What does a Cooks, Private Household do?

Prepare meals in private homes. Day to day that includes work like peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries and Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.

What skills should a Cooks, Private Household put on a resume?

O*NET rates Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgment and Decision Making 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 Cooks, Private Household list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes APPCA Personal Chef Office, Cooking e-books, Cost tracking software, Email software, and Food inventory software. 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 Cooks, Private Household work?

O*NET records 17 titles for this occupation, including Certified Personal Chef, CPC, Personal Chef, and Personal Private Chef. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Cooks, Private Household need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 38% reported their level of education as "Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Cooks, Private Household 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.

Cooks, Private Household resume example

A resume for a Cooks, Private Household needs to show the work itself: prepare meals in private homes. Day to day that means work like this: peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries; cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating. 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.

Certified Personal Chef
CPC
Personal Chef
Personal Private Chef
Private Chef
PCC
Cook
Cooking Chef
Culinary Artist
Culinary Chef
Culinary Specialist
Culinary Worker
Dinner Cook
Holiday Food Prepper
Household Cook
Personal Certified Chef
Private Executive Chef

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.

Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.
Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.
Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.
Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.
Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.
Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.
Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.
Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.
Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.
Create and explore new cuisines.
Serve meals and snacks to employing families and their guests.

13 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.

Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment, 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.

APPCA Personal Chef Office
Cooking e-books
Cost tracking software
Email software
Food inventory software
Intuit QuickBooks
Web browser software
WordPress
Work scheduling software
YouTube

Tools and equipment

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

Bakers' knives
Basting brushes
Bench scrapers
Boning knives
Bread knives
Butchers' gloves
Carving forks
Colanders
Computer laser printers
Convection ovens
Corkscrews
Countertop microwaves

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.

01Critical Thinking
02Service Orientation
03Active Listening
04Complex Problem Solving
05Judgment and Decision Making
06Monitoring
07Reading Comprehension
08Social Perceptiveness
09Speaking
10Time Management

Knowledge areas

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

Customer and Personal Service
Food Production
Sales and Marketing
Administration and Management
Mathematics
Production and Processing

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.

38%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school
31%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
15%Less than a High School Diploma

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 Cooks, Private Household do?: Prepare meals in private homes. Day to day that includes work like peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries and Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.
What skills should a Cooks, Private Household put on a resume?: O*NET rates Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgment and Decision Making 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 Cooks, Private Household list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes APPCA Personal Chef Office, Cooking e-books, Cost tracking software, Email software, and Food inventory software. 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 Cooks, Private Household work?: O*NET records 17 titles for this occupation, including Certified Personal Chef, CPC, Personal Chef, and Personal Private Chef. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Cooks, Private Household need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 38% reported their level of education as "Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Cooks, Private Household 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.