Housekeeping Aid (Leader)

Summary

Portland VA Medical Center is looking to fill multiple Housekeeping Aid Leader Positions at the main VA Hospital located in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. Shifts may vary and will be discussed during interviews. Portland VA Hospital - 2 vacancies Vancouver VA Medical Center - 1 vacancy Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: MAY be authorized for highly qualified applicants

Duties

• Major duties include but is not limited to: Takes the lead on projects and works within a team to set the pace of his assigned team members to get the job done. Uses power equipment such as floor machines, vacuums, auto scrubbers, battery powered trucks, and carpet shampoo machines. Leads an assigned team to ensure project completion. Ensures communication on instructions received from the Supervisor to assigned team members, demonstrates proper work methods, and ensures completion of projects. Ensures that needed plans, materials, and equipment are available, and needed stock is obtained from supply locations. Ensures that employees maintain proper working techniques and standards. Spot checks employees work as to progress, quality and give technical advice on unusual situations and will advise the supervisor on the progress of planned goals and report reasons for delays and recommend solutions. Adjusts teamwork priorities constantly to handle emergencies that arise. Maintains a current knowledge, and answers questions of other workers on procedures, policies, written instructions, and other directives. Assists supervisor with administrative duties as needed to include Shift Reports, work orders, completion of sanitation request, and Bed Management System administration. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Various tours available. Position Description Title/PD#: Housekeeping Aid (Leader)/PD21767A Working Conditions: Duties require constant physical demands such as bending, walking, pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, and reaching. Incumbent must climb ladders to clean overhead equipment and operate heavy duty commercial cleaning equipment that requires eye, hand and body coordination. Incumbent must be able to work with arms extended over head for extended periods of time. Incumbent must be able to travel from building to building in extreme weather conditions ranging from a high of 109 degrees Fahrenheit to a low of -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Incumbent must be able to continually stand, bend, stoop and reach while performing regular duties. Must be able to lift or carry objects weighing 50+lbs. Occasionally pushes loads weighing up to 700lbs. Mostly works indoors in adequately heated, lighted and ventilated areas. May be exposed to hazardous waste, medical waste and infectious materials and diseases. Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications, or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: MAY be authorized for highly qualified applicants Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal Holidays per year). Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior federal work experience or military service experience. Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA. Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, the ability to do the work of the Housekeeping Aid (Leader) without more than normal supervision. Examples include: providing first level leadership, guidance, and training of housekeeping aids in the proper housekeeping methods and procedures needed in accomplishing the cleaning of administrative, public, and patient care areas; including any or all of the following tasks: sweeping, mopping, trash removal, dusting, polishing, cleaning of both fluorescent and incandescent lights, wall washing, window washing, moving of furniture and equipment. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Work Practices (includes keeping things neat, clean and in order). Ability to Interpret Instructions, Specifications, etc. (other than blueprinting reading). Ability to use and maintain tools and equipment. Ability to operate with dexterity and safety 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.

Requirements

U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation There are no physical requirements for this occupation per OCHCO Communications email to VA Handbook 5019, updated on 4/17/2026. Selective Services Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 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 dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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

There is no education substiution at this wage level.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/09/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13049504. 1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 2. 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. You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center. 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. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. 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/ To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.