recommendations. Respond to Veteran's routine questions concerning subsistence allowance and receipt/non-receipt of money due. Accept and verifies dependency documents to determine proper subsistence benefit amounts to be paid to Chapter 31 Veterans. Under the supervision and guidance of the VRC, participants in initial evaluations on Veterans applying for benefits and services. Work Schedule: Full-time or Part-time; Minimum 20 hours. Maximum 80 hours each pay period, depending on the student's school schedule. Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description Title/PD#: Student Trainee (Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor) Internship Program/PD41363A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Bargaining Unit: No

### Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/09/2026. 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. To meet the minimum qualifications for this position, applicants must meet the Education qualifications for the grade at which they are requesting consideration. To be eligible and qualify based on Superior Academic Achievement: applicants must possess a conferred bachelor's degree with a 3.0 or higher AND be enrolled in school currently pursuing a Master's degree in rehabilitation counseling, rehabilitation services, clinical rehabilitation counseling, counseling psychology, mental health counseling, career counseling or social work from an accredited college or university. Applicants are required to attach the conferred bachelor's degree AND current degree/certificate transcripts. OR To be eligible and qualify based on Graduate School Education only: applicants must be currently enrolled in a Master's program and have completed one full academic year of graduate education (18 credits) in rehabilitation counseling, rehabilitation services, clinical rehabilitation counseling, counseling psychology, mental health counseling, career counseling or social work from an accredited college or university. Program Completion and Conversion Interns may be converted to a permanent position (or, in some limited circumstances, to a term position lasting 1-4 years) within 180 days of successful completion of the program. To be eligible for conversion, Interns must: Complete at least 480 hours of work experience acquired through the Internship Program Complete their degree or certificate requirements Meet the qualification standards for the position to which the Intern will be converted Meet agency-specific requirements as specified in the Participant's Agreement, and Perform their job successfully. If you are graduating in the same semester or term in which you are appointed, you must be able to complete 480 work hours prior to graduation. 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. Eligible Interns who have completed Registered Apprenticeship Programs and Job Corps can now count time served in those programs, toward the required 480 total hours, to convert to a permanent federal position. Following completion of the internship program requirements, Interns and VA have up to 180 days to convert to the competitive service. 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. Experience: 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. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: The work normally involves mental rather than physical exertion. The work is mostly sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, and carrying of light items. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

### Education

An unofficial or official copy of your transcripts must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit. Note: You may submit unofficial transcripts when applying. However, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to provide an official transcript or a statement from the institution (e.g., from the registrar, dean, or other appropriate official) or equivalent documentation prior to the start date. 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.

### Additional requirements

Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job. Selectees are subject to a background/suitability investigation. Selective Service registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Good academic standing as defined by the agency as: maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher. At least halftime at a qualifying educational institution. A signed participant agreement is required for employment under Pathways. The condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 2 year trial period depending on your appointment type, unless previous federal service is creditable. This is an Excepted Service appointment on a temporary basis. This is a temporary internship to complete project work that is temporary in nature. The appointment is not-to-exceed 1 year. The temporary appointment can be extended and/or converted to a new temporary appointment at management's discretion based on the needs of the organization for the work to continue and provided the employee remains eligible for employment in the Pathways Intern Program. Promotion is not permitted during this temporary appointment. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may be required to serve a 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 the 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

### How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply and be considered for this position, you must complete all required questionnaires, assessments and submit all required documentation as specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 12/09/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13106513. The application process is as follows: Click the Apply Online button. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside about two (2) hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us To view the announcement status or your application status: Visit https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to/application/status. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. 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: USA Jobs Help Center - Resume Page Limit Applicant Guidance on the Two-Page Resume Limit

From Veterans Benefits Administration's public posting, laid out for reading by newgrad.ai with the wording unchanged. Check the original before you apply.

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