Department of Veterans Affairs

Food Service Worker Leader

Jackson, Mississippi Full time

Food Service Worker Leader

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Jackson, Mississippi

Salary Range: $21.79 - $25.43 Per Hour

Job Summary: The Food Service Worker Leader performs duties that require a broad knowledge of food service operations and advance delivery system such as food and beverage serving, nourishment preparation, dry and refrigerated storage, hot and cold food preparation, and food safety and sanitation while serving as a work leader for lower grade employees.

Major Duties:

  • The duties of the Food Service Worker Leader position include: Food Service Worker Related Duties: Sets up assigned station on the tray line with the correct supplies and food items. Breaks down and clean the station when assigned. Sets up dining room tables for service, place food and beverages on tables, and replenish items as necessary. Delivers meal trays to the patients' bedsides and report the patients' comments and complaints to the supervisor or dietitian. Prepares fresh fruit/cold salads/dressings/sandwich fillings and cold sandwiches and simple cold desserts in specified quantities. Sorts, washes, peels and cuts cold foods using knives or other equipment. Provides assistance to cooks in the food preparation area, such as weigh, measure and assemble ingredients according to standardized recipes. Makes final check of diet trays assembled by lower grade workers for completeness, correct food temperatures. Verify that food items on the tray are appropriate for the prescribed diet. Provides patients with basic information about modified diets and the nutrition services that are available. Leader Related Duties: Communicates instructions and information about getting work started and accomplished to other employees Communicates with supervisors, managers and employees about problems and events, and actively participates in the implementation of problem resolution after obtaining needed information or decisions from supervisors and/or managers. Maintains a current knowledge, and answers questions of other workers on procedures, policies, written instructions, and other directives. Leads the activities of the production and service areas. Leads food production activities in the absence of a Supervisor or Food Production Manager. May work along with employees so that proper work methods are demonstrated, and the pace of the work can be established and sustained. Adheres to facility customer service standards with all staff and patient interactions. In the absence of a Supervisor, follows up on patient feedback as needed, to assure high quality patient/customer service is maintained. Provides on the job training to lower graded food service workers and documents training provided. Completes safety and sanitation inspection check lists of the food service and food production areas, documents problems, and initiates action to resolve them. This includes advising and communicating to employees' instructions for accomplishing corrective actions. Reviews the daily work assignment sheets and makes adjustments in assignments and work sequence as necessary so that work coverage is provided, and employees are kept busy and productive. This involves setting priorities. possessing the knowledge about the number and types of employees needed, and knowledge about the materials and equipment required, Work Schedule: Monday - Sunday, 5:00AM - 1:30PM, including weekends and holidays; Subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Position Description Title/PD#: Food Service Worker Leader/PD99919S 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, 12/29/2025. 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) Lead or Supervise Materials Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment 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. Physical Requirements/Working Conditions: The Food Service Worker Leader performs work requiring light to moderate physical effort. They may be required to perform heavy work, such as scouring and scrubbing large size cooking utensils and pushing heavy carts and trucks in unloading, storing, and delivering supplies. They are subject to continuous sitting, standing and walking, and frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending. They frequently lift or move objects weighing up to 20 pounds unassisted and occasionally lift or move objects weighing more than 40 pounds with the assistance of others. 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, sharp cutting blades, hot working surfaces, and extreme temperature changes when entering walk-in refrigeration or freezing units. May be unknowingly exposed to patients who have contagious disease.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 12/29/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12849069. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 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. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. 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/ The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

Application Deadline: 2025-12-29