Cook

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.

This position is located at the Captain James A. Lovell Health Care Center Veterans Hospital in North Chicago, IL and is organizationally aligned under Nutrition and Food Services. The purpose of the position is to provide food service assistance in the Nutrition and Food Services Department.

Major duties and responsibilities include:

Food Preparation

• Performs a full range of simple cooking which entails the preparation and cooking of meals that require little or no processing
• Follows menus, production sheets and recipes to prepare items in the quantity needed
• Performs full range of simple cooking by preparing and cooking items requiring little or no processing such as hot cereals, concentrated or dehydrated soups, sauces, and gravies
• Grills eggs, hamburgers, meat patties, pancakes, French toast; broils meats; makes cold sandwich fillings and assembles a variety of sandwiches
• Prepares fresh, canned, and frozen vegetables; bakes frozen potatoes, pre-made cookie dough, muffin batters
• Prepares and heats convenience items such as frozen hash browns, fish fillets, and chicken nuggets; prepares pureed foods and adjusts consistency with thickeners
• Wash, peel and cut fruits and vegetables by hand or machine. Assembles and mixes salad ingredients and dessert items including gelatin molds and fruit crisps
• Washes, peels, chops, grinds, pares, cuts, slices, dices, purees, dredges, flours, breads items
• Weighs, measures, assembles ingredients for regular and modified diets
• Combines ingredients according to precisely written recipes to produce quality food items, minimizing preparation time and food waste
• Pans foods for bulk re-thermalization according to recipe guidelines and production guidelines
• Covers, dates, and stores leftovers according to established local policies/procedures
• Operates a variety of kitchen equipment: oven, combination oven/steamer, grill, slicer, mixer, steam kettles, blender, food processor, scale; follows safety procedures regarding the operation of equipment

Food Safety/Sanitation

• Follows sanitary food handling procedures; covers, labels and dates food items; utilize or discard ingredients by expiration date
• Disassembles and assembles component parts and accessories for cleaning
• Cleans, stores and maintains all kitchen utensils, equipment and work areas practicing a "clean as you go" concept
• Cleans and sanitizes assigned work areas: worktables, sinks, blast chillers, racks, carts
• Achieves certification in ServSafe and can apply knowledge of food safety, food temperatures, etc.
• Operates dish machine; checks detergent level and water temperature before washing and sanitizing cook's equipment. Checks equipment to make sure it is free of food residue and soap
• Cleans ovens, oven/steamer, slicer, mixer, steam kettles, grill daily
• Collects trash, sorts and prepares items for recycling
• Cleans floors, walls, shelves assigned
• Performs deep cleaning tasks such as cleaning walk-in refrigerators and freezers. May operate powered floor cleaning or steam equipment for deep cleaning

Food Storage

• 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
• Weighs, measures, and assembles ingredients accurately and according to standardized recipes or requisitions
• Monitor and maintain proper spacing of food products from floor, ceiling and shelving to ensure adequate air flow and spacing of products for optimal food safety
• Monitor for signs of pest notifying the appropriate individual as determined by your local policy
• Maintain accurate food inventories
• Maintains strict security in all areas

Work Schedule: 5:00am - 1:30pm OR 11:00am - 7:30pm
Position Description Title/PD#: Cook/PD99819S
Physical Requirements: Subject to continuous standing, walking, frequent bending, reaching, pushing and pulling. Lifts or moves objects weighing up to 40 lbs. unassisted. Manipulates cumbersome and heavy objects, such as washing stainless steel mixing bowls, pushing heavy carts on caster, or operating heavy equipment. Manual dexterity is needed to safely operate equipment and to handle sharp knives and blades. Hand-eye coordination and ability to concentrate and react quickly to serve food and operate equipment.

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this job
• Subject to a background/suitability investigation
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• A complete application package; including Resume, Transcripts, etc. is required
• 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 identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment

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.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/06/2026.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States (U.S.). Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

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. 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 eligible applicants are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements:

• Dexterity and Safety
• Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading)
• Materials
• Technical Practices
• Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment
• Without more than normal supervision
• Work 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 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the time 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct
• the needs and interests of the agency
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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.

Documents Accepted:

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Documents Required:

• Resume

Please review the above list(s) to ensure you have included all necessary documents required for your application.Not every applicant will require the same documents, therefore it is the applicants responsibility to ensure that their application package includes all necessary documents to determine qualifications and eligibility for appointment, such as a copy of your SF-50, transcript, ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees).You will not be contacted for additional information. Applicants will be deemed ineligible if supporting documentation is not submitted.

Veterans' Preference: Since the Direct-Hire Recruitment Authority is being used, traditional Veterans' Preference rules do not apply. Qualified veterans will, however, be given full consideration for this position.

Applications are accepted online. Applying online will allow you to review and track the status of your application.

Next steps