Summary This position is in Nutrition and Food Services (NFS) located in Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Fayetteville, NC. The primary purpose of the position is to provide administrative and customer service support for the VA hospital food service program. Incumbent performs routine duties that require exceptional customer service, computer skills, proper phone etiquette, proficiency in special food service and therapeutic diet procedures, a broad knowledge of routine modified diets. Responsibilities Duties and responsibilities for this position include, but not limited to the following: Handles patient meal service orders. Completes quality monitors to ensure food items/menu selections for regular and therapeutic diets are prepared and served appropriately (i.e. accuracy, timeliness, appearance, and temperature, dysphagia food testing). Ensures all food/supplies are covered, labeled, and dated. Stores, rotates and inventories stock items and disposes outdated food/beverages. Advises supervisor of any special orders or changes needed that may impact food production, including instances when substitutions are needed due to food preferences. Collaborates with Dietitians regarding food/drug interactions and notifies clinical staff of potential issues. Follows policies and procedures for patient feeding, including but not limited to missed patient meals, late tray requests, patient meal ordering, and adherence to prescribed therapeutic diet. Conducts meal rounds on units after tray delivery to ensure patient satisfaction and provides service recovery and meal corrections when needed. Triages calls from inpatient/outpatient clinics and procedure areas related to patient meal/nourishments. Assists patients in selection of the proper foods according to their individual diet. Takes appropriate action to maximize patient satisfaction with meal service. Answers questions and provides information about menu and food items. Conducts patient rounds to discuss menu available food items and ways to order meals. Enters meal orders into a computerized system. Retrieves computerized information/printouts to assist with tray and/or nourishment assembly. Collecting, compiling, and entering data from patient satisfaction surveys. Prints lists, reports, labels, and tray tickets following established local procedures. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full time, Varies from 5:00am to 7:00pm including Weekends & Holidays. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/99855-A Financial Disclosure: No Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job. All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required. You may be required to serve a probationary/trial period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Required Documents" below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/25/2025. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Practicing excellent customer service skills in all forms of communication, either via telephone, e-mail or in-person; maintaining the vital connection between Nutrition Communication Center (NCC) Associates, Registered Dietitian, higher graded dietetic technicians, food service staff, Nursing, patients and guests; following local-facility policies and standard procedures for patient feeding, including but not limited to missed patient meals, late tray requests, patient meal ordering, and adherence to prescribed therapeutic diet; Retrieving computerized information/printouts to assist with tray and/or nourishment assembly such as standing orders, nourishment labels, tabulated recipe lists and other simple information to assist in meal delivery; conducting meal rounds on units after tray delivery to ensure patient satisfaction and provides service recovery and meal corrections when needed. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Successful completion of a full four (4) year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with a major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to this position (i.e. nutrition, dietary therapy, food and nutrition science, food service systems management, etc.). This education must have been obtained in an accredited business or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. OR, Combination: Equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education (beyond the second year) and specialized experience, as listed above. The education portion must include courses directly related to the work of the position (i.e. nutrition, dietary therapy, food and nutrition science, food service systems management, etc.). This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information "Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act." Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and 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 for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. 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/.
