Cook

Cook

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Charleston, South Carolina

Salary Range: $24.42 - $28.49 Per Hour

Job Summary: This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Charleston, SC. The person in this position prepares nutritious, high quality meals for service to the Veterans and also works as a Food Service Worker, assembling and delivering patient meal trays and nourishments.

Major Duties:

• Duties and Responsibilities include: Prepare a wide variety of food items for use in patient meal service using scratch/conventional cooking and standardized recipes. Perform a wide variety of cooking procedures such as roasting, boiling, broiling, baking, frying, poaching, steaming, grilling and stewing. Cut and wash chicken and turkey when necessary, slices meats and/or other foods by hand or machine, conforming to specific size and/or weight requirements. Prepare soups, gravies, sauces, puddings etc. without the use of packaged mixes. Prepare other menu items such as cooked cereals, casserole dishes, meat extender dishes, cooked fruits etc. Prepare simple desserts such as cakes from mixes, gelatin desserts, cobblers, etc., and bake off pre-frozen foods as pies and other desserts. Prepares garnishes and make cold sandwich fillings as required. Prepares cold food as assigned. Prepare all food in such a way as to conserve nutrients, texture, color and flavor. May make substitutions and adjustments in food preparation procedures and seasoning to make the food more attractive and to improve taste. When these substitutions or adjustments are made they should be made in consultation with a higher grade cook, manager or Registered Dietitian. Prepare a variety of meat, fish, poultry, eggs and other entrees for regular and modified diets using standardized recipes and proper procedure. Prepare vegetables, pastas, etc. according to standardized recipes with special emphasis on consistency, seasoning, etc., for modified diets. Evaluate a variety of raw and cooked food items to decide if they are fresh and whether cooked foods are done by their appearance, consistency, texture, and temperature. Preparation of food for such modified diets as diabetic, sodium restricted, low cholesterol, mechanically altered, pureed and others. Preparation of menu items using special or difficult recipes that require numerous interrelated steps, many ingredients and/or involve lengthy preparation. Planning of food for cooking or after the cooking process. Food will be layered at a depth of no more than three inches to preserve food quality and meet established temperature guidelines. Planning, regulating and scheduling cooking procedures so that numerous completed food products are ready at the appropriate temperature and time. Examine all food for quality and freshness before preparation. Operate a variety of equipment including mixers, blenders, ovens, steam kettles, grills, fryers, slicers, microwaves, portable cooking equipment (griddles/grills), etc. and is responsible for cleaning and maintaining the sanitation of the equipment used. Serve food on the serving line(s) as assigned. Keeps serving line(s) supplied with fresh, hot food. Prepare and present food "to order", as required. Check food products for quality prior to placing on serving line(s). Labels food items for contents prior to placing on serving line(s). Control food usage by preparing quantities indicated on cooks' worksheet/production sheet and using standardized portion sizes. Responsible for maintaining the cook's refrigerator and freezer in accordance with optimum HACCP standards. Ensure the cook's refrigerator and freezers are cleaned and organized daily. Ensure proper serving utensils are available for serving line(s). Take and record internal cooking temperatures of foods prepared to ensure HACCP guidelines are followed. Take food temperatures during tray line service, if necessary. Maintain the proper temperature for all foods during holding, transport, reheating and serving to ensure food safety. Ensure that back-up serving line food is available in holding warmer and/or oven and that serving line does not stop to wait on food. Other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Variable shifts between 5:00AM - 6:30PM. Requires working some weekends and holidays. Schedule subject to change based on agency need. Position Description Title/PD#: Cook/PD078450 Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Qualifications: 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.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 01/12/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12848851. 1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 2. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center. 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. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. 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. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-12