Medical Technician

Summary

This position is located within the Chief of Staff, Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Lufkin, Texas, and is affiliated with the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. The Medical Technician (Phlebotomist) performs a variety of clinical and administrative functions in support of patient care.

Duties

• Major Duties: Adheres to safety, infection control, and universal precautions always while drawing specimen samples. Keeps area clean and hazard free. Performs all types of specimen collection in a courteous manner. Familiar with tests performed throughout the laboratory, i.e. chemistry, hematology, urinalysis, coagulation, microbiology, and cytology. Follows standard procedures and applies a practical knowledge of the properties of the specimens to ensure effective presentation of the qualities or characteristics critical for accurate testing or examination. May perform selected low complexity tests and provide technical support and assistance to the Medical Technologists in the Laboratory. Prepare test orders including manual order entry and extraction of patient data from the electronic health information system. Verify accuracy and completeness of test requests, sample requirements and conditions. Verify accuracy and completeness of test requests, sample requirements/conditions in the computer. Draw blood by venipuncture methods for a variety of test procedures. Provide proper post-venipuncture care to patient. Collect blood cultures using proper protocol to avoid skin contaminations. Work Schedule: Monday- Friday, 7:00am - 11:00am (Subject to change based on the needs of the Agency) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Medical Technician/PD04176A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Physical Requirements: The work requires extensive and recurring physical exertion such as standing for long periods of time, bending, lifting, walking, stooping and stretching. The work requires manual dexterity and a large degree of concentration. Work Environment: The work is performed in a medical laboratory with daily exposure to patients and materials carrying infectious diseases and hazardous chemicals. Proper precautions are practiced. The employee has the potential to be exposed to communicable disease. The work involves regular and recurring moderate risks or discomforts which require special safety precautions, e.g., working around carts, or machines; with bio-hazardous samples, contagious diseases or irritant chemicals, and some risk of needle stick. Employees are required to use protective clothing or gear such as masks, gowns, coats, goggles, gloves or shields to biohazard risks.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/14/2026. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): Applicants must meet the Individual Occupational Requirements described below in addition to the GS-4 qualification requirements. Specialized Experience: (a) Technical medical laboratory support work such as performing laboratory tests and examinations (chemical, microbiologic, hematologic and blood banking) and preparing reports of findings or(b) Technical support work in a closely related field, e.g., biological laboratory technician work, that required application of the methods and techniques for the position to be filled. OR, Education and Training: Successful completion of (a) an associate-degree course of study of which the 2nd year of the 2-year program included successful completion of a training course of approximately a year's duration in a certified laboratory assistant school approved by a nationally recognized accrediting agency; (b) 1 year of study that included 6 semester hours in chemistry and/or the biological sciences, plus successful completion of the training course as described in (a) above for GS-3; or (c) 2 years of study that included at least 12 semester hours of chemistry and/or biological science course work that must have been directly related to the specialization of the position to be filled.(Transcript Required) In addition to meeting the above Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR), applicants must also meet the below general and specialized experience and/or directly related education relevant to this position. You must have 6 months of specialized experience and 6 months of generalized experience and/or meet educational requirements or a combination of specialized experience and education. General Experience is: Any type of work that demonstrates the ability to perform the work of the position, or (2) experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation. Specialized Experience is: performing or assisting with blood collection procedures, such as venipuncture or capillary collection; preparing, labeling, handling, or processing patient specimens for testing; verifying patient identification and following established procedures to ensure accurate specimen collection; entering, retrieving, or maintaining patient or laboratory information in electronic systems or records; and providing customer service and communicating with patients, clinical staff, or other healthcare personnel. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 2 years above high school with courses related to the occupation.(Transcript required) OR, Combination of Experience and Education : Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and 2 years above high school with courses related to the occupation. Determine the total qualifying experience as a percentage of the 1 year of experience required for GS-4; then determine the education as a percentage of the 2 years of education that meets the requirements for GS-4. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-4. (Transcript required). 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/.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. 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, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. 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/.

How to apply

Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13056524. The application process is as follows: 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. 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, 09/14/2026. 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 at least 3 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. NOTE: 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 update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. 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 https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit