Assistant Cook

Job Title: Assistant Cook at Craven Vale Resource Centre

Craven Vale is a short term residential home specialising in reablement. We believe great food is about much more than just a meal-it is about comfort, nutrition, independence, and a daily highlight to look forward to. We are looking for a creative, kind, and reliable Assistant Cook to join our dedicated team.

What You’ll Do

• Prepare, cook, and present nutritious, fresh, and well-balanced meals, snacks, and baking daily.

• Cater for individual dietary requirements, allergies, and modified texture diets (e.g., IDDSI standards).

• Work closely with residents to design and update seasonal, choice-driven menus.

• Manage kitchen stock and keep accurate delivery and temperature logs.

• Maintain high standards of kitchen cleanliness, hygiene, and health and safety.

• Build warm, friendly connections with our residents and listen to their feedback and supporting them to make their selection from the menu.
• Attend regular supervisions and complete mandatory training.

What We Are Looking For

• Previous experience cooking in a care home, catering, or busy kitchen environment.

• A valid Food Hygiene Certificate and a solid working knowledge of kitchen safety or equivalent.

• Understanding of dietary needs and modified texture/allergen management is a plus.

• A genuine passion for cooking and a kind, patient, and person-centred approach.

• Willingness to undergo an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check.

Please note that the interview will have a practical assessment to guage your experience in an industrial kitchen. For any additional information please contact Rachel Wright on 01273 295772 or [email protected]

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?

As a council, we want to:

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply

Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates

We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

This role is sublect to an enhanced DBS check.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

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Salary: £28,153 - £28,608