What does a Chefs and Head Cook do?

Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. Day to day that includes work like monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations and Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.

What skills should a Chefs and Head Cook put on a resume?

O*NET rates Coordination, Monitoring, Speaking, Time Management, and Active Listening 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 Chefs and Head Cook list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes ADP eTIME, Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro, Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial, CostGuard, and Culinary Software Services ChefTec. 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 Chefs and Head Cook work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Chef, Cook, Executive Chef, and Ex Chef. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Chefs and Head Cook need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 52% reported their level of education as "Associate's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Chefs and Head Cook 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.

Chefs and Head Cook resume example

A resume for a Chefs and Head Cook needs to show the work itself: direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. Day to day that means work like this: monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations; check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met. 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.

Chef
Cook
Executive Chef
Ex Chef
Sous Chef
Banquet Chef
Certified Executive Chef
CEC
Executive Sous Chef
Head Cook
Kitchen Manager
Pastry Chef
Cake Froster
Cake Icer
Cake Maker
Cake Mixer
Chef de Cuisine
Chef de Froid

O*NET records 40 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.

Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services.
Check the quantity and quality of received products.
Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.
Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.
Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions.
Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers.
Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.
Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.

21 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

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.

Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Check the quantity and quality of received products, 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.

ADP eTIME
Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro
Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial
CostGuard
Culinary Software Services ChefTec
Delphi Technology
EGS CALCMENU
Email software
Enggist & Grandjean EGS F&B Control
Facebook
GNOME Gnutrition
Google Sheets
GroupMe
Internet browser software

25 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

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

Apple corers
Blast chillers
Blenders
Bone saws
Boning knives
Box graters
Braziers
Bread slicers
Broilers
Cake decorating tools
Cappuccino makers
Carbonated beverage dispensers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

cook foods

What this job rates as most important

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

01Coordination
02Monitoring
03Speaking
04Time Management
05Active Listening
06Critical Thinking
07Judgment and Decision Making
08Management of Personnel Resources
09Social Perceptiveness
10Service Orientation

Knowledge areas

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

Food Production
Customer and Personal Service
Production and Processing
Administration and Management
Personnel and Human Resources
Mathematics
Education and Training
English Language

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.

52%Associate's Degree
17%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
10%Bachelor's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Medium Preparation Needed”. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Common questions

What does a Chefs and Head Cook do?: Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. Day to day that includes work like monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations and Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
What skills should a Chefs and Head Cook put on a resume?: O*NET rates Coordination, Monitoring, Speaking, Time Management, and Active Listening 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 Chefs and Head Cook list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes ADP eTIME, Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro, Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial, CostGuard, and Culinary Software Services ChefTec. 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 Chefs and Head Cook work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Chef, Cook, Executive Chef, and Ex Chef. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Chefs and Head Cook need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 52% reported their level of education as "Associate's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Chefs and Head Cook 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.