Why This Legal Administrative Specialist (Contact Representative) Job Matters
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Legal Administrative Specialist (Contact Representative) Job Overview
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:09/09/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05 level. For a GS-09 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07 level. For a GS-10 position, you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09 level. The grade may have been in any occupation but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-07 Grade Level Specialized experience: is defined as the ability to work with direct supervision or guidance when providing customer service, benefit counseling, and claim processing. (2) The individual must possess knowledge of researching relevant subject matter. (3) The experience should be significantly and directly derived from federal, military, or the private sector. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to orating to persons from a wide variety of backgrounds regarding VA benefits programs; performing research of local, state, and Federal laws and regulations to determine Veterans' eligibility for benefits programs. OR A bachelor's degree or equivalent degree with superior academic achievement (2.95 and higher). GS-09 Grade Level Specialized experience: is defined as (1) The individual must possess moderate knowledge of researching relevant subject matter. (2) The experience should be significantly and directly derived from federal, military, or the private sector. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to orating to persons from a wide variety of backgrounds regarding VA benefits programs; performing research of local, state, and Federal laws and regulations to determine Veterans' eligibility for benefits programs. OR 2. A master's degree or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.M., if related; OR 3. Equivalent combinations of Specialized Experience and Graduate education. [To compute, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education beyond two years by 9. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100% to qualify.] GS-10 Grade Level Specialized Experience: is defined as (1) experience that has demonstrated the capability of being a self-reliant decision-maker and possessing the ability to work independently when providing customer service benefits, counseling and claims processing. (2) The individual must possess in-depth knowledge of researching relevant subject matter. (3) The experience should be significantly and directly derived from federal, military, or the private sector. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to orating to persons from a wide variety of backgrounds regarding VA benefits programs; performing research of local, state, and Federal laws and regulations to determine Veterans' eligibility for benefits programs. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have two and a half years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree. Graduate level education must demonstrate the competencies necessary to do the work of the position. (Must submit transcripts). OR Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience and education beyond two years of progressively higher level graduate education. Note for GS-10: Only graduate education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be used in combination with experience to qualify applicants. Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. 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. 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/.