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 in the Environmental Management Service at VA Sioux Falls Health Care System - Royal C. Johnson Veterans' Memorial Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD.

Major Duties:

• This position involves a multi-grade career ladder. The major duties listed below represent the full performance level of WG-06. At the WG-05 grade level, you will perform assignments of a more limited scope and with less independence. You will progressively acquire the background necessary to perform at the full performance level of WG-06. Promotion is at the discretion of the supervisor and is contingent upon satisfactory performance, availability of higher-level work, and availability of funds. The Sewing Machine Operator is responsible for receiving patient clothing for storage or uniforms to be either repaired or stored in the Autovalet system; maintaining working area and equipment in a clean, orderly condition; performing routine sewing duties independently using appropriate procedures used in sewing items in need of mending. Major duties and responsibilities include but not limited to: Complying with health, safety, and environmental rules and procedures and performing work in a manner that enhances the safety of the work environment Fabricating items which cannot be purchased or cost becomes prohibitive Incorporating advances in medical technology requires linens to be specially adapted and customized Altering lined/unlined linen and clothing as needed to accommodate patients and staff needs including repair or replacement of zippers, buttons and snaps Hand stitching special items such as mattresses and mattress covers Salvaging linen or uniforms that can't be repaired on an economical basis Using a heat seal stamping machine, sealing clothing labels with employee identification labels and VA Property labels on linen and uniforms Inventorying and labeling patient clothing for 3N and ECU utilizing generated label machine and heat seal machine Responsible for the timely collection, organized storage and authorized signatures for safekeeping and control of patient belongings Ensuring all services adhere to published policies with respect to the handling of patient belongings and uniforms Getting all uniforms for the station delivered to their area where they places the hung items on the employee's assigned hanger location in the automated uniform dispenser machine Assisting in verifying listing of employees receiving a uniform or a uniform allowance Work Schedule: Monday to Friday; 07:00 a.m. to 03:30 p.m. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved

Qualifications: PHYSICAL EFFORT: 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 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 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 Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualifications. For this position, the job element method is used to match what you, the applicant, can do against what the work calls for. Your knowledge, skills and abilities will be compared to the knowledge, skills and abilities (called job elements) needed for success. Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element (WG-2 and higher only; screen-outs are not applicable to WG-1). Applicants who appear to meet the screen out element are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated from consideration. The potential eligibles are rated against the remainder of the job elements. While a specific length of training and experience is not required, your responses to the questionnaire must be supported by detailed descriptions of your experience on your resume. You will be rated on the following Job Elements as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: 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 IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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.

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 05/15/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12953899. 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. 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/ 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. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (605) 336-3230. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) 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: 2026-05-15