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Chef Resume Examples for You to Use This Year

Chefs need to have a variety of skills in and outside of the kitchen. How can you showcase those skills in your resume?

Ho Lin Profile
By Ho Lin 4 minute read

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Chef Resume Example

Chef Resume Example

Chef Resume Sample

When you think of jobs that require a resume, chances are you think of office jobs and executive positions. However, the culinary arts also require a resume. Hiring managers want to know that you have all the talents necessary to make a restaurant a success. So if you’re applying for a chef position, you’re going to need a resume. Here’s how you can get a new job by impressing recruiters and restaurant managers alike.

What Should I Highlight in a Chef Resume?

The best resume for a chef position will show off your cooking talents, but it will also highlight your experience and your ability to collaborate with others and satisfy customers. Remember, your skills are what keep the restaurant afloat, so it’s important that you have the right culinary abilities to attract customers. Additionally, a hiring manager typically wants to know that you’ll stay with the restaurant for quite some time, as hiring a new chef can be very expensive.

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The Structure of a Chef Resume

The structure of your resume will partially depend on the resume format that you choose. There are three major resume formats: the chronological resume, which emphasizes work history, the functional resume, which emphasizes skills, and the hybrid resume, which emphasizes both. Regardless of which format you’ve selected, you will typically include the following sections:

Contact information

Your contact information is where you include your full name, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile. When you use resume templates, you typically just have to add your information.

Resume summary/Resume objective

Next is your resume summary or resume objective. This is a paragraph at the top of your resume that includes 2-3 sentences about your best skills and key achievements. In a professional resume, it helps recruiters get an understanding of who you are at a glance.

Work history

If you have any work experience, you should include it in your experience section. Oftentimes, chefs will include any experience they have in their work history section. Here are a few job titles you might be able to include:

  • Kitchen staff
  • Sous chef
  • Executive chef
  • Head chef
  • Fine dining
  • Line cook
  • Pastry chef
  • Professional chef

Remember that you should only include the last 10 years of work experience. For experience beyond 10 years, you can refer hiring managers to your LinkedIn profile.

Skills

Your skills section is also extremely important. Here are a few chef-related abilities that you might be able to use to fill out your skills section:

  • Food preparation
  • Food safety
  • Food cost and pricing
  • Food quality
  • Dietary restrictions and allergy preparation
  • Menu development
  • Maintaining quality standards
  • Time management

You’ll notice that this list is a mix of both hard skills and soft skills. Feature both these types of skills throughout your resume to prove that you’re a well-balanced candidate.

Education

Not every person working as a chef has been to culinary school. However, the culinary arts are incredibly important to chefs, and if you have such credentials, you should include it in your resume. If you don’t have any expert experience, you can just list your high school graduation.

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Do’s and Don’ts for a Chef Resume

Do:

  • Include in your key achievements any staff members you’ve mentored in the past. Chef positions are often very managerial, and it’s a good idea to mention your involvement in mentoring.
  • Mention the type of cuisine you specialize in when applicable. If you’re applying to an Italian restaurant, you can mention that you worked previously at Italian restaurants.
  • Proofread your resume. A typo can immediately put recruiters off your resume without even reading it.

Don’t:

  • Discuss specific food items you’ve cooked at other restaurants. In general, this isn’t relevant, and you don’t need to mention it.
  • Apply for jobs that you’re unqualified for. Read the job description and see whether you’re qualified for a job before you apply.
  • Only cite cooking-related skills in your skills section. Menu creation, or staff management, for example, is just as big of a part of the job as cooking.
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FAQ: Chef Resumes

Have questions? We’re here to help.

Yes. When you’re writing a chef resume, you should also write a chef cover letter to boost your chances of getting the job. You can review the ResumeHelp chef cover letter example to get ideas for creating your own. The cover letter provides more information about you and puts you ahead of other job seekers also vying for the job. You can use the cover letter builder to create beautiful cover letters.

If you don’t have much experience, you need to highlight whatever experience you do have. For example, you can discuss experiences you may have had as a sous chef or your academic experience. You might also be able to talk about volunteer work as a chef. These are all experiences that you can use even if you don’t think of them as work history.

Resume keywords are important for customizing your resume for different chef jobs. Look over the job description, pick out skills and requirements that apply to the job and also match your own skill set, and feature them in your own resume. One of the best ways to easily customize your resume is to use the ResumeHelpresume builder. With the resume builder, you just have to build the base resume once and then you can start building other resumes on top of it.

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WRITTEN BY Ho Lin

Ho Lin is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and editor with two decades of experience in content strategy, creation, and development. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and his background includes experience aiding military veterans as they transition to civilian careers.

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