Food Service Worker Leader

Veterans Health Administration•Portland, OR

15d

About The Position

This position is in Nutrition and Food Services within the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Administration. The primary purpose is to perform and lead employees in food service operations, including food handling, preparation, storage, and delivery. The role leads production and service activities, reviews and adjusts daily work assignments, communicates instructions, reports problems to supervisors and managers, and provides and documents on-the-job training. It also performs safety and sanitation inspections, ensures work areas are set up properly, checks patient trays for temperature and accuracy, observes employee performance, and supports performance improvement activities. Food service work includes setting up and serving from tray lines and cafeteria stations, cleaning assigned stations, preparing dining areas, delivering meal trays to patients, preparing nourishment items, calculating ingredient quantities and converting measurements, performing heavy cleaning, and assisting cooks with food preparation. The scheduled hours are Sunday through Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. PST. The work takes place in kitchen areas that may be hot, humid, noisy, and slippery. Workers may encounter hot liquids, sharp blades, hot surfaces, abrupt temperature changes in refrigeration or freezing units, and possible exposure to contagious diseases. The work involves light to heavy physical effort, including frequent sitting, standing, walking, stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending; lifting up to 20 pounds unassisted and occasionally moving more than 40 pounds with assistance. Applicants must meet federal employment conditions, including U.S. citizenship subject to the stated exception, suitability determined through a background investigation, and applicable Selective Service registration. The position has a one-year probationary period. Applicants must demonstrate sufficient training or experience to perform the work; no specific length of training or experience is required. There is no education qualification requirement. VA health care personnel must receive annual seasonal influenza vaccination or obtain an eligible exemption and wear a face mask when exempt.

Requirements

Demonstrate training or experience of sufficient scope and quality to perform the position; no specific length of training or experience is required.
Demonstrate the ability to lead Food Service Worker duties, including assigning and adjusting work, communicating instructions, reporting issues, and providing on-the-job training.
Ability to perform food service work such as checking trays, assisting with food preparation, preparing nourishment items, serving meals and drinks, and cleaning and sanitizing kitchen equipment.
Ability to follow instructions and proper food-handling guidelines.
Ability to make arithmetic computations, including increasing, decreasing, or converting metric and standard measurements.
U.S. citizenship is required, with the stated exception for non-citizens when qualified citizens cannot be recruited under VA policy.
Must be suitable for federal employment as determined by a background investigation.
Selective Service registration is required for males born after December 31, 1959.
Must complete the required online onboarding and provide acceptable identification and application documents.
Must serve a one-year probationary period.
VA health care personnel must receive annual seasonal influenza vaccination or obtain a medical or religious exemption; employees with an exemption must wear a face mask.
Must meet physical demands that include frequent sitting, standing, walking, stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending; lifting up to 20 pounds unassisted and occasionally moving more than 40 pounds with assistance.

Responsibilities

Lead activities in production and service areas.
Review daily work assignments and make adjustments as needed.
Communicate work instructions and information to employees.
Report problems and events to supervisors and managers.
Provide on-the-job training to lower-graded food service workers and document training.
Complete safety and sanitation inspection checks.
Ensure food production and service areas are properly set up.
Perform final checks of trays for proper temperature and accuracy against tray tickets.
Observe employee performance and provide feedback to supervisors.
Participate in performance improvement programs and document quality improvement data.
Set up tray-line stations with the correct supplies and food items.
Serve food cafeteria-style and clean assigned stations after service.
Set up dining room tables for service.
Deliver meal trays to patients' bedsides and report comments or complaints to a supervisor or dietitian.
Prepare individual and bulk nourishments and supplemental foods and beverages.
Determine ingredient quantities and convert between metric and standard measurements.
Perform heavy-duty cleaning throughout food service areas.
Assist cooks in food preparation.
Perform other related duties as assigned.