Chefs and Head Cooksresume guide.
Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. A strong Chefs and Head Cooks resume shows coordination, monitoring and management of personnel resources, and names the tools you have worked with, such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Office software.
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- 1Show your food cost and labor numbers.This guide lists pricing menu items from food, labor and overhead costs as a core task. Owners hire on food cost and labor cost percentages, so the summary gives both.
- 2Show the result, not just the task."Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items" from the guide becomes a re-costed menu and a food cost that fell five points.
- 3Prove you train people who stay.Instructing cooks and Management of Personnel Resources rank high in this guide. Kitchens still struggle to keep staff, so lower turnover and promoted cooks are strong evidence.
- 4Back up sanitation with inspection results.Monitoring sanitation practices is this guide's top task. A run of clean health inspections says more than "strong food safety skills."
- 5Name each certification in full.Write the full credential name, who issued it and when it expires, like the ServSafe manager certificate here, so a hiring manager can check it.
- 6Keep education to one line.Most people in this job have a two-year culinary degree, so the degree and school are enough. Your kitchen results do the rest.
Sample resume. The candidate is fictional; the layout and templates are real.
01Also called
O*NET02Skills employers expect
O*NETImportance is how much the skill matters to the job; level is how much of it the job demands. Both are worth naming on the resume, in this order.
| Skill | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Coordination | Very high | Advanced |
| Monitoring | Very high | Advanced |
| Management of Personnel Resources | High | Intermediate |
| Social Perceptiveness | High | Intermediate |
| Speaking | High | Intermediate |
| Time Management | High | Intermediate |
| Critical Thinking | High | Intermediate |
| Service Orientation | High | Intermediate |
| Active Listening | High | Intermediate |
| Instructing | High | Intermediate |
03Knowledge areas
O*NET- Food Production
- Production and Processing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Economics and Accounting
- Administrative
04Common responsibilities
O*NETOrdered by importance. Each one is a bullet waiting for a result and a number.
- Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
- Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
- Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
- Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.
- Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.
- Check the quantity and quality of received products.
- Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
- Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.
- Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.
- Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.
05Software and tools
O*NET24 tools across 15 categories. The six largest categories are below; Hot marks a hot technology, In demand a tool employers ask for most often.
- Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro
- Culinary Software Services ChefTec
- GNOME Gnutrition
- IPro Restaurant Inventory, Recipe & Menu Software
- Nutrition analysis software
- EGS CALCMENU
- Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial
- CostGuard
- Menu planning software
- Microsoft OutlookHotIn demand
- Email software
- Microsoft ExcelHotIn demand
- Google SheetsHot
- SoftCafe MenuPro
- Sage MAS 90 ERP
- Delphi Technology
- GroupMe
- Enggist & Grandjean EGS F&B Control
- Microsoft Office softwareHotIn demand
- Microsoft PowerPointHotIn demand
- ReServe Interactive
- ADP eTIME
- FacebookHot
- Microsoft WordHotIn demand
06Education and preparation
O*NET07Putting it on your resume
ResumeXRays guidanceLead with the credential and the record. Job Zone 3 roles usually ask for training, a license or a few years of related experience. Put those on the first screen, then show what you did with them.
Name the tools exactly. This occupation is heavy on named software. A skills section that says "Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft PowerPoint" matches more job descriptions than a general phrase. Use the spelling employers use.
Show monitoring and management of personnel resources, not just coordination. Monitoring and management of personnel resources rank close to coordination for this occupation. One bullet per role that shows a decision, a tradeoff or a result covers them.
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