Line Cook Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Line Cook resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
If you like working with your hands and have an eye for detail, you might be a perfect candidate for a job as a line cook. Line cooks are the backbone of any restaurant, working hard to prepare fresh, delicious food on a daily basis. If you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment with lots of moving parts, line cooking might be the perfect career for you.
Before you can get hired for a line cook position, you first need to write a compelling resume that will convince hiring managers that you’re ready for the job. Here are some tips and an example resume to help you write yours.
How to Write a Line Cook Resume
Here’s how to write a line cook resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
Bullet points are the most important part of your resume because they’re the first thing recruiters will read. And since they’re so important, it’s crucial that you use them to your advantage by crafting compelling bullet points that highlight your experience, skills, and accomplishments.
The best way to do this is to focus on the results of your work. So rather than saying you “cooked food,” you could say you “prepared meals for 150+ guests daily, ensuring they were served on time and according to specifications.”
The second bullet point is much more specific and tells a clear story about what you did and the outcome of your work.
Related: What Is a Line Cook? How to Become One
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you submit your resume online, it’s likely that it will be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. These programs scan resumes for certain terms related to the job opening, like “grill cook” or “line cook,” to determine whether you have the necessary skills and experience. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right keywords, the ATS might discard your application.
To make sure this doesn’t happen, use this list of common line cook keywords to help you identify the skills and experience that are most relevant to the position you’re applying for:
- Cooking
- Food & Beverage
- Teamwork
- Customer Service
- Microsoft Access
- Hospitality
- Food Safety
- Time Management
- Social Media
- Communication
- Food Preparation
- Catering
- Organization Skills
- Problem Solving
- Leadership
- Cashiering
- Public Speaking
- Fine Dining
- Culinary Skills
- Culinary Management
- Menu Development
- Bartending
- Pre-opening
- Sanitation
- Food Quality
- HACCP
- Food Industry
- Food Service
- Restaurant Management
- Food Preparation
Related: How Much Does a Line Cook Make?
Remember The Basics
As you draft your resume, there are a few basic rules to keep in mind.
Create Scannable Sections
There are a few things you can do to your resume to make it more skimmable and easy to read. First, left-align your text and use a standard font size. You should also try to keep your bullets under two lines and use digits for numbers. Finally, leave some white space on the page to help the recruiter easily scan through your information.
Be Concise
Ideally, a resume should only be one page long. However, if you have a lot of experience to include, a two-page resume is appropriate. When trimming down a resume, remove irrelevant information and focus on the most relevant details.
Check Your Work
Proofreading your resume is essential to ensuring that it looks its best. Spelling mistakes, punctuation mistakes, and grammatical mistakes can all be easily corrected with a careful eye. Having someone else proofread your resume is also helpful, as they can catch mistakes that you may have missed.
Use a Summary
A resume summary statement is an excellent way to show potential employers that you are capable of doing the job they are hiring for. It also provides a snapshot of your experience and what you can bring to the table. When writing your summary, be sure to highlight your most relevant skills and experiences, and state your intentions clearly. Keep it short and sweet, and make sure it’s well written and error-free.
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