Line Cook Resume Example

After reading this article, you'll feel confident creating a line cook resume that effectively showcases your relevant skills and experience. You'll find valuable tips on writing a resume that best showcases your unique skills and achievements. There is also extensive guidance on how to structure your resume to match the job description, and to reflect your experience levels to impress HR specialists and employers. Read on to learn the tips Jobseeker careers experts recommend as the best for your line cook resume.

Key sections for a line cook resume

The key sections to include in a line cook resume are similar to those for any role or profession. For junior candidates with little work experience, other sections of the resume take on more prominence and might be placed before the work experience section. These could include education, skills, projects, hobbies and volunteer work.

While the content and format of your resume may vary depending on your experience levels, it's important to always include the following sections:

Resume Header

Your line cook resume header is the place to add your contact details. Start by adding your full name and underneath, include your email address, phone number and location. Adding your LinkedIn profile, if you have one, can help the employer get a better insight into your skills and industry expertise. You don't need to include any additional personal information or a photo. Create a clear, well-structured header that acts as the headline of your resume. Use color accents and blocks to help this section stand out and catch the eye of the reader.

Only include professional, name-based email addresses in your resume header. If you have an old email address that uses nicknames, puns, references to your personal interests or anything else that could appear unprofessional, set up a new email just for your job applications. Finally, always double-check your contact details are correct and up-to-date before sending your resume.

Resume Profile

Following your resume header, write a resume summary to introduce yourself and showcase some of your key skills and achievements. Alternative names for this section are 'resume objective' and 'personal profile'. While a resume summary focuses on your career experience, a resume objective covers your ambitions and career plans. Always make sure your summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for line cook roles.

Alternatively, use this section to emphasize your career objectives and explain how and why this role is a suitable step for you at this stage of your career.

A good resume summary reflects the job description and highlights some of the key skills required for line cook roles, while leaving the reader with an impression of your unique qualities and strengths. The most effective resume summaries also provide evidence to back up the claims made in them. Take a look at some strong examples of how to approach a line cook resume summary in the graphic below.

On the other hand, an unsuccessful resume summary is one that mentions irrelevant skills, qualities and achievements and fails to differentiate you from other candidates. In the graphic above you can find some negative examples of how to write a resume summary.

Hard and Soft Skills

In your skills section, list any skills you've acquired or developed that are relevant to line cook positions. Consider adding time management, time management or any other necessary skills for the job. Again, refer to the line cook job description for an indication of the types of skills the employer is looking for, and make sure your skills section reflects these.

How to include hard skills on your line cook resume

In your hard skills list, include any specific abilities related to the role you're applying for. These could be technical skills or industry knowledge that showcases your expertise in your chosen profession. Furthermore, it's important to show these skills in a line cook resume as they provide a strong indication of your experience in the sector. Add up to five key hard skills that show you're an ideal candidate for the role. It can also be beneficial to add context to each skill, showing how you've used it to positive effect in your career to date.

For an effective resume hard skills section, focus on the technical skills that are most essential in the job description, and that match your specific expertise. Some examples of the best hard skills for a line cook resume are listed below.

Showcasing your best soft skills

Soft skills are your transferable skills and personal qualities that make you a good match for a line cook position and the organization. Soft skills tend to be more universal than hard skills, and can often apply to multiple jobs and industries. In fact, as technology develops, soft skills are growing in importance for recruiters and employers, so be sure to add several of these to your resume. Aim to include approximately five soft skills that reflect the skills listed in the job description.

Your soft skills section should make the most of your unique personal qualities and strengths, while also reflecting the requirements laid out in the job description. See below for some examples of useful soft skills for a line cook resume.

Education

The education section provides space to list your highest and most recent academic achievements that are relevant to working as a line cook.

You don't tend to need a degree for line cook roles, but you'll still need to list any relevant qualifications, or your relevant educational achievements. If you have ServSafe Food Handler, add this here, along with any other education that shows your recipe execution or POS systems.

Enter the name and level of the qualification, the institution you studied at, its location and your dates of study or graduation. You could also add one or two bullet points to draw attention to your grades if they were particularly good, as well as any specialist subjects you studied. This will help the hiring manager understand your knowledge and special skills better.

Additionally, mentioning any leadership roles or any societies and clubs you participated in while studying shows proactivity and initiative.

Certifications and Training

In this section, include any line cook certifications, training or licenses you hold that are relevant to the job. You could list accreditations for certain professional roles or licenses for certain activities that help to make you a strong candidate. Therefore, list any official licenses and certifications, along with their dates, so employers can assess whether you've got the necessary qualifications to work as a line cook.

Take a look at some example certifications for a line cook resume below:

Work Experience

In the next section, list your employment history focusing on the most relevant previous roles and achievements that showcase your line cook skills. Include any relevant jobs you've held in reverse-chronological order. Start with your current or most recent roles and work back through previous roles. For each job, list your title, the name of the company, its location and the dates you worked there.

Under each job entry, add several bullet points highlighting your responsibilities and achievements. Consult the job description for a list of the key requirements for the role and make sure your work experience section showcases how you meet these requirements.

A successful resume work experience section will always showcase skills and experience relevant to the job description, and how you put each to good use in your previous roles. Offering quantifiable evidence in a line cook resume proves you're a strong candidate for the job, such as client feedback, project outcomes, KPIs or financial results. There are some examples of strong resume work experience sections below.

The example above can give you some idea of what not to include in your resume work experience section. Poor examples of resume work experience sections tend to be vague and fail to quantify your achievements and the impact you've made in your career to date. They may also focus on responsibilities above relevant skills and how you've used them.

Optional Resume Sections

There are several additional sections you could add to a line cook resume, to improve your chances of success. Choose optional sections from the list below, if they help to showcase your relevant skills and experience.

Hobbies and Interests

Add any hobbies and interests that reinforce your credentials for the position. They also help to show a different side of your personality, and can help your resume create a more memorable impression on hiring managers. If you're short on real world work experience, hobbies and interests can be a useful way of providing more information about your qualities. Think about adding hobbies and interests to your resume if they add some insight into your personality that you can't express elsewhere in your application.

Voluntary Work

Listing volunteer work is another useful way to prove your relevant experience for line cook roles. Add any voluntary roles, including your position, the name of the organization, the dates of your voluntary work and a brief explanation of your responsibilities and achievements.

References

Although it's rare to include references on a line cook resume, some employers may ask for it. Don't add references unless they're specifically mentioned by the employer in the job advert. Only include referees that you've had prior approval from, and notify them to expect contact from the employer.

Best action words for your line cook resume

Using strong action words to make your resume resonate with the employer. The suggested action verbs below will help the reader to understand your key qualities and the impact you made on the organization.

If you need help creating a resume that impresses HR managers, take a look at Jobseeker's professional resume templates. You can also access beautiful cover letter templates that help your application stand out.

Example resume for line cook applications

Now we've covered the main sections to include in your line cook resume, let's take a look at how it all comes together in the example below:

How to make an ATS-friendly resume

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) help recruiters and employers to streamline their hiring process. They can store and process data, including applications and applicant data, quickly and efficiently. One of the jobs ATS applications are increasingly responsible for is initial candidate screening. The systems can quickly scan and rank resumes based on how closely they match the job description. There are several things you can do when writing your line cook resume, to give yourself the strongest chance of ranking highly in the ATS stage and progressing through the recruitment process.

Here a some simple tips to follow for an ATS-friendly resume:

• Opt for an established, traditional resume format such as a reverse-chronological or functional structure. These will ensure your resume includes all the necessary details ATS systems scan for.
• Use of job description keywords throughout your resume will help it rank higher in the ATS scanning stage, as it will more closely match the requirements laid out in the job description.
• Include clear headings that make it easy to identify each section of your resume. This will help any ATS software navigate your resume during the scanning process.
• Utilize a clean, clear resume design that helps make your content more readable. Use simple fonts and subtle color accents and design elements that don't detract from the written content.
• Make sure your resume is as concise as possible, so ATS applications can easily scan and identify the required details.

Takeaways for a winning line cook resume

The best resumes focus on your skills and the value you've added to previous roles, rather than focusing on your duties and responsibilities. Pick a resume format that matches your experience levels, and tailor the content of your resume to reflect the details of the job description.

Using the professional resume templates and resources of Jobseeker can help you create a great-looking resume that stands out from other applicants. Sign up today and follow the simple steps to get started. Whatever job you're applying for, a professional cover letter can make all the difference to your chances. Use Jobseeker's HR-approved tools and cover letter examples to inspire your applications.

Sources:

(1) Writing a Resume, California Department of Human Resources: https://www.calhr.ca.gov/employees/Pages/resume-tips.aspx

(2) Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications, New York State Department of Labor: https://dol.ny.gov/resumes-cover-letters-and-job-applications