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Duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Setting up assigned station with the correct supplies and food items;
• Serving food cafeteria style by placing uniform portions of food on customers'/patients'/residents' plates;
• Breaking down and cleaning the station when assigned;
• Setting up dining room tables for service, placing food and beverages on tables, and replenishing items as necessary;
• Returning soiled trays and dishes to the dish room;
• Delivering meal trays to the patients' bedsides and report the patients' comments and complaints to the supervisor or dietitian;
• Preparing beverages according to the number of servings required;
• Preparing fresh fruit/cold salads/dressings/sandwich fillings and cold sandwiches and simple cold desserts in specified quantities;
• Sorting, washing, peeling, and cutting cold foods using knives or other equipment;
• Providing assistance to cooks in the food preparation area by weighing, measuring, and assembling ingredients according to standardized recipes;
• Preparing uncooked food items, such as sandwiches, salad dressings, and boxed/to-go meals;
• Operating and breaking down and cleaning all equipment assigned to food service and related areas;
• Portioning food items into standard serving sizes using the proper utensils and specified dishware;
• Selecting and placing correct items on patient trays;
• Reading and interpreting regular or modified menus, individual diet cards, tray tickets or patient selections;
• Identifying obvious discrepancies between the prescribed diets and the food items designated by the menu;
• Deciding what food items to serve for the most common diets;
• Performing heavy-duty cleaning tasks throughout the food service and related areas;
• Separating food waste, and trash/recyclables from dishes, glasses, and silverware;
• Unloading food/tray delivery carts;
• Storing sanitized dishes, glasses, and silverware;
• Scraping, soaking, scouring, and scrubbing cookware and utensils;
• Moving garbage cans when collecting and transferring trash from the work area to the disposal area;
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Pre-employment physical required
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

PHYSICAL EFFORT AND WORK 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. May be required to work on ladders and use powered cleaning equipment. 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.

Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume.

You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position:

• Dexterity and Safety
• Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading)
• Materials
• Technical Practices
• Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment
• Work Practices

How you will be evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Your responses to the assessment questionnaire will be reviewed along with the information provided in your resume and supporting documentation to determine if you are qualified for the position. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered and/or you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

Candidates who apply under All U.S. Citizens announcements will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. Qualified candidates will be assigned to a quality category. The categories are defined 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;
• 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 requirements of the job; and
• Qualified - applicants possessing experience and/or education that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors.