Dining Services Assistant - PM

Amherst has taken a leadership role among highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities in successfully diversifying the racial, socio-economic, and geographic profile of its student body. The College is similarly committed to enriching its educational experience and its culture through the diversity of its faculty, administration and staff.

Job Description:

Amherst College invites applications for the Dining Services Assistant (DSA) position. The Dining Services Assistant is a full-time, year-round position, starting at $20.56 per hour. Given Amherst’s distinction as one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, the successful candidate will demonstrate the ways in which they bring value to and will work towards supporting a broadly diverse community.

The DSA Role supports the efforts of Amherst College Dining Services in providing the diverse campus community with excellent service and production of our menus. This position assists the culinary team with the production and implementation of menu items. This individual takes appropriate actions to support a diverse workforce and participates in the College’s efforts to create a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming work environment.

The DSA supports the efforts of Dining Services to provide the campus community with excellent quality and customer service. The assistant maintains safe, clean, orderly, and sanitary conditions, as well as assisting with the execution of food and beverage service within the Dining Commons throughout the year. This role engages with the community at each meal to build connections and a sense of belonging for all. Verifies that all foods served are done so at the highest quality to preserve both the integrity of but also the safety of the food being served. 

The work schedule varies and corresponds to the College’s operational needs. As our work is central to student life and their needs occur at a variety of times throughout the day, week, and year and in such, a flexible schedule with extended shift times is required. In addition, the position is designated as providing essential services and may be required to report to work, or remain on duty even when the College is closed.  

Summary of Responsibilities:

Service Support   

• Set up food lines by preparing, cleaning, and managing service equipment

• Independently ensures dining rooms, beverage areas, self-service food areas, and dish return areas are ready, stocked, filled, and maintained during service, including advance preparation for periods of consumer demands

• Actively communicates with the supervisor during the entirety of their shift to ensure flawless guest services are delivered

• In a thorough and detailed manner, cleans the station after each meal period and resets for the next meal period

• Delivers excellent customer service to our diverse college campus community; engages with guests, builds relationships, and uses the names of guests when possible; creates a sense of belonging and community; welcomes each guest fondly and genuinely

• Effectively collaborate and communicate with a diverse group of colleagues and students

Cleaning

• Maintains service areas prior to, during, and after meal service, including but not limited to floor maintenance, trash removal, restocking supplies for service, general cleaning duties, changing light bulbs, submitting work orders, and managing dish room operations.

• Ensures that dining delivers a high level of sanitation and cleanliness in all areas and that all dining areas are well maintained and in good repair

• This role strikes and resets furniture as needed and after each meal

• Ensure that all required sanitation and service logs are completed for compliance with federal, state, and local regulatory agencies

People Support

• This position oversees student and casual employees to support the execution of duties and meal service

• Provides training and reports observations of employee growth and development to a supervisor for continued improvement

• Provides support for college food service events including moving and sourcing goods from a building to off-site areas

Communication and Workday

• Regularly checking your amherst.edu email is required to stay up to date on college-wide and departmental communications

  • This includes communication by email, message boards, and the Daily Mammoth

  • Important information is shared through these communications that affect your job and help you stay up to date on departmental-specific<