Health Technician (Dietetic)
What you'd do
This position is located in Nutrition and Food Services (NFS) of the Patient Services Directorate located at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) in North Chicago, Illinois. The primary purpose of the position is to provide administrative and customer service support forthe FHCC hospital food service program.
Major duties
This position is in the nutrition call center. Responsibilities include taking meal orders from veterans on room service, coordinating calorie counts (patient intake reports), printing all food service reports, coordinating meal services, and conducting patient surveys. 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 Take whatever action necessary, within authority, to maximize patient satisfaction with meal service Complete 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 Assist 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: 6:00am - 2:30pm OR 5:45am - 2:15pm Sunday to Thursday. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Technician (Dietetic)/PD99796S Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized 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 of 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.
What you need to qualify
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/08/2026. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: 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 chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed 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). You may qualify based on your experience and/or education described below: MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Select the ONE statement below that best describes your experience and/or education to meet the minimum requirements for this position. Please refer to the Qualifications and Duties sections of this announcement for detailed information. NOTE: Your experience must be documented in your resume, and transcripts are required for all grades. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. NOTE: Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must clearly indicate the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. For this Health Technician (Dietetic), GS-640-03 ENTRY LEVEL position, applicant must have: At least six (6) months of general experience. General experience is any type of work that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work of the position, or experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area (i.e. nutrition, food service, etc.) of the occupation. OR Successfully completed one (1) full year of education above high school level that included study in medical, health, or related fields. This 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. OR An equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education and 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. For this Health Technician (Dietetic), GS-640-04 position, applicant must have: At least one (1) year of general experience. General experience is any type of work that demonstrates the applicant's ability to perform the work of the position, or experience that provides a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area (i.e. nutrition, food service, etc.) of the occupation. OR Successfully completed two (2) years of education above high school that included at least 12 semester hours in subjects related to the position (i.e. nutrition, dietary therapy, food and nutrition science, food service systems management, etc.) This 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. OR An equivalent combination of successfully completed post-high school education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience, as described above, which meets 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. For this Health Technician (Dietetic), GS-640-05 position, applicant must have: One (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-04) in the Federal Service that has given me the knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of this Health Technician (Dietetic) position. Specialized experience includes 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 Successfully completed a full four (4) year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with a major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to this position (i.e. nutrition, dietary therapy, food and nutrition science, food service systems management, etc.). This 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. OR 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. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Clinical Data Collection/ Documentation Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Technical Competence 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 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience is credited based on time spent on 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. 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/.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.