What does a Butchers and Meat Cutter do?

Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments. Day to day that includes work like prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye and Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.

What skills should a Butchers and Meat Cutter put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, and Service Orientation among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Butchers and Meat Cutter list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Financial accounting software, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Word. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Butchers and Meat Cutter work?

O*NET records 29 titles for this occupation, including Butcher, Meat Clerk, Meat Cutter, and Meat Specialist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Butchers and Meat Cutter need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 70% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Butchers and Meat Cutter role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Butchers and Meat Cutter resume example

A resume for a Butchers and Meat Cutter needs to show the work itself: cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments. Day to day that means work like this: prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye; wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Butcher
Meat Clerk
Meat Cutter
Meat Specialist
Meat Wrapper
Beef Shoppe Clerk
Blockman
Cleaver
Halal Butcher
Hotel and Restaurant Butcher
Journeyman Meat Cutter
Kosher Butcher
Meat Butcher
Meat Carver
Meat Counter Clerk
Meat Counter Worker
Meat Dresser
Meat Loiner

O*NET records 29 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye.
Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form.
Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers.
Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality.
Estimate requirements and order or requisition meat supplies to maintain inventories.
Shape, lace, and tie roasts, using boning knife, skewer, and twine.
Record quantity of meat received and issued to cooks or keep records of meat sales.
Supervise other butchers or meat cutters.
Cure, smoke, tenderize, and preserve meat.
Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Financial accounting software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Word
Web browser software

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Air knives
Anti-griddles
Auto feed grinders
Bacon slicers
Balers
Beef shackles
Beef splitting saws
Bone dusters
Boning hooks
Boning knives
Bowl choppers
Breaking knives

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Monitoring
04Reading Comprehension
05Service Orientation
06Social Perceptiveness
07Speaking
08Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service
Food Production
Production and Processing
Sales and Marketing

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

70%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
20%Less than a High School Diploma
7%Some College Courses

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Butchers and Meat Cutter do?: Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments. Day to day that includes work like prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye and Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
What skills should a Butchers and Meat Cutter put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, and Service Orientation among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Butchers and Meat Cutter list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Financial accounting software, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Word. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Butchers and Meat Cutter work?: O*NET records 29 titles for this occupation, including Butcher, Meat Clerk, Meat Cutter, and Meat Specialist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Butchers and Meat Cutter need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 70% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Butchers and Meat Cutter role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.