Army - Chef Instructor

The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, the Army Top Level Budget (TLB) employs around 7,000 MOD Civil Servants located at over 300 locations. Ours is a diverse workforce, with roles ranging from trainers, human resources, teachers, and psychologists to storekeepers, financiers, project and programme managers, and policy secretariat staff.

The Defence School of Logistics and Administration (DSLA), one of three schools in the Defence College of Support (DCSp) delivers training to all Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force service personnel in Supply, Distribution, Catering, and Personnel Administration. We are predominantly based at Worthy Down - a recently built, modern campus in Winchester with lots of amenities, making it a great place to work!

This role sits within the Catering Training Wing (CTW), providing training for our Military Chefs. For a taste of what a Chef Instructor in CTW could get up to, please watch this video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db-ZNPOsEI_/?igsh=MWNyMTNtb3liZjkweQ==

The position is advertised at 37 hours per week and requires regular attendance at the advertised location.

The Chef Instructor role offers an exciting opportunity to work in a fast-paced Tri-Service training environment that is vital to training the next generation of Military Chefs, giving you the perfect opportunity to pass on your cookery knowledge and skills.

The position is advertised at 37 hours per week. While there may be the opportunity for home working after training has been completed and when courses are not running, the majority of your hours will be worked on site.

This role comes with opportunities to conduct Continuous Professional Development (CPD) alongside Military Instructors.

Key responsibilities:

• Conducting practical lessons, demonstrations, and lectures both on camp (DSLA) and in outdoors practical training environments.
• Delivering instructions and guidance in accordance with the published course training documents.
• Evaluating and amending lesson plans to ensure they remain relevant and engaging.
• Carrying out assessments and providing feedback, both orally in writing.
• Evaluating equipment and recipes required for the courses.
• Complying with responsibilities in respect of Food Services and wider Defence Policy.
• Carrying out invigilator duties for both internal and external examinations.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

At the application stage, you will be assessed against the following criteria, listed in priority order:

• Personal Statement - 500 worded statement aligned to the Person Specification.
• CV
• Behaviour - Developing Self & Others

Where a large number of applications are received, an initial sift may be conducted against the Communicating & Influencing only. The remaining evidence submitted at the application stage will be assessed only if you are successful at this initial sift.

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following criteria, listed in priority order:

• Technical - demonstrate how to fillet a flat fish and various cuts of vegetables as if you were teaching a class of novice chefs. The rations and all equipment including knives etc will be provided.
• Behaviours
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing

Application sifting will be scheduled to take place within 7 days of the application closing date. Interview dates are to be confirmed and will be held in person. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.