Career Center

Summary

This position is in the Nutrition and Food Service at W.G. "Bill" Hefner VA Medical Center - Salisbury - NC. The person in this position prepares nutritious - high qualify meals for service to the Veterans.

Qualifications

Beginning September 27 - 2025 - Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages - and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge - skills - abilities - and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility - minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF - JPG - JPEG - PNG - RTF - TXT - PDF - ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato - if available. Other widely available options are Calibri - Helvetica - Arial - Verdana - Open San Source Sans Pro - Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required - but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge - skills - and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element - which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Dexterity and Safety Interpret Instructions - Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Materials Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision Work Practices 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Duties

• Major Duties include but are not limited to: Performs a full range of simple cooking which entails the preparation and cooking of meals that require little or no processing
• Follows menus - production sheets and recipes to prepare items in the quantity needed
• Performs full range of simple cooking by preparing and cooking items requiring little or no processing such as hot cereals - concentrated or dehydrated soups - sauces - and gravies
• Grills eggs - hamburgers - meat patties - pancakes - French toast
• broils meats
• makes cold sandwich fillings and assembles a variety of sandwiches
• Prepares fresh - canned - and frozen vegetables
• bakes frozen potatoes - pre-made cookie dough - muffin batters
• Prepares and heats convenience items such as frozen hash browns - fish fillets - and chicken nuggets
• prepares pureed foods and adjusts consistency with thickeners
• Washes - peels and cuts fruits and vegetables by hand or machine
• Assembles and mixes salad ingredients and dessert items including gelatin molds and fruit crisps
• Washes - peels - chops - grinds - pares - cuts - slices - dices - purees - dredges - flours - breads items
• Weighs - measures - assembles ingredients for regular and modified diets
• Combines ingredients according to precisely written recipes to produce quality food items - minimizing preparation time and food waste
• Pans foods for bulk according to recipe guidelines and production guidelines
• Operates a variety of kitchen equipment: oven - combi oven/steamer - grill - slicer - mixer - steam kettles - blender - food processor - scale
• follows safety procedures regarding the operation of equipment
• Follows sanitary food handling procedures
• covers - labels and dates food items
• utilize or discard ingredients by expiration date Cleans and sanitizes assigned work areas: worktables - sinks - blast chillers - rack - carts Operates dish machine Cleans - stores and maintains all kitchen utensils - equipment and work areas practicing a \"clean as you go\" concept Rotates and stores perishable and non-perishable items according to service policies
• Maintain accurate food inventories Work Schedule: 4:30am - 1:00pm
• 5:30am - 2:00pm - 9:00am - 5:30pm - 11:00am - 7:30pm
• Rotating Weekends - Holidays - and Days Off Position Description Title/PD#: Cook/PD99819A Physical Requirements: This position is subject to continuous standing - walking - frequent bending - reaching - pushing and pulling
• Lifts or moves objects weighing up to 40 lbs
• unassisted
• Manipulates cumbersome and heavy objects - such as washing stainless steel mixing bowls - pushing heavy carts on caster - or operating heavy equipment
• Manual dexterity needed to safely operate equipment and to handle sharp knives and blades
• Hand-eye coordination and ability to concentrate and react quickly to serve food and operate equipment
• Working Conditions: The work is performed in areas of temperature extremes
• Work is carried out in kitchen/dish room areas that are often hot - uncomfortable - and noisy
• Environment includes exposure to extreme cold while working in walk-in refrigerators and freezers for extended periods of time to complete duties
• Works with other cooks - food service workers - and supervisors
• Exposed to stems - cooking odors - and noise from equipment and conversation
• Subject to hazards of cuts - bruises - strains - burns and falls in kitchen equipment
• Strong cleaning and sanitizing solutions may be skin and respiratory irritants
• Performs work in patient care settings where there may be exposure to contagious disease
• May have contact with patients who demonstrate verbally and/or physically aggressive behavior
• Required to wear proper hair covering and clean uniform
• Wear disposable gloves when handling food for service - and proper protective equipment when completing cleaning activities.