This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Service (N&FS) of the VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas serving as a Nutrition Communication Center (NCC) Ambassador, providing administrative and customer service support for the VA hospital food service program.

Duties

Major duties and responsibilities will include: Has a broad knowledge of routing modified diets, combinations of diet modifications and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) dietetics software Handles patient meal service orders in person or by phone Interacts with Veterans, dietitians, nursing staff, and other medical center employees Receives patient meal orders and preferences, meal and nourishment requests from nursing, clinical staff, and other members of the interdisciplinary team Takes whatever action necessary, within authority, to maximize patient satisfaction with meal service Completes select and non-select menus as required Retrieves computerized information 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 Provides education and information on local facility therapeutic diets to patients, guests, and nursing staff Assists patients in selection of the proper foods according to their individual diet Performs clerical and administrative duties in support of the service Performs other related duties as assigned. Designated Drug-Testing Position: 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. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test result is received. 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 - Sunday, 5:00 am - 7:30 pm, including weekends and holidays, subject to changed based on the needs of the Agency. Telework: Not availabe Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99855S and PD99855-S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/21/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-4 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-3, for a GS-5 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-4 . The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-4 Specialized Experience: You must have 6 months of general experience or 6 months of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade equivalent to the GS-03 grade level in the federal service; experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Using nutrition and food service software programs, electronic patients records system for data entry; delivering customer service to patients, including corrective measures according to established policies; and communicating verbally and in writing with patients, family members and staff. (This experience must be supported by your resume.) OR, Education: 2 years above High School with courses related to the occupation. Post High School 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. One year of full-time undergraduate study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business or technical school. (Transcript Required) OR, Combination: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-High School education and experience are also qualifying. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position. To determine GS-4 level positions, determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the 1 year of experience required for GS-4; the applicant's education is then determined as a percentage of the 2 years of education that meets the requirements for GS-4. The two percentages are added to determine the total percentage which must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-4. (Transcript Required) GS-5 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the Federal service; experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes: Using nutrition and food service software programs, electronic patients records system for data entry; delivering customer service to patients, including corrective measures according to established policies; and communicating verbally and in writing with patients, family members and staff. (This experience must be supported by your resume.) OR, Education: Successfully completed 4-year course of study above High School leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation. Post High School 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. One year of full-time undergraduate study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business or technical school. (Transcript Required) OR, Combination: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed post-high school education and experience are also qualifying. If education is used to meet specialized experience requirements, then such education must include courses directly related to the work of the position. To determine GS-5 level positions, the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the 1 year of experience required for GS-5; the applicant's education is then determined as a percentage beyond the first 2 year of college meets the requirements for GS-5. The two percentages are added and the total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-5. (Transcript Required) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:Computer SkillsCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Food ServicePatient Care 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: The work requires walking, standing, bending, lifting and carrying of light items, such as food trays, instruction materials, books, and manuals. NCC Associate functions require long periods of sitting and moving about in an office environment, including repetitive motion activities of the hands and fingers for extensive keyboard and computer mouse use, and office tasks such as answering and holding a telephone phone, and writing. The work may require walking indoors, outdoors or to and from other areas of the medical center. It may be necessary to lift and/or push equipment. Incumbent is subject to periods continuous standing, sitting, walking and frequent stooping, reaching, pushing, pulling, and bending. Frequently lifts or moves objects weighing up to 20 pounds and pushing loaded carts of trays and/or nourishments. 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe Boulevard Houston, TX 77030 US
• Name: Susan Reynon
• Phone: (808) 726-0496
• Email: [email protected]