As students return to the Virginia Tech campus, Dining Services is starting a hiring campaign to fill some 900 positions in campus dining centers, 100 of them with non-student employees and the remaining 800 with students.
“We’re hiring both full- and part-time positions, which creates a lot of flexibility for people who are unable to work 40 hours a week,” said Laura Pontier, assistant director of operations development for Dining Services. “Our department operates almost 24 hours each day, Monday through Sunday, so we have the ability to accommodate almost anyone’s schedule.”
Dining Services is the largest employer on campus and operates two food trucks and 10 dining centers, including Southgate Center, the university’s central warehouse, commissary, kitchen and bake shop.
The positions start at $11/hour for non-student wage employees and $10.50/hour for student workers. A meal voucher is also included with each shift four hours or longer. Many vacancies do not require food service experience with training provided to applicants for their new role with the university, said Pontier.
Applications are available online at dining.vt.edu/jobs. Interviews for students will be done remotely online, with an opportunity for non-student wage candidates to conduct their interviews in person.
“Our first guiding principle at dining services is that safety and sanitation are paramount,” said Pontier. “As we prepare to serve our students, we’ve been working closely with the university and our local health department to make campus dining as safe as possible for both our guests and staff.”
In keeping with concern about the safety of staff and employees, new health and safety measures are in place in the dining centers
Both staff and guests will be required to wear face masks in the dining centers.
More than 200 plexiglass panels have been installed to create a barrier between guests and staff in serving areas.
Team members will be screened at the beginning of each shift, based on recommendations from the Virginia Department of Health.
Electrostatic sprayers for cleaning and disinfecting will be available in each facility.
Touchless card readers at registers will eliminate the need for customers to hand their Hokie Passport cards to cashiers. In addition, dining centers will no longer accept cash, including credit and debit cards.
Students living in residence halls will be tested for COVID-19 when they arrive on campus.
