Jail Cook - Juvenile Justice Complex

WHAT WE OFFER

The County of Ventura offers an attractive compensation and benefits package that includes:

• New Hire/Retention/Referral Incentive: New hires may be eligible for a one-time New Hire Incentive up to 10% of the current annual base wage. (Subject to the applicable section of the SEIU 721 MOA , Secs. 3801 – 3803)
• Educational Incentive: 2.5% for completion of an associate's degree, 3.5% for completion of a bachelor’s degree, or 5% for completion of a graduate degree.
• Bilingual Incentive: Proficiency levels by exam are $0.69 per hour (Level I), $1.00 per hour (Level II), or $1.32 per hour (Level III).
• Vacation Accrual: New regular, full-time employees accrue approximately 14 days of vacation per year for the first 10,400 hours or 5 years of service; accrual increases at 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 20 years of service topping out at 26 days a year and 400 hours of vacation hours banked.
• Annual Leave Redemption: After 14,560 hours of continuous County service, an employee may elect to redeem up to 80 hours of vacation accrued in the same year after using 80 hours of vacation in the preceding 12 months.
• Sick Leave: Full-time regular employees accrue 3.08 hours of sick leave per pay period with an advance at hire of 40.04 hours which will be balanced at the completion of 13 bi-weekly pay periods.
• Deferred Compensation: Eligible to participate in the County's 401(k) Shared Savings Plan and/or the Section 457 Plan. This position is eligible for up to a 3.00% match on your 401(k) contributions.
• Health Plans: You are afforded an annual flexible credit allowance for purchasing medical, dental, and/or vision insurance from a group of authorized plans.
• Flexible Spending Accounts: Pre-tax benefit towards eligible medical, dental and vision care expenses.
• Pension Plan: Participation in the County's defined pension plan, which has reciprocity with CalPERS.
• Holidays: 12 paid days per year which includes a scheduled floating holiday.
• Additional Benefits: Tuition Reimbursement, Disability Plans, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, Wellness Program.

Under direction, performs large quantity cooking and related work in a juvenile correctional institution for the County of Ventura's Probation Agency.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will have experience cooking in a large-scale eatery preparing a variety of meals in large quantities.

PAYROLL

TITLE:

Jail Cook

Jail Cook employees must be willing and able to work rotating shifts, weekends, and holidays. Applicants who fail to indicate on their application their ability to work rotating shifts, weekends, and holidays will not be invited to continue in the recruitment process.

The Jail Cook is represented by Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) and is eligible for overtime compensation.

The eligible list established from this recruitment will be used to fill current and future Regular (including Temporary and Fixed-term), Intermittent and Extra Help vacancies for this position or similar positions only. There are currently four (4) Regular vacancies.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

OPENING DATE:
September 3, 2025

CLOSING DATE:
Continuous and may close at any time; the schedule for the remainder of the process will depend upon when we receive a sufficient number of qualified applications to meet business needs.

Duties may include but are not limited to the following:

• Prepares and cooks in accordance with the nutritional requirements of California Title 15 for inmates in Detention Centers and The National School Breakfast and Lunch programs.
• Cooks in large quantities using USDA standardized recipes.
• Understands and adheres to Environmental Health regulations for food safety and sanitation.
• Assists in the serving of food within a correctional facility.
• Maintains cleanliness of work area and equipment.
• Directs and trains Food Services Assistants in the preparation and serving of food.
• Performs other related duties as required.

These are entrance requirements to the examination process and assure neither continuance in the process nor placement on an eligible list.

EDUCATION, TRAINING, and

EXPERIENCE:

A minimum of two (2) years experience as a cook in a kitchen preparing a variety of meals in large quantities.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:

• Willing and able to work rotating shifts, weekends, and holidays.

DESIRED: Experience as a cook in a correctional facility, military, hospital, university or other large-scale eatery.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and ABILITIES:

Working knowledge of: methods of preparing food in quantity and considerable variety, kitchen sanitation, and food storage.

Working ability to: plan and direct the work of others; write simple English sentences; understand and follow written and oral instructions and recipes; prepare appetizing food, serve it attractively, and prepare large quantities of food required with a minimum of waste.

Supplemental Information: Work is performed primarily in a correctional facility kitchen or food preparation area and may involve contact and…