Gardener (Tractor Operator)

Summary

The Gardener (Tractor Operator) is responsible for the operation of heavy equipment to push, load, make piles and items, move earth, rock, gravel, mulch, supplies, and equipment. Loads dirt, trees & other items into dump trucks & onto flatbeds; and dump trailers, dumpsters and into back of trucks taking touch and higher levels of skill. Operators are required to know the uses of sets of controls or operation of the equipment & attachments and be skilled in handling these controls.

Duties

• Major Duties include, but not limited to: Grade and slope landscape areas, including terraces, to support drainage and planting plans. Plant, transplant, and maintain a wide variety of grasses, ground cover, flowers, shrubs, and trees. Prune trees and shrubs to promote healthy growth and maintain an appropriate balance between root systems and top growth. Perform work from project plans, master landscape plans, and long-range grounds-maintenance plans. Make independent day-to-day decisions consistent with established gardening practices and project requirements. Maintain lawns, flower beds, shrubs, trees, and other landscaped areas to meet appearance, health, and safety standards. Identify common plant diseases, insect infestations, and other landscape problems; apply appropriate treatments as directed. Apply fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals to plants and landscaped areas in accordance with instructions and safety requirements. Operate and maintain hand tools, power tools, and grounds-maintenance equipment, including chainsaws, weed eaters, blowers, saws, drills, hammer drills, jackhammers, concrete saws, and related equipment. Use hand tools and equipment such as shovels, picks, rakes, sledgehammers, and pruning tools to complete gardening and maintenance assignments. Load, unload, transport, and stage supplies, materials, tools, and equipment needed for daily and monthly work assignments. Operate vehicles and other equipment required to transport personnel, tools, supplies, and materials to work locations. Complete assigned gardening, landscaping, grounds-maintenance, and minor construction tasks safely, efficiently, and with work evaluated based on the quality of results achieved. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:00am-3:30pm (Subject to change based on the needs of the agency.) Position Description Title/PD#: Gardener (Tractor Operator)/PD03314A Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/18/2026. 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, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. 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: Dexterity and Safety Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Materials Measuring Instruments Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision 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. Physical Requirements/Working Conditions: Work requires frequent walking, standing, pushing of carts and wheelbarrows, bending, and stooping, and climbs ladders to trim and/or prune trees. At this grade level, the gardener more frequently climbs ladders and stretches to prune or trim vegetation than at lower grade levels. The also frequently lift heavy objects such as bags of fertilizer, grass seed, etc. In working outside, the gardener is subject to discomfort from long periods in the hot sun, and sometimes to chilly or rainy weather. In some instances the conditions will involve working in air contaminated with chemical dust and sprays being used on trees and shrubs. Grade 08 gardeners are usually exposed to chemical sprays and dusts more frequently than at the lower grade levels.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 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) Must pass pre-employment physical examination. Driver's Licensure is required. 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.

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 09/18/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13058071. 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. 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. 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/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified, you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.