Food Service Worker (intermittent)

Food Service Worker

This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Service of the VA Providence Healthcare System. This position is an intermittent position. Employees who are employed on an irregular or occasional basis, with hours or days of work not on a prearranged schedule, and with compensation only for the time actually employed or for services actually rendered.

Responsibilities:

• Provides on-going instructions and demonstrates proper work methods to lower grade personnel.
• Prepares and delivers between meal nourishment and necessary tube feedings.
• Conducts hydration and snack deliveries to patients twice daily as requested.
• Checks menus, unit orders and portioning guide for completeness and accuracy.
• Assists patients with diet restrictions with daily meal choices.
• Sets up cold food items such as salads, desserts and cold beverages.
• Performs basic food preparation activities such as toast, egg and coffee preparation.
• Assists cooks by weighting and/or measuring ingredients and labeling them for use in the production area.
• Makes salads including molded salads from prepared vegetables and fruits.
• Responsible for correct portioning of salads, desserts, condiments, and beverages for tray serving units and cafeteria.
• Checks work in progress to insure compliance with written guidelines and instructions from the supervisor.
• Responsible for placing the regular selective or modified diet cards and menu during serving operations.
• Checks food as it comes from preparation area to determine correctness, quality, and temperature.
• Responsible for sanitation and proper handling of equipment, supplies, utensils and dishes used in preparation areas.
• Participates in cleaning the work area, serving unit, and/or dining room including floors, equipment, tables, etc.
• Maintains familiarity with all equipment in the unit and reports maintenance issue to the supervisor.
• Reads and interprets regular and modified menu, individual diet cards, or patient selections and places correct items on patient trays.
• The incumbent has a high level of skills and abilities for providing patient centered care and exceptional customer service.
• Daily interaction with veterans to obtain menu selections.

Work Schedule: Intermittent, as needed. May include weekends and holidays.

Position Description Title/PD#: Food Service Worker 99920S

Notification: This is not a bargaining unit position. This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. Selectee may be required to work at any VA Providence Healthcare System campus, as needed.

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.

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.

Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification 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.

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

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.

Physical Requirements/Working Conditions:

Food Service Workers perform work requiring light to moderate physical effort. They may be required to perform heavy work, such as scouring and scrubbing large size cooking utensils and pushing heavy carts and trucks in unloading, storing, and delivering supplies. They are subject to continuous standing and walking, and frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending. They frequently lift or move objects weighing up to 20 pounds unassisted and occasionally lift or move objects weighing more than 40 pounds with the assistance of others. The work is performed in kitchen areas where the steam and heat from cooking and dishwashing equipment often cause uncomfortably high temperatures and humidity. The work area is well-lighted but usually noisy from food service activities, and there is danger of slipping on floors where food or beverages have been dropped. Food service workers are regularly exposed to hot liquids, sharp cutting blades, hot working surfaces, and extreme temperature changes when entering walk-in refrigeration or freezing units.

Education Substitution of Education: There is no educational substitution for this position.

Additional Information:

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Participation in the seasonal influenza program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). It is a requirement that all HCP to receive annual seasonal influenza vaccination or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Wearing a face mask is required when an exemption to the influenza vaccination has been granted. HCP in violation of this directive may face disciplinary action up to and including removal from federal service.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/.