Supervisory Dietitian (Food Operations)

Description:

Employees in this Supervisory Dietitian assignment oversee a food service and production operation providing administrative and technical supervision over staff. The Incumbent is responsible for the execution of Food Service and Production operations to meet individual meal needs through Veteran-centric, Food Forward" meal programs with conventional cooking, convenience cooking, advance food preparation and delivery, room service, or a combination of food production and service modalities.

Requirements:

Basic Requirements :

• 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 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a).
• Registration.
  • (1) All applicants must hold the RDN credential from the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) the credentialing agency of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Note: Applicants who hold the RDN credential have met the education requirement (e.g. bachelor's degree or higher) of CDR, as such this occupation is considered professional and scientific with a positive education requirement and the procedures in Part I, Chapter 4 of this Handbook will be followed when applying Veteran's preference
    • Exception for Dietitians who do not possess the RDN credential. Non-credentialed Dietitians must have fulfilled each of the following:
      • Earned a bachelor's or higher degree from a U.S. regionally accredited college or university or foreign equivalent. Foreign Education: To be creditable, college and/or university degrees earned outside the U.S and its territories must be evaluated by ACEND and meet ACEND's International Dietitian Education standards which are designed to provide graduates with the knowledge and competencies to sit for the CDR credentialing exam. ~ AND~
      • Completed an ACEND accredited experiential or supervised practice program and provide a verification statement from the program director that conveys eligibility to take the CDR registration exam as a prospective RDN. A list of ACEND accredited programs are located on the ACEND website or at ACEND Accredited Programs Directory .
    • Foreign Education. To be creditable, college and/or university degrees earned outside the U.S and its territories must be evaluated by ACEND® and meet ACEND®'s International Dietitian Education standards which are designed to provide graduates with the knowledge and competencies to sit for the CDR credentialing exam.
  • (b) Non-credentialed Dietitians may only be appointed at the GS-07 or GS-09 grade level and may not be promoted/converted until they obtain their RDN credential.
  • (c) Non-credentialed Dietitians must provide care under the supervision of a RDN at or above the full performance level.
  • (d) Temporary appointments of non-credentialed Dietitian will not be extended beyond one year or converted to a new temporary appointment.
  • (e) Failure to Obtain Registration. In all cases, Dietitians must actively pursue meeting registration requirements starting from their appointment date. At the time of appointment, servicing Human Resources (HR) staff in collaboration with the supervisor, will provide non-registered Dietitians the written requirement to obtain registration, the date by which they must acquire it and the consequences for not doing so by the deadline. Failure to obtain registration within one year from the date of appointment will result in removal from the Dietitian, GS-0630 occupation and may result in termination of employment.

Current VHA Dietitians that qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision may not be promoted to a higher grade if they do not meet the current RDN/RD requirements.

Grade Determinations : All individuals assigned to this occupation must meet all the basic qualification requirements above and all the requirements defined in the specific assignment.

GS-13 Supervisory Dietitian (Food Operations)
Experience Requirement: In addition to meeting the basic requirements, to qualify for the GS-13 you must possess at least 1 year of experience as an RDN/RD equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-12) which demonstrates the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

· Knowledge of business administration practices such as budget planning, contracting and food and supply purchasing to successfully operate a food service program.

· Skill in written communication to include policy development and standard operating procedures.

· Skill in strategic planning to develop goals, objectives and action plans.

· Skill in analyzing data to monitor progress towards improving and sustaining outcomes.

· Ability to supervise subordinate staff (i.e., plan, organize, delegate, direct, control and review activities and performance).

· Ability to negotiate.

Assignment . For all supervisory assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity, difficulty, variety and be performed by the incumbent as a major duty at least 25% of the time. The incumbent must spend 25% or more of their time providing administrative and technical supervision over staff who are at the full performance level or above. Employees in this Supervisory Dietitian Food Operations assignment report to the NFS Chief. They supervise a complex Veteran-Centric food operation consisting of four distinct sections (Informatics, Food Service, Production and NCC). Supervisory Dietitians make decisions based on intricate and unrelated information and assumptions from inconclusive or variable data in all aspects of food operations. They provide food-operations-specific leadership and exercise a full range of supervisory and personnel management authorities and responsibilities in planning, directing and assessing the work of subordinate staff. Supervisory Dietitians establish a training plan for the food operations section. They develop and lead food operations, establish strategic goals and ensure priorities align with the strategic plan of the NFS department, VISN and national programs. Supervisory Dietitians identify and prioritize problems, set long and short-term goals, develop action plans and analyze data to evaluate progress to improve outcomes. They are responsible for developing and updating policies and procedures and establishing and overseeing a system for regulatory compliance. Supervisory Dietitians manage the budget and other resources, anticipating future trends and inflation, new service opportunities, recommendations for growth, efficiencies and strategic efforts are factored into resource requests and brought to the Chief. They direct staff in the management of contracts, subsistence, supply purchasing for NFS and submitting reports to the NFS Chief. Supervisory Dietitians solicit support and/or negotiate with facility managers to influence decisions to support food operations section success. They collaborate closely with the clinical nutrition section to enhance the Veteran dining experience and to support the strategic goals of the clinical nutrition section and NFS.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/ .

This position is being recruited for at the GS-13, which is the full performance level of this vacancy.