Veterans Claims Examiner

Summary

The Veterans Claims Examiner (VCE) position is located in the Education Division, Muskogee, OK . The incumbent adjudicates and authorizes claims for education programs and related VA benefits and provides information, advice and assistance about all VA education benefits to individuals or groups in person, by telephone or in writing. Identifies and resolves benefit delivery problems.

Duties

• Major duties include, but are not limited to: Explain benefit programs and entitlement criteria for Veterans, dependents, active duty members and/or spouses. Apply laws, regulations, policies and procedures to make proper determinations of education benefits/entitlements for Veterans or claimants. Conduct interviews to identify and analyze issues, develop and request additional evidence from or for Veterans or claimants. Adjudicate claims and authorizes payments for education benefits. Research, evaluate and analyze documents to determine the validity of a claim and processing. Ensure that awards are properly adjudicated and initial awards are generated award/notification letters to Veterans and claimants. Promotion Potential: The full performance level of this position is grade GS-09 Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday, to be determined between 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM 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#: Veterans Claims Examiner/PD42197A and PD42196A 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, 09/09/2026 Specialized Experience: To qualify for the GS-07, applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-5) or higher in the federal service, state or private sector. Specialized Experience is defined as: (1) Reading, interpreting and applying laws, regulations, directives, manuals or training materials; AND (2) Developing information and evaluating evidence to determine a decision. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience by the following options: Undergraduate Degree with Superior Academic Achievement: Superior Academic Achievement: ranked in the upper 1/3 of your college class or major subdivision; or earned election to a national scholastic honor society that meets the requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies other than freshman honor societies; or earned a grade point average (GPA) of 2.95 or higher on a 4.0 scale based on all completed undergraduate courses, or all undergraduate classes completed during the final two years; or earned a GPA of 3.45 or higher on a 4.0 scale based on all completed undergraduate courses in your major, or all undergraduate courses in your major, completed during the final two years. OR Graduate Education: Applicants must have at least one full academic year of graduate level education that demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to satisfactorily perform the work. One year of full-time graduate education is normally determined by the school you attended. If that number cannot be determined, 18 semester hours should be considered equivalent to one academic year of graduate study. Part-time graduate education is creditable on a pro-rated basis. If you qualify based on your education, you must upload or fax a copy of your college transcript along with your application. If you are selected for the position, an official college transcript(s) will be required at your start date. OR Combination: Applicants may combine education and experience. If you have some, but not all, of the graduate education AND specialized experience described above, you may still qualify by combining the amount of creditable education and experience that you do have. To do so, first calculate the percentage of qualifying education you have as a percentage of the education required. Next, calculate the percentage of specialized experience you have as a percentage of the experience required. Then, add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% for you to qualify for the position at the grade GS-7 level. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate education (i.e., 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of acceptable specialized experience (i.e., 50% of the experience required) would satisfy the qualification requirements for the position. To qualify for the GS-09, applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade (GS-7) or higher in the federal service, state or private sector. Specialized experience is defined as: (1) Interpret regulations and applying laws required to evaluate and recommend determinations of eligibility; (2) Evaluate and develop evidence to make eligibility determinations regarding benefits to complete claims under delegated authority. (3) Communicate in person, via phone, or electronically to explain program benefit entitlements and requirements. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience: A master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work in order to be substitutable. OR Combination: Applicants may combine education and experience. If you have some, but not all, of the graduate education AND specialized experience described above, you may still qualify by combining the amount of creditable education and experience that you do have. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you can only use graduate level education that you have earned beyond the first year of your graduate studies). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify. For example, an applicant who has 27 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required beyond the first 18 credits hours required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position. Volunteer 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: Work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. 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/.

Requirements

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you may 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 or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. Additional Conditions of Employment are as follows: You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary or trial period 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 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.

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. 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: 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://www.ed.gov/about/initiatives/international-affairs/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications

How to apply

To apply for this position, you must complete the Application Preview and submit the documentation specified in the required documents section above. https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13044255 The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on the closing date 09/09/2026 to receive consideration 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: 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/