Worker

Meatcutting Worker

Department of Defense

Defense Commissary Agency

Summary

Serves as the Meatcutting Worker in a Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) location. The primary purpose of this position is to Assist full performance meatcutters by performing the simpler tasks when processing beef, pork, veal, and lamb into retail and ready-to-eat cuts for sale to patrons. This is an open-continuous announcement with an established initial cut-off date 30 days after the open date of the announcement. Please see the "How You Will Be Evaluated" section for more information.

Overview

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Accepting applications

Open & closing dates

10/24/2025 to 03/01/2026

Salary

$22.15 to - $33.70 per hour

NTE 48-64 hours biweekly

Pay scale & grade

WG 5

Locations

Great Lakes, IL

Many vacancies

Fort Ben Harrison, IN

Many vacancies

Fort Knox, KY

Many vacancies

Selfridge ANG Base, MI

Many vacancies

Remote job

No

Telework eligible

No

Travel Required

Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.

Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

Appointment type

Permanent

Work schedule

Part-time - Schedule varies by location and includes days, nights, weekends, and holidays

Service

Competitive

Promotion potential

None

Job family (Series)

Supervisory status

No

Security clearance

Drug test

No

Position sensitivity and risk

Trust determination process

Financial disclosure

Bargaining unit status

Announcement number

DECA-26-12807281-OC-DE

Control number

848762600

This job is open to

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Duties

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Position responsibilities include:

• Assist journeyman meat cutters by performing the simpler tasks when processing beef, pork, veal, and lamb into retail and ready to eat cuts for sale to patrons.
• Tray, wrap, weigh, and price cuts using automatic or manual wrapping machines.
• Ensure correct prices by referencing price lists.
• Replenish stock in display cases and rotates product to ensure wholesomeness.
• Use, clean, maintain, and sharpens a variety of hand tools and power equipment.
• Clean and sanitize work area to maintain required standards of cleanliness and sanitation.

Read the entire job announcement. Focus on the following sections to understand whether or not you qualify for the position.

• Duties and Qualifications
• How to Apply (including a preview of the assessment questionnaire, if applicable)
• How You Will be Evaluated

Your resume must thoroughly describe how your skills and experiences align to the criteria defined in the Qualifications section of this announcement and it must support your responses to the assessment questionnaire. We do not assume you have the necessary experience to successfully perform in this job regardless of your employment history or academic career.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Be a U.S. citizen or national. Applicants with a Permanent Resident Card are authorized to live and work in the U.S. but are not eligible for employment in positions requiring U.S. citizenship. If selected, proof of citizenship is required.
• Meet minimum age requirement. See Additional Information.
• Males born after 12-31-1959 must be registered with or exempt from Selective Service.
• Appointment is subject to successful verification of identity and employment eligibility through E-Verify. Learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, at
• Appointment is subject to a favorable suitability or fitness outcome, as determined by a completed background investigation. New federal employees will be fingerprinted.
• Be able to obtain and maintain clearance eligibility based on the appropriate background investigation.
• May be subject to a probationary/trial period.
• Direct deposit of pay is required.
• Meet the physical requirements identified in the Qualifications section.

Qualifications

You must meet qualifications and requirements by the closing date. Per the , how you gained the skill and/or knowledge or the length of time you have spent in this line of work is not as important as what you can do and that you have the required ability or potential to successfully perform the duties of this position. Your resume should show your specific knowledge, skill, and abilities for this position in relation to each of the elements being measured. Examples of qualifying experience:

• Working in the retail meat department traying, wrapping and weighing meat for sale to patrons.
• Cutting, trimming and boning meat.
• Using hand tools and operating powered meat cutting equipment.

You will receive credit for all relevant qualifying experience (paid and unpaid), including volunteer work done through National Service program (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Physical requirements: (1) Continuously walk, stand, bend, stoop, stretch, and reach. (2) Lift up to 50 pounds independently and occasionally over 50 pounds with assistance. You will attest to your ability to perform these physical requirements in the Questionnaire. As part of the online application process, you will respond to a series of questions designed to evaluate what you can do against what the work requires (job element method). This job has one critical element, called the screen-out element (SOE). The SOE addresses the critical knowledge, skill, and abilities essential to satisfactory job performance. Applicants who clearly fail to meet the lowest acceptable requirement in the SOE are rated ineligible and receive no further consideration. The job elements for this job are:

• Ability to do the Work of the Position Without More than Normal Supervision
• Dexterity and Safety
• Work Practices (includes keeping things neat, clean and in order)
• Ability to Interpret Instructions, Specifications, etc. (other than blueprints)
• Materials
• Technical Practice
• Use and maintain hand and power tools

Overtime : Occasional Bargaining Unit Status : Covered Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) : Nonexempt Obligated Position: No Those retired under CSRS or FERS considered : No. not met. Work environment : May be subject to temperature changes based on opening and closing doors, working on loading docks, outside, and in refrigerated rooms. May be exposed to hot or cold weather, damp conditions, or drafty conditions. There is a danger of minor cuts, scrapes, bruises or heat sealer burns. Telework eligible : No Remote work eligible : No

Education

You may not use education to qualify for this position.

Additional information

Executive Order 12564 requires a federal workplace to be free of illegal drugs and prohibits the use of illegal drugs both on and off duty by federal employees. As a reminder, marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug by the Federal government and is prohibited for use by Federal employees even if such use is legal in the state where the Federal employee resides and/or works. The Defense Commissary Agency is a Drug-Free Federal Workplace where the use of illegal drugs will not be tolerated and may result in penalties up to and including removal from Federal service.

• The salary range at the beginning of this announcement reflects Step 1 of the listed location with the lowest salary to the Step 5 of the listed location with the highest salary.
• Upon first appointment to a civilian position in the Federal government, you are entitled only to the lowest step (Step 1) of the grade for which selected. The display of a salary range on this announcement does not suggest or convey an entitlement to a higher rate of pay. Refer to the page to find the salary range for a specific location.
• . Employing those under 18 may be possible under certain circumstances. If under 18 years of age, ensure you provide documentation showing how you are eligible.
• Applicants with are not automatically removed from consideration.
• Selectees are required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Retired military service members cannot be appointed to a Department of Defense (DoD) civilian position within 180 days of their retirement date. 5 United States Code 3326.
• Current active duty armed forces personnel within 120 days of separation must submit written documentation from the armed forces certifying that the service member is expected to be separated from active duty service not later than 120 days after the date the certification is signed. The document must include the following information: (1) service member's name, (2) date of the expected separation from active duty, (3) expected character of the active duty service at separation, (4) pay grade/rank/rate at separation, (5) dates of active duty service, and (6) any campaign or expeditionary medals received. You must submit the DD-214 when it becomes available.

The following may result in a rating of ineligible. Ineligible applicants receive no consideration.

• Submitting an incomplete application package may result in your not being considered for this position. Your resume must reflect that you are either Part-Time with the number of hours listed, Full Time, or 40 hours per week as your work schedule. If you fail to provide this information in your resume, your resume may be considered as incomplete.
• Submitting encrypted documents or uploading Adobe portfolio documents.
• Submitting any document that contains a photo or image of you.
• Including social media links, inappropriate material or content, classified or government sensitive information, or personal information such as age, gender, race, religion, or social security number on your resume.
• Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or questionnaire responses.
• Deliberately attempting to falsify your application information, such as copying portions of this announcement into your resume.

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.

How you will be evaluated

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

Open-Continuous Cut-off Information: An initial cut-off date of 30 days after the open date of the announcement will be used to evaluate candidates for the initial available vacancies. Any application received after the initial cut-off date will only be considered should additional vacancies be received after the initial cut-off date. If additional vacancies are received after the initial cut-off date, ALL applicants that have applied will be evaluated/re-evaluated and ranked as stated within the Evaluation statement in the announcement. HR reviews your documents to determine if you are qualified and meet requirements. Your questionnaire score is a preliminary measure of how well your background matches the required competencies. Under category rating procedures you are placed into one of three categories based on the evaluation results:

Best Qualified -Candidates who possess the type and quality of experience that substantially exceeds the position's minimum qualifications, including all selective placement factors and appropriate quality ranking factors.

Highly Qualified - Candidates who possess the type and quality of experience that exceeds the position's minimum qualifications.

Qualified - Candidates who meet the minimum qualifications and are proficient in some but not all of the position's requirements.

Candidates in the best qualified category are referred to hiring managers before candidates in other categories. Within the best qualified category, candidates are referred in the following order: adjudicated veterans' preference candidates with 10-point preference, adjudicated veterans' preference candidates with other than 10-point preference, military spouse preference candidates, and candidates with no preference. Selections are subject to restrictions of the DoD referral system for displaced employees. Neither preference nor priority entitles you to a Federal job. You must apply, meet the qualification standards and all additional requirements, and submit all necessary documents. Military spouses must be in the best qualified group in order to receive military spouse preference Veterans Preference:

• You must provide a copy of your DD-214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty or other acceptable documentation that includes your character of service. The member 4 copy is preferred. Contact the or your military personnel records center to request a copy of your DD-214.
• Those claiming 10-point preference must submit a completed Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference (For Veterans and Relatives of Veterans) and all required proof listed on the reverse of the SF 15. Note that a letter from the VA that contains the following may be sufficient instead of a SF-15: Dates of service, Discharge status, and Disability rating. Contact the or call 1-800-827-1000 to obtain a copy of the VA letter establishing proof of disability.