HISTOPATHOLOGY TECHNOLOGIST
Location: East Orange New Jersey
Description: Department of Veterans Affairs is presently looking of HISTOPATHOLOGY TECHNOLOGIST right now, this job will be placed in New Jersey. Detailed specification about this job opportunity please read the description below. Vacancy ID:
858045
OUR MISSION:
To fulfill President LincolnÂ's promise - Â"To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his wi! dow, and his orphanÂ" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are AmericaÂ's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate care to Veterans?
The
Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) needs employees who possess the energy, compassion, and commitment to serve those who served our Country. Whatever the job title, every position in VA will give you a chance to make a meaningful and personal contribution to the lives of truly special and deserving people - our Veterans. VA professionals feel good about their careers and their ability to balance work and home life. VA offers generous paid time off and a variety of predictable and flexible scheduling opportunities. Working for VA is one of the most emotionally satisfying and professionally rewarding ways to dedicate the best within you to your Country's service.
If you are transitioning from the military or a Veteran already, we invite you to explore the ! benefits of continuing your career at the VA.
The VA ! is committed to hiring Veterans
. The VA is much more than just another employer. It is an honorable, open and welcoming community of those who care. Gratitude is our motivation and service is our mission.
The VA has adopted Core Values and Characteristics that apply universally across the Department. The five Core Values define Â"who we are,Â" our culture, and how we care for Veterans, their families and other beneficiaries. The Values are
I
ntegrity,
C
ommitment,
A
dvocacy,
R
espect and
E
xcellence (Â"
I CARE
Â").
America's Veterans need you!
To find out more, go to
http://www.va.gov/jobs/
.
KEY REQUIREMENTS
You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job.
Subject to a background/suitability investigation.
DUTIES:
DUTIES:
This position is located within t! he Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, New Jersey. Duties include but are not limited to the following:
Cleans, maintains, troubleshoots and safely utilizes all
histopathology and cytopathology laboratory
equipment;
Processes tissues either manually or mechanically through fixation, dehydration and infiltration;
Decides on special processing schedules for unusual specimens (i.e. dense bone, lipid, and blood);
Embeds tissues, cuts thin sections and does routine staining;
Performs special stains when necessary for diagnostic clarification;
Performs preparation of frozen sections for rapid interpretation/diagnosis of tissue during surgery
Performs complex Immunohistochemical staining and other specialized stain procedures including fungus, amyloid and PAS staining;
Alters and standardizes the pH of solutions used in these staining! methods to achieve the precise staining results;
Prepares fro! zen section and MOH's tissue sections for pathologist examination;
Prepares samples for molecular testing;
Maintaining and running controls with special procedures to check any discrepancies that could cause false results;
Takes necessary action to correct false positive results;
Prepares and stains all submitted cytology specimens, utilizing smear prep, cell block and FNA technology;
Performs gross examination of small routine biopsies for pathologist examination;
Assists radiologist in all FNA biopsies;
Documents all quality assurance and quality control for all GYN specimens;
Logs all surgical pathology and cytology material accurately into computer for record keeping and physician information;
Researches and develops new procedures for improving methodology;
Familiarizes pathology staff and residents with techniques and equipment;
Fills in for the Autopsy Assistant when ne! cessary;
Keeps a daily workload log.
Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, hours are varied.
DESIGNATED DRUG-TESTING POSITION:
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. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test result is received.
***RELOCATION EXPENSES AND/OR INCENTIVES ARE NOT AUTHORIZED***
QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:
BASIC EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENT:
A bachelor's degree or four (4) years of college education leading to a bachelorÂ's degree from an accredited institution with a major field of study in the health sciences or allied sciences that is appropriate to the work of this position.
Transcripts are required to verify this educational requirement.
A! ND
IN ADDITION TO THE BASIC EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENT, THIS POSI! TION REQUIRES:
One (1) year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled? To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level of Federal service.
Examples of specialized experience include:
preparing human tissue specimens; working knowledge of applicable tools, systems and techniques used to process tissue samples; carrying out various diagnostic tests on tissue samples; performing complex analyses on tissue specimens and evaluating abnormal results; documenting results and reporting findings; and maintaining histopathology and cytopathology laboratory equipment.
To receive credit for these skills they must be documented in your resume.
OR
SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION:
A masterÂ's degre! e or two (2) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree from an accredited institution in a directly related field of study that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position may be substituted for the experience required at the GS-9 grade level. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered an academic year of graduate study.
If you are using education to qualify, transcripts are required.
OR
COMBINATION:
A combination of specialized experience and successfully completed graduate education as described that demonstrates your ability to perform the duties of this position is fully qualifying at the GS-9 grade level.
If you qualify by a combination, your ex! perience must be documented in your resume and transcripts are required! .
A
Quality Ranking Factor
- has been requested by the facility to help determine which of the basically qualified applicants are likely to be better qualified for the position. The quality ranking factor for this position is:
*
Quality Ranking Factors
are skills, knowledge, abilities, or other worker characteristics which could be expected to result in superior performance on the job. Quality ranking factors
will not be used for screening
, but may be used as ranking criteria. Applicants with higher proficiency levels may rank above those with lower proficiency levels on a quality ranking factor.
You will be rated on the following Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Other characteristics (KSAOs) as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position:
bility to process t
issues either manually or mechanically through fixation, dehydration and infiltration.
2. Ability to
perform special stains and special immunoperoxidase procedures as needed for diagnostic clarification.
3. Skill in
logging all data accurately into computer for record keeping and physician information.
4. K
nowledge of
histopathology and cytopathology laboratory equipment.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS/WORK ENVIRONMENT:
The work requires regular and recurring physical exertion such as standing for long periods of time, bending over microscopes, etc. The work involves regular and recurring risks or discomforts associated with working in a clinical and anatomic laboratory, i.e. working with infectious tissue samples, hazardous chemicals and fumes, such as alcohol, xylene, formalin and acids. The Technologist utilizes a fume hood when using these substances. ! The Technologist wears protective clothing such as coats, masks, goggle! s, or gloves and takes extreme safety precautions in handling fresh and fixed specimens, and in using scalpel.
For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at
http://www.opm.gov/qualifications
.
APPLICANTS PLEASE NOTE:
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. Please refer to this
checklist
to ensure proper accreditation and for foreign education requirements.
Veteran's Preference
:
When applying for Federal jobs, eligible veterans should claim preference on the Occupational Questionnaire in the section provided and provide a legible copy of DD-214(s) showing all dates of service as well as character of service (honorable, general, etc.). Additionally, veterans with service-connected di! sability of 10% or more must also submit a copy of their official statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or from a branch of the Armed Forces, certifying their service-connected disability and/or their receipt of compensation for service-connected disability. If the military member is within 120 days of separation and does not yet have a DD214, the member may instead submit any written document from the armed forces that certifies the service member is expected to be discharged or released from active duty service in the armed forces under honorable conditions not later than 120 days after the date the certification is signed.
Veterans with service-connected disability of less than 10%, non service-connected disability, and Purple Heart recipients, as-well-as those claiming derived preference for a spouse, widow or widower, or natural mother, should refer to and submit a completed "
SF15, "Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference
,"! (go to
http://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/SF15.pdf
) ! and required documentation with your application materials. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit
http://www.fedshirevets.gov/job/veterans.aspx
.
HOW YOU WILL BE EVALUATED:
Applicants will be ranked based on four quality groups, as follows:
Best qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position;
Highly qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the requirements of the job;
Well qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in some, but not all, of the requireme! nts of the job; and
Qualified - applicants possessing experience and/or education that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors.
After the vacancy announcement closes, reviewed applications are evaluated against the questionnaire responses and placed in the appropriate quality group. Qualified veterans will be afforded preference by being placed at the top of the appropriate quality group. The best qualified group is the first to be referred to the hiring facility for further consideration and possible interview. The remaining groups may be referred based on the number of applicants available.
BENEFITS:
VA offers a comprehensive benefits package. This link provides an overview of the benefits currently offered:
http://www.va.gov/jobs/job_benefits/benefits.asp.
The Federal Government has special appointing authorities for persons with qualifying disabilities, such as Schedule A. S! pecific information can be found at
http://www.opm.gov/disabil! ity/peoplewithdisabilities.asp
. IMPORTANT: If you would like to receive consideration as a Schedule A applicant, you must contact the HR Office at the facility where this position is located: 151 KNOLLCROFT ROAD
LYONS, NJ 07939
OTHER INFORMATION:
Veterans and Transitioning Service Members:
Please visit the
VA for Vets
site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.
The
Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan
(ICTAP) and
Career Transition Assistance Plan
(CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal 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 pe! rformance 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/
.
VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employees credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
You may be required to serve a probationary period.
- .
If you were eligible to this job, please email us your resume, with salary requiremen! ts and a resume to Department of Veterans Affairs.
If you interested on this job just click on the Apply button, you will be redirected to the official website
This job starts available on: Sat, 23 Mar 2013 00:12:12 GMT