Employee development at VA

Leadership and learning go hand-in-hand. The Department of Veterans Affairs understands that providing the best care for our Veterans means constant growth and improvement. As our patient population continues to increase, our workforce and culture make it possible to evolve while enhancing the quality of care provided to Veterans and their families. All employees at VA have the chance to advance their technical and leadership skills. The developmental opportunities are categorized into three areas:

• Career Training By offering stretch assignments and short-term leadership roles, we help every member of our care teams develop critical-thinking skills to prepare for future career advancement. Our leaders are essential to this process, as they mentor employees and provide support through temporary assignments and special projects, such as shadowing other employees, developing presentations, and leading ad hoc teams. Our goal is to constantly improve collaboration through growth opportunities based on giving our health care professionals the ability to expand their professional network.
• Self-Directed Learning We want to give everyone the opportunity to plan their own careers by giving them the tools to develop their professional skills, such as:
  • MyCareer@VA: Provides interactive career development tools to assist employees in exploring and charting their long-term career paths within VA.
  • VA Leadership Development Portal: Serves as a resource library, work collaboration tool, and social networking site all in one. It contains leadership videos, articles, podcasts, and more.
  • Talent Management System (TMS): As the primary training delivery and tracking system for VA, TMS provides employees with access to courses covering topics such as occupation-specific technical skills and general leadership competencies
• Leadership Development

To build individual competencies and maximize the potential of each employee, these programs enhance technical and leadership skills for all levels. A few of the programs that our employees can take advantage of are the Technical Career Field Program, Military Service School, High Performing Leader’s Program, Health Care Leadership Program, New Executive Training Program and more.

Comprehensive and continuous learning through the development programs at VA are integral to grow the leaders of tomorrow. We are looking for dedicated health professionals who want serve our Nation’s Veterans. To learn more about how VA can support your career, visit VAcareers.va.gov.