Sewing Machine Operator

Sewing Machine Operator

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Salary Range: $22.33 - $28.04 Per Hour

Job Summary: This position is located at the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System within the Environmental Management service line. This position performs a variety of sewing tasks such as mending, hemming, and patching uniforms, linens, pajamas and other items with various other responsibilities related to the on-going activities of the Textile Care Processing facility.

Major Duties:

• Major duties include: Fabricates items which cannot be purchased or cost becomes prohibitive Alters lined/unlined linen and clothing as needed to accommodate patients and staff needs Alters lined and unlined items needing repair or replacement of zippers, buttons and snaps Hand stitches special items such as mattresses and mattress covers Utilizes standard industrial sewing machine, serger machine, hot patch machine, computer generated label producing machine and an industrial button machine Salvages linen or uniforms that can't be repaired on an economical basis Uses a heat seal stamping machine, seals clothing labels with employee identification labels and VA Property labels on linen and uniforms Inventories and labels patient clothing for 3N and ECU utilizing generated label machine and heat seal machine Implements collection, organized storage and authorized signatures for safekeeping and control of patient belongings Ensures all services adhere to published policies with respect to the handling of patient belongings and uniforms Maintains required documentation and records concerning hospital linen, patient clothing and employee uniforms Assists in verifying listing of employees receiving a uniform or a uniform allowance Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. (work hours may be further discussed during the interview) Position Description Title/PD#: Sewing Machine Operator/PD80434O and PD80433O Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized The VA Midwest Health Care Network advocates for a Whole Health System of care in each of the Medical Centers. This is an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their lives to the fullest. As an employee operating in a Whole Health System of care, you will operate in a model with three core elements, seeking to create a personalized health plan for each Veteran. This is done in the context of healing relationships and healing environments and a connection back to the Veteran's community. This aligns with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mission Statement to Honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/06/2026. 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: Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Materials Measurement and Layout Technical Practices Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision 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: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination. Incumbent is required to sit and bend over sewing machines or heat seal machine for long periods of time with continual movement of hands, arms and fingers in placing items in position and sewing. Some items such as the ironed wax cloth and scraper cloths are very large in size and are made of a stiff canvas material. These cloths are approximately 15 feet long and 15 feet wide. These items require a very physical effort to work with when being sewn for the size and the weight of the canvas used to make these. Another item that needs repair that is very difficult to handle because of the size is the surgical drapes. These drapes are approximately 10 feet by 15 feet in size. These items are very slippery to handle due to the nature of the Compel linen used to make these. Incumbent also goes on ward rounds to pick up veteran's clothing that were admitted after hours. The incumbent has to push a rack to hang these items on, and this rack can become very heavy with clothes and is awkward to push down the hallways when the racks become full. This is done throughout the hospital daily and requires a considerable amount of walking. Incumbent is required to do heavy lifting of items onto the shelves in the clothing room of boxes and suitcases belonging to veterans. This is also a strenuous task when removing them from the shelves to deliver to the veteran. Incumbent must have good eyesight to do the recordkeeping and to do the sewing. Incumbent is required to hang uniforms in the valet system that requires long periods of hanging clothes on an overhead rail system. This too can be quite strenuous to the arms, neck and back of the person doing this work. Work Conditions: Incumbent's work is performed under generally adequate conditions as to heat, light and ventilation. Incumbent may be exposed to hostile veterans, veteran's families and employees. Incumbent may be exposed to contagious organisms and possible infections. Incumbent is subject to punctures and/or cuts from needles, pins, scissors, thread nippers, seam rippers, thread cuts, needle breaks on the machine while operating and foreign objects found in patient clothing.

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 05/06/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12948598. 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/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal/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: 2026-05-06