Whenever you are looking for a new position, it’s vital to update and refresh your resume. Suppose you are looking to change roles as a chef or cook and move to a higher-paying role or a role with more responsibility. In that case, you’ll want to ensure a professional, well-crafted resume highlighting your skills, experiences, and education for potential employers.
Don’t forget there’s plenty of advice and guidance online, including an example of a cook resume from ResumeHelp that is explicitly designed to help cooks and chefs land their dream roles.
Let’s look at 5 things to remember when updating your cook resume.
- Choose a Format That Highlights Your Strengths
When writing your resume, the first step is choosing a format highlighting your strengths as a candidate. Generally speaking, there are three resume formats to choose from: a chronological resume, a functional resume, and a combined resume.
A chronological resume focuses on your work history, with your work experience section listing your previous roles placed higher in the resume. On the other hand, a functional resume is a skills-based resume emphasizing your broad skillset over experience. A combined resume contains elements of the chronological and functional resume formats.
The resume format you choose depends on what you want to highlight for the recruiter. For instance, if you are a chef with lots of experience working at various restaurants demonstrating knowledge of different cuisines and an understanding of how kitchen teams work, you may opt for a chronological resume. However, if you’re relatively new to the profession but you have gained lots of skills through a culinary course, you may want to opt for a functional resume.
- Include a Resume Summary or Resume Objective
A resume summary or objective is an excellent addition for candidates wishing to give a snapshot view of their career—and it’s a step many applicants miss. It succinctly summarizes your strengths for the recruiter.
A resume summary briefly summarizes your career highlights thus far, usually referring to your years of experience or expertise in no more than three sentences. It’s like the headline advertising your qualities as a professional chef. A resume summary is therefore great for experienced candidates.
A resume objective is slightly different in that it is aspirational. You utilize it to communicate your career goals using phrases like “I am looking for opportunities” and “seeking career progression.” It’s a valuable way for those with less experience as a cook to express that their goals align with the position they’re applying for.
- Don’t Forget Your Contact Information
An essential element that you should never forget is your contact information. The hiring manager needs to be able to contact you about your application to their restaurant or kitchen. Therefore, remember to include all your contact information where it is easily visible in your resume header. You’ll need your full name, address, email, phone number, and possibly even your professional social media links, like your LinkedIn profile, with evidence of your cooking skills.
- Use the Job Description
A great tip for anybody writing a resume is to use the job description for clues about what the recruiter is looking for. You can customize your resume so it catches the recruiter’s attention by including the specific skills that the recruiter is looking for.
When applying for a role as a cook, this will be especially relevant when compiling your skills section. What kind of role are you applying for? A leadership position? Will you need specific cooking skills? Will you be involved in the process of managing and buying stock? Answers to these questions and more should dictate which skills to feature in your skills section to help the recruiter see how you will fit in the role.
- Include Relevant Qualifications
This one is a bit of a no-brainer, but don’t forget to include any relevant courses you have completed along your culinary journey. These qualifications may include a degree from culinary school or shorter professional certificates and awards for food hygiene and safety.
This section is important to establish your credibility, so anything you can include to evidence your expertise and impress the hiring manager of the restaurant will be helpful.