Health Technician (Dietetic) Job in Hines, IL

Vacancy No. HN-12807989-25-AM Department Veterans Health Administration
Salary $45,087.00 to $58,607.00 Grade 5 to 5
Perm/Temp Permanent FT/PT Full-time
Open Date 10/3/2025 Close Date 10/10/2025
Job Link Apply Online Who may apply Status Candidates
Locations:
Hines, IL


Summary

This position is in Nutrition and Food Services (NFS) located in a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The primary purpose of the position is to provide administrative and customer service support for the VA hospital food service program.

This job is open to

Clarification from the agency

OPEN TO CURRENT PERMANENT HINES VA EMPLOYEES ONLY

Duties

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Maintain the vital connection between Nutrition Communication Center (NCC) Associates, Registered Dietitian, higher graded dietetic technicians, foodservice 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.
  • Triages calls from inpatient units or outpatient clinics and procedure areas relating to patient meal trays or nourishments at the lowest level and will refer issues that cannot be resolved to Food Service Supervisor or other as determined by local policy.
  • Retrieve 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.
  • Organizes work to complete assignments.
  • Has thorough knowledge of basic and routine modified diets and is able to provide basic level education and information on local facility therapeutic diets to patients, guests, and nursing staff. Makes referrals to dietetic technician and/or dietitian as needed for more thorough diet education
  • Assists patients in selection of the proper foods according to their individual diet.
  • Uses communication skills to converse with veteran's to accurately take menu orders via COTS Dietetic software System.
  • Must possess multitasking skills when entering menu orders and improving quality of life of veterans through social interaction.
  • Uses computer skills to precisely and swiftly move between functions in software systems and effectively logon and off the computer system.
  • Conducts meal rounds on units after tray delivery to ensure patient satisfaction and provides service recovery and meal corrections when needed.
  • Participates in Patient Satisfaction Survey process, from collection of data to making corrective actions based on results.
  • Assists with Cultural Transformation activities when food is being served to assure patient safety is maintained.

Work Schedule: TBD
Telework: Not Suitable
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99796S
Relocation/Recruitment Expenses: Not authorized

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
  • Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
  • 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)
As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial 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 or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/10/2025.

Basic Requirements: Must have one of the following:
Specialized Experience: 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: 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.

You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below:

GS-5 Grade Requirements:
Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-4 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to:
  • performing duties in food service in a hospital environment; knowledge of tray assembly area procedures
  • using dietetics software programs; familiarity with regular and modified diets
  • assisting with food selections
  • following verbal and written instructions; and using computer equipment, phone system, and printers.
  • This position requires effective communication skills both verbally and in writing and good customer service.
OR,
  • Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a 4-year course of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation, if required.
OR,
  • Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. An equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education (beyond the second year) and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total qualification requirements for this grade level. This education must have been obtained at an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. NOTE: Your experience must be documented in your resume and transcripts are required.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:
  • Communication
  • Computer Skills
  • Customer Service
  • Food Service


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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

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.

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.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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 windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

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.

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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

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.

Required Documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

  • Resume
  • SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action


NOTE: Effective 9/29/2025 all submitted applications must contain resumes limited to two-pages in length and anything longer is prohibited. Only the first two-pages will be considered for qualification purposes for this announcement.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees). You will not be contacted for additional information.

  • Cover Letter
  • Other (1)
  • Resume
  • SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
  • Transcript


SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):
  • Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
  • An SF-50 showing 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
  • Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.
  • Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:
    • Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
    • Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
    • SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

Veterans' preference does not apply for internal permanent agency employees.

Effective September 29, 2025, HR office staff must ensure the two-page resume limit is clearly stated in USAS in the "How to Apply" section of all applicable JOAs (identified in item 3, Scope, of this bulletin), by using the below language:

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.

Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume:
  • Prioritize most relevant and recent experience
  • Use concise, results focused language
  • Align language from the job announcement
  • Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies
  • Remove outdated or unrelated experience
  • Use the USAJOBS resume builder

Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at:

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

How to Apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 10/10/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12807989.

  1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
  2. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package.
NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

Agency contact information

Amy McCrary
Address
Edward Hines Junior Hospital
5000 South 5th Avenue
Hines, IL 60141
US

Next steps

Once your online application is submitted you will receive a confirmation notification by email. After we receive application packages (including all required documents) and the vacancy announcement closes, we will review applications to ensure qualification and eligibility requirements are met. After the review is complete, a referral certificate(s) is issued and applicants will be notified of their status by email. Referred applicants will be notified as such and may be contacted directly by the hiring office for an interview. All referred applicants receive a final notification once a selection decision has been made.

You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center.

NOTE: Participation in the seasonal influenza program is a condition of employment and a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). It is a requirement that all HCP to receive annual seasonal influenza vaccination or obtain an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Wearing a face mask is required when an exemption to the influenza vaccination has been granted. HCP in violation of this directive may face disciplinary action up to and including removal from federal service. HCP are individuals who, during the influenza season, work in VHA locations or who come into contact with VA patients or other HCP as part of their duties. VHA locations include, but are not limited to, VA hospitals and associated clinics, community living centers (CLCs), community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs), domiciliary units, Vet centers and VA-leased medical facilities. HCP include all VA licensed and unlicensed, clinical and administrative, remote and onsite, paid and without compensation, full- and part-time employees, intermittent employees, fee basis employees, VA contractors, researchers, volunteers and health professions trainees (HPTs) who are expected to perform any or all of their work at these facilities. HPTs may be paid or unpaid and include residents, interns, fellows and students. HCP also includes VHA personnel providing home-based care to Veterans and drivers and other personnel whose duties put them in contact with patients outside VA medical facilities.


Note: We cannot accept applications on behalf of Federal Agencies. Application instructions are listed within the Job Description.


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