This position is located in the Nutrition and Food Service at American Lake Veteran Affairs Medical Center. Nutrition and Food Services is responsible for providing meals and nutritional care to Veteran patients at the Medical Center. The primary purpose of the Cook, WG-8, is to independently prepare nutritious, high quality meals for service to the Veterans.

Duties

Independently prepares all types of food for regular and modified diets. Incumbent prepares, cooks, seasons, and portions food for all meals so that the completed food products are ready at the appropriate temperature and time and are visually appealing to customers. Prepares menu items using special or difficult recipes that require numerous interrelated steps, many ingredients, and lengthy preparation time. The incumbent prepares a variety of menu items using several different and complex methods of preparation such as cook/chill and cook/serve. Follows menus, production sheets and recipes to prepare items in the quantity needed. Calculate and determine serving portions from quantities of food issued to include meats, poultry, seafood, vegetables, fruits, sauces, and gravies for regular and modified diets. Prepare or coordinate the preparation of entire meals and prepare, season, and determine serving portion food for all meals by following standardized, special, or difficult recipes. May serve as person in charge for oversight of food safety activities. Follows sanitary food handling procedures; covers, labels and dates food items; utilize or discard ingredients by expiration date. Receives, rotates and stores perishable and non-perishable items according to service policies. Removes outdated or damaged goods from stock. Labels all food items with contents and dates per labeling guidelines. Advises lower grade food service workers and cooks on tray assembly issues, dishwashing procedures, and quality control issues, such as plating techniques, tray arrangements, and practices to maintain temperatures and safety of food. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm Position Description Title/PD#: Cook/PD99817S Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 06/27/2024. 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. The screen-out element is the ability to perform as a Cook without more than normal supervision. Examples include: Organizing and coordinating the work of lower level cooks in a hospital/healthcare environment, in order to accomplish a variety of quantity cooking operations. Developing and modifying standardized recipes. Advising lower grade food service workers and cooks on tray assembly issues, dishwashing procedures, and quality control issues, such as plating techniques, tray arrangements, and practices to maintain temperatures and safety of food. Independently prepares a variety of large quantities of food, including preparing and cooking regular and therapeutic diet (diabetic, low sodium, low protein, gluten free, etc.) entrees and dessert items, planning cooking processes to produce meals on time and at the proper temperature which may require coordination of cooking several items with different cooking times. Cooking a variety of menu items including regular and special diet entrees and dessert items; portioning and serving food into standard service sizes; roast, broil, bake, fry, boil, steam, and stew meats, fish, and poultry. Prepare soups, stocks, broths, gravies, sauces, and puddings without the use of packaged mixes. Adjust standardized recipes for the number of servings required in large quantity cooking. Maintain the proper temperature for all foods during holding, transport, reheating, and serving to assure quality control and food safety. 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 SafetyInterpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading)MaterialsTechnical PracticesUse and Maintain Tools and EquipmentWithout more than normal supervisionWork 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: Is subject to continuous standing, walking, frequent bending, reaching, pushing, and pulling. Lifts or moves objects weighing up to 40 lbs. unassisted and occasionally lifts or moves objects weighing more than 40 lbs. with assistance of a lifting device or other workers. Manipulates cumbersome, heavy objects, such as washing stainless steel mixing bowls, pushing heavy carts on casters or operating heavy equipment. Possesses manual dexterity to operate equipment and to handle sharp knives and blades safely. Utilizes eye-hand coordination and the ability to concentrate and react quickly to serve food and operate equipment. Performs work in areas of extremes of temperature, such as walk-in refrigeration or freezing units. Work is carried out in kitchen/dish room areas that are often hot, uncomfortable and noisy. Environment includes exposure to extreme cold while working in walk-in refrigerators and freezers for extended periods of time to complete duties. Works with other cooks, food service workers and supervisors. Is exposed to steam, cooking odors, and noise from equipment and conversation. Is subject to hazards of cuts, bruises, strains, burns and falls in kitchen environment. Uses strong cleaning and sanitizing solutions which may frequently be skin and respiratory irritants. Performs work in patient care settings where there may be exposure to contagious disease. May have contact with patients who demonstrate verbally and /or physical aggressive behavior. Required to wear proper hair covering and clean uniform. Wear disposable gloves when handling food for service and proper protective equipment when completing cleaning activities.

Education

This job does not have an education qualification requirement.

Contacts

• Address VA Puget Sound Health Care System 1660 South Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108 US
• Name: Sandy Lee
• Phone: 9152196041
• Email: [email protected]