Animal Health Technician

Summary

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo. This position is located in the Department of Wildlife Health Sciences (WHS) at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) located in Front Royal, Va.

More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

This position is open to all U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals. Note: Federal employees with permanent status or individuals eligible for special appointing authorities may also apply to Job Announcement # More than one selection may be made from this announcement.

Duties

The Animal Health Technician provides veterinary technical support and performs veterinary tasks for the WHS Veterinary Department and its medical programs.

In this position, you will:

Provide technical support to veterinarians and consultants in areas such as animal anesthesia, treatment, surgery, dentistry, radiology, and preventative medicine.

Monitor hospital equipment and notifies the appropriate departments for servicing when necessary.

Assist veterinary staff with taking and developing radiographs for diagnostic purposes, collecting blood, urine, or fecal samples, preparing blood smears, performing diagnostic tests, and completing clinical pathology forms.

Assist in maintenance of medical and surgical records.

Manage inventory and supplies by following standard operating procedures for ordering, purchasing, and restocking.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

Pass Pre-employment Background Investigation

May need to complete a Probationary Period

Maintain a Bank Account for Direct Deposit/Electronic Transfer

Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered with Selective Service.

Conditions of Employment

Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.

For information on qualification requirements, see Qualification Standards Handbook for General Schedule Positions on .

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

Examples of qualifying specialized experience include work:

As a laborer, manager, or owner of a livestock ranch or farm involving direct work with livestock.

With livestock in a feed lot.

As a Livestock Market Inspector.

As an Animal Welfare Inspector.

As an assistant to a veterinarian who works with livestock.

In addition to the basic qualification requirement above:

Experience: You qualify for this position if you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal Service. For this position, specialized experience is defined as providing veterinary technical support in delivering healthcare to a range of non-domestic animals and provide clinical laboratory support through record maintenance and equipment management.

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; religious; 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.

Part-time and/or unpaid experience related to this position will be considered to determine the total number of years and months of experience. Be sure to note the number of paid or unpaid hours worked each week.

Or

Education:

To qualify at the GS-09 grade level based on education, applicants must successfully complete 2 full academic years of progressively higher-level graduate education or master's or equivalent graduate degree related to the work of the position.

Or a Combination: Education and experience may be combined to meet the basic qualifications. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position.

For a full explanation of this option please see the . Special Instructions for Foreign Education: If you are qualifying by education and/or you have education completed in a foreign college/university described above, it is your responsibility to provide transcripts and proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study. For instructions on where to fax these documents, see the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

Additional information

This position is included in the bargaining unit.

Recruitment Incentive: Recruitment incentive(s) may be authorized for this position. However, approval for incentives are contingent upon various availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require the incumbent to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a certain time period.

Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid.

Selections may be made for vacancies across the Smithsonian Institution (SI). By applying to this position, you agree to allow your application and other personal information to be shared with one or more SI hiring officials for employment consideration for same/similar positions within the location(s) identified in this announcement.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applicants for this position may be evaluated in multiple stages. The first stage is an evaluation of your responses to the online multiple-choice questions that assess your experience, education, and/or training for the job related competencies below:

Skill working as a veterinary technician in an AZA accredited Zoo (or similar) setting.

Ability to perform clinical laboratory support duties and veterinary clinical laboratory testing on zoo (or similar) and exotic species.

Ability to operate and maintain veterinary equipment, and fill and dispense veterinary prescriptions and products related to zoo (or similar) animals.

Ability to perform veterinary clinical support duties on zoo and exotic species, and to perform veterinary clinical laboratory testing.

Skill in communication, interaction, and project participation.

Applicants who meet or exceed minimum qualifications will be assigned to one of three category groups based on job-related criteria:

Best Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and excels in most of the job related competencies above.

Better Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements and satisfies most of the job related competencies above.

Good Category - Meets the minimum qualification requirements, but does not satisfy most of the job related competencies above to a substantive degree.

This category rating process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three", but protects the rights of veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each category. A selecting official may make selections from the highest quality category (Best Category) provided no preference eligible in that category is passed over to select a non-preference eligible in that category unless the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 3317(b) or 3318(b) are satisfied. Preference eligibles who meet minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent must be listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-9 grade level or higher. Applicants who have not submitted a resume in the USAjobs system and/or have not answered all of the vacancy questions will not be considered for this position.

Important Note:

Your resume and supporting documentation will be compared to your responses to the occupational questionnaire or other assessment tool for consistency. If a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your resume, you will be assigned a rating commensurate to your described experience. Your resume should provide sufficient information regarding how your education and experience relate to this position, including the major duties and qualifications criteria listed.

You may for this vacancy.

Required Documents

Your application package should include the following documents:

Resume - Your resume can be uploaded and attached to your application or created using the USA Jobs on-line resume builder. Ensure your resume contains the job title (including the occupational series and grade if it is Federal), job-related qualifications, starting and ending dates (month and year), hours worked per week, and salary for each employment period. It is your responsibility to ensure all information is submitted. Failure to include this information may result in disqualification for the position. For assistance with creating a resume, please click .

Proof of Veteran's Preference - DD214 (Member 4 Copy), if you are a veteran. Additionally, applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete Standard Form (SF) 15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference, as well as additional documentation required by the SF-15, such as a VA letter.

Unofficial school transcripts, if the position has an education requirement or if you are using education to qualify. If selected for the position, you must provide an official transcript before appointment.

Proof of U.S. accreditation for foreign study, if applicable.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.