Food Service Worker

Food Service Worker

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Salary Range: $17.7 - $20.65 Per Hour

Job Summary: Wage Grade 2 Food Service Workers perform tasks with several steps or a sequence of tasks that requires attention to work operations. They follow set procedures in accomplishing repetitive assignments and follow an established sequence of work such as working in the dish room, passing trays, portioning cold foods and dipping hot foods.

Major Duties:

• Duties include but are not limited to: Using proper cleaning solutions to sanitize food preparation surfaces. Cleaning walk-in refrigerators and freezers in a food service or food handling organization. Handling and storing sanitized dishes, glasses and silverware for public use. Making sandwiches using prepared ingredients for cafeteria or buffet lines. Portioning food items into standard serving sizes using the proper utensils and containers. Assembling and tossing fresh fruit or green salads in large quantities for public consumption. Brewing coffee in a restaurant/commercial size coffee maker. Setting up glasses, silverware, dishes, trays and condiments in communal dining areas. Scouring and scrubbing heavy cooking utensils such as mixing bowls and pots. Performing heavy duty cleaning tasks such as ceilings and/or exhaust hoods. Loading and operating a continuous conveyor belt feeding dishwasher. Setting up cafeteria lines and/or steam-tables with hot and cold food items. Standing/walking to clear tables and carrying trays of heavy dishes for several hours or more at a time. Sweeping and mopping floors repetitively in high traffic areas such as corridors, entry ways, cafeterias and other areas. Moving kitchen equipment such as stand mixers, weight scales and meat slicers to clean spaces behind and under such equipment. Emptying trashcans containing food scraps and waste. Delivering meals, which may include hot foods and liquids, to patients' bedsides or patrons. Reading and understanding written material such as time and duty schedules. Reading and following instructions with regard to safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals. Reading and following instructions on menus, recipes, and/or basic work instructions. Following label directions in using cleaning or disinfecting/sanitizing agents. Applying sanitation principles to safeguard food against spoilage and waste. Adhering to safety policies and procedures when performing manual work involving lifting, carrying, transporting and delivering food or other items. Working quickly without accidents while at the same time being attentive to the quality of your work. Recognizing typical health and safety hazards for yourself and other workers around you. Working rapidly and accurately under the pressure of deadlines. Work Schedule: 10:30am-7:00pm may include weekends and holidays. Static schedules with set days off assigned at the time of onboarding. Work Schedule: Position Description Title/PD#: Food Service Worker/PD99921S Physical Requirements: Food Service Workers at this grade level perform work requiring repeated and frequent periods of heavy manual effort in lifting and carrying hot and cold items. Incumbent's work involves moderate to heavy physical effort. The incumbent is subject to continuous standing/walking; frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending. Frequently lift or move objects weighing up to 40 pounds and occasionally lift or move objects weighing over 40 pounds with assistance as needed. Work Environment: 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 (grease, water, etc.), sharp cutting blades, hot working surfaces and extreme temperature changes when entering walk-in refrigeration or freezing units. Incumbent is exposed to dangers of cuts, burns, bruises, and injuries from machines. They are also required to have hands in water containing cleaning compounds for relatively long periods. Working areas are usually noisy and occasionally crowded.

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 Follow Directions Handle Weights and Loads Reliability And Dependability Special Aptitude - Food Service Work 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 11/18/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12832212. 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. 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: 2025-11-18