Food Service Worker

Veterans Health Administration • Baltimore, MD

11d

About The Position

Wage Grade 4 Food Service Workers independently perform duties requiring proficiency in special procedures and broad knowledge of food service operations, including food and beverage preparation, modified diets, computer proficiency, dishwashing, dry and refrigerated storage, and safety and sanitation. They can perform all duties of lower-grade workers and may also assist with patient meal selections, thicken items, and check trays.

The position supports food preparation and service for patients, residents, and cafeteria customers. Duties include setting up and cleaning stations, serving food, preparing beverages and cold foods, assisting cooks, delivering meals, checking diet trays, preparing nourishments and supplemental feedings, taking inventories, and sanitizing equipment and work areas. Work schedules vary and include rotating weekends and holidays.

The work requires light to moderate physical effort, with occasional heavy tasks such as scrubbing large cooking utensils and pushing heavy carts. It involves continuous standing and walking, frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending, and lifting objects up to 20 pounds frequently without assistance and over 40 pounds occasionally with assistance. Work is performed in kitchen areas that may be hot, humid, and noisy, with slip hazards and exposure to hot liquids, sharp blades, hot surfaces, and temperature changes in refrigeration or freezer units.

A specific length of training or experience is not required. Applicants must demonstrate, through detailed resume descriptions, training or experience of sufficient scope and quality to perform the work. There is no education qualification requirement. Preferred experience includes rotating roles in an enhanced dining system, such as Ambassador, Expeditor, or Call Center employee, with patient meal ordering, menu adjustments, tray delivery and retrieval, meal-service software, tray accuracy and temperature checks, patient satisfaction activities, and customer-service liaison duties. The preferred experience requires using a telephone system, computer, and mobile communication device.

Selected applicants must meet federal employment conditions, complete onboarding, and serve a one-year probationary period. The role is subject to applicable VA health care personnel influenza vaccination requirements.

Requirements

• Demonstrate training or experience of sufficient scope and quality to perform the work; no specific length of training or experience is required.
• Provide detailed resume descriptions supporting the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the duties.
• Meet the applicable OPM Federal Wage System qualification standards and screen-out requirement.
• Be a U.S. citizen, unless appointment of a non-citizen is permitted under VA policy because qualified citizens cannot be recruited.
• Be suitable for federal employment as determined by a background investigation.
• If tentatively selected for a testing-designated position, undergo urinalysis for illegal drug use; refusal results in denial of employment.
• Meet Selective Service registration requirements for males born after December 31, 1959.
• Complete the online onboarding process and provide acceptable identification and the required application documents.
• Serve a one-year probationary period and receive written certification to continue employment after it is completed.
• Meet the VA health care personnel seasonal influenza vaccination requirement or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons; employees with an exemption must wear a face mask.
• Demonstrate job-related competencies in dexterity and safety, interpreting instructions and specifications, materials, technical practices, using and maintaining tools and equipment, and work practices.

Nice To Haves

• Experience serving on a rotating basis as an Ambassador, Expeditor, or Call Center employee in an enhanced dining system.
• Experience interviewing patients for meal orders, introducing the ordering system, planning and adjusting menus, coordinating with a Communications Center, delivering and retrieving trays, and monitoring bulk nourishments.
• Experience using nutrition meal-service software to take orders, run reports, ensure tray tickets print, and complete food tallies for cooks.
• Experience with performance-improvement activities, including patient satisfaction surveys, calorie counts, tray accuracy and temperature monitoring, and meal-service observation.
• Excellent customer service and the ability to act as a tactful and diplomatic liaison among patients, Nutrition and Food Services, Nursing Service, staff, and patients' families.
• Ability to use a telephone system, computer, and mobile communication device.
• Ability to follow department scripting requirements and train others as needed.

Responsibilities

• Set up assigned tray-line stations with required supplies and food items, then break down and clean the station when assigned.
• Serve food cafeteria-style in uniform portions and set up dining-room tables, placing and replenishing food and beverages as needed.
• Return soiled trays and dishes to the dish room and deliver meal trays to patients' bedsides, reporting patient comments and complaints to a supervisor or dietitian.
• Prepare beverages, fresh fruit, cold salads and dressings, sandwich fillings and sandwiches, simple cold desserts, and uncooked food items in specified quantities.
• Sort, wash, peel, and cut cold foods using knives or other equipment.
• Assist cooks by weighing, measuring, and assembling ingredients according to standardized recipes.
• Operate, break down, and clean assigned food-service equipment; sanitize work areas and sterilize equipment.
• Portion food items into standard serving sizes using appropriate utensils and dishware, and prepare boxed or to-go meals.
• Check diet trays assembled by lower-grade workers for completeness and correct food temperatures; verify that food matches prescribed diets, identify obvious discrepancies, and select appropriate items for common diets when only the diet type is identified.
• Distribute menus and surveys, provide patients with basic information about modified diets and nutrition services, and prepare individual and bulk nourishments and supplemental foods and beverages.
• Assemble, measure, weigh, or mix ingredients for basic formulas and supplemental feedings according to standardized recipes and sanitary practices; determine ingredient quantities and convert between metric and standard measurements.
• Take nourishment inventories, stock items using first-in-first-out procedures, replace expired items, and label and distribute individual nourishments.
• In preferred enhanced-dining-system assignments, interview patients and take meal orders, introduce patients to the ordering system, adjust menus, communicate with the Communications Center, monitor bulk nourishments, and deliver and retrieve trays.
• In preferred assignments, use nutrition meal-service software to run reports, ensure tray tickets print, and complete food tallies for cooks; conduct or support patient satisfaction surveys, calorie counts, tray-accuracy and temperature monitoring, and meal-service observations.
• In preferred assignments, ensure Veterans have been fed and accounted for at each meal, act as a liaison among patients, Nutrition and Food Services, and Nursing Service, follow scripting requirements, and train others as needed.

Benefits

• Federal employees and their families have access to a comprehensive benefits package; specific eligibility depends on position type and should be confirmed with the hiring agency.
• Annual leave accrual may be credited for qualifying job-related non-federal experience or active-duty uniformed military service, if requested and approved before appointment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed