Environmental Services Technician - Housekeeping Aid

Summary

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT. The initial cut-off date for referring eligible applications will be July 1, 2026, and applicants will be referred on an "as needed" basis thereafter. NOTE: This Announcement has been extended through 09/30/2026, and may be extended or closed if needed prior to the updated closing date. Vacancies may not currently exist at all advertised locations, but may later occur before the closing date. Applicants will be notified at the time of referral.

Duties

• The Housekeeping Aid (HKA) - Environmental Services (EVS) Technician plays a critical role in maintaining a clean, safe, and sanitary environment for Veterans, visitors, and staff at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).As an HKA-EVS Technician, you will perform a full range of light and heavy cleaning duties with minimal supervision. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Clean and sanitize patient rooms, wards, offices, corridors, restrooms, shower rooms, and other assigned areas Sweep, mop, scrub (machine), polish floors, and vacuum carpets and upholstered furniture Remove trash and waste, including regulated medical waste, in accordance with safety procedures Respond promptly to spills and maintain safe, hazard-free environments Clean walls, windows, ceilings, light fixtures, and Venetian blinds Refill dispensers (toilet tissue, paper towels, soap) and maintain supply levels Move furniture and equipment as needed to perform cleaning duties Use ladders and cleaning equipment safely to complete assigned tasks Follow established infection control, safety, and environmental protocols VA facilities employ a high percentage of Veterans, and HKA-EVS Technicians work alongside fellow Veterans in a mission-driven environment supporting patient care. Work Schedule: Work schedules may vary and will be based on the needs of the service. Shifts may include days, evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. Position Description Title/PD#: Environmental Services Technician - Housekeeping Aid/PD99909S, PD03249A, PD99909-S, PD99909S, and PD03377-A Physical Requirements: The position demands continuous walking, standing, stooping, kneeling, pulling, and pushing. The work requires the occasional use of heavy powered cleaning equipment (e.g., wall washers, industrial type buffers) weighing over 50 pounds. The duties necessitate considerable dexterity, hand, foot, and eye coordination, and concentration as well as visual acuity to see dirt, dust and debris. WORKING CONDITIONS: Work is normally performed indoors with adequate heat, light, and ventilation. Some work may be performed outdoors where there may be exposed to varying degrees of heat and cold as well as inclement weather. PPE may be required in some circumstance as exposure to possible contagious diseases, blood and bloody secretion are inherent to this position. Care is required to avoid serious injuries (i.e., broken bones) when working on ladders, or when using 30-100-pound power equipment or handling hazardous materials.

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, which 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: Reliability & Dependability (Screen-out element) Work Practices Special Aptitude - Housekeeping Work Handle Weights & Loads Follow Directions Dexterity & 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 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 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.

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 09/30/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12988813. 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.