Health Technician (Dietetic)

Summary

This position is in Nutrition and Food Services (NFS) located at the Wilmington VA Medical Center. The 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, combinations of diet modifications and knowledge of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Dietetics software and required functions

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Overview

• Accepting applications

• Open & closing dates

03/22/2024 to 04/01/2024

• Salary

$43,550 - $56,612 per year

• Pay scale & grade

GS 5

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Location

1 vacancy in the following location:

• Wilmington, DE

• Remote job

No

• Telework eligible

No

• Travel Required

Not required

• Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

• Appointment type

Permanent -

• Work schedule

Full-time -

• Service

Competitive

• Promotion potential

None

• Job family (Series)

0640 Health Aid And Technician

• Supervisory status

No

• Security clearance

Not Required

• Drug test

Yes

• Position sensitivity and risk

Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

• Trust determination process

Suitability/Fitness

• Announcement number

CBSZ-12304064-24-AH

• Control number

783081000

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This job is open to

• The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

Clarification from the agency

ALL US CITIZENS.

DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY: This position is being filled using Direct-Hire Authority (5 CFR 337.201) for this occupation.

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Duties

The incumbent will practice excellent customer service skills in all forms of communication, either via telephone, e-mail or in-person. The incumbent must also practice proper business telephone etiquette while answering the phone.

When communicating with customers, incumbent will be pleasant, friendly, personable, and professional. Incumbent will welcome callers courteously and identify themselves/ the service/ the organization. Communicates effectively via telephone and in-person and uses strong listening and speaking skills.

Properly operates telephone equipment in order to transfer or place calls on hold. The incumbent will consider both verbal and nonverbal aspects of communication. The Incumbent will maintain the vital connection between Nutrition Communication Center (NCC) Associates, Registered Dietitian, higher graded dietetic technicians, food service staff, Nursing, patients and guests.

NCC Associate will follow 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. NCC Associate will take whatever action necessary, within their authority, to maximize patient satisfaction with meal service. NCC Associate prints, prepares and reviews meal tickets according to local facility procedures.

Verifies physician orders for unusual diets, conflicting modifications, and nutritional supplements with the appropriate RD, informatics RD, or FSSM. NCC Associate completes performance improvement activities as assigned by supervisor and conducts menu review with NFS personnel prior to meal service. Cleans and maintains NFS equipment such as refrigerators and juice machines located on patient units.

Stores and rotates stock items. Assures all food/supplies are covered, labeled, and dated. Inventories and disposes outdated food/beverages in nourishment refrigerator.

Prepare nourishments for patients. Follows written directions for setting up individual and bulk nourishments such as tube feedings, juice, shakes, milk, sandwiches, etc. The employee must determine the types and quantity of nourishments to prepare by reading worksheets.

Delivers meals to patients, using two patient identifiers to properly identify the patient. Responsible for retrieving meal trays from patient's bedside after meals and returning trays to dish room for cleaning. Completes all other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: TBD

Position Description Title/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99855S

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job

• Subject to a background/suitability investigation

• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required

• May serve a probationary period

• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959

• A complete application package; Resume, Transcripts, etc

• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

This position has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR). The IOR is a basic requirement that the candidate must demonstrate to meet the minimum qualifications. The IOR can be met by either specialized experience or education. Please see below:

Specialized Experience (for positions at GS-4 and above): Positions in this series range widely in type and include support duties to medical or health personnel such as audiologists, speech pathologists, medical officers, and optometrists. Therefore, technician experience is experience that required application of the knowledge, methods, and techniques of the position to be filled OR Education and Training (For GS-5: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position.

• Specialized Experience GS-05: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
  
  Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Providing patients with the correct diet order, food choices, and special menu/food requests; Preparing meal tray tickets for patients; and printing food service menus. Must be able to communicate effectively with verbally and in writing.

OR

• Education: 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation (Copy of Transcripts required)

OR

• Combination: only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to l year of specialized experience.
  
  Determine the applicant's total qualifying experience as a percentage of the year of specialized experience required at the GS-5 level. Then determine the applicant's education as a percentage of the education that meets the requirements for GS-5. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify an applicant for GS-5 (Copy of Transcripts required).

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Computer Skills

• Customer Service (Clerical/Technical)

• Food Service

• Patient 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. 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

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.

Additional information

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.

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 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/.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion.

The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.

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• Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window

Learn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Applicants will be referred in the order in which they were received. Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview.

Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.