What skills should a Cooks, Restaurant put on a resume?

O*NET rates Monitoring, Active Listening, Coordination, Critical Thinking, and Speaking 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, Restaurant list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Facebook, Food safety labeling systems, Inventory management software, Menu planning software, and Microsoft Excel. 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, Restaurant work?

O*NET records 26 titles for this occupation, including Cook, Grill Cook, Line Cook, and Prep Cook. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Cooks, Restaurant need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 44% 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 Cooks, Restaurant 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, Restaurant resume example

A resume for a Cooks, Restaurant needs to show the work itself: prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. Day to day that means work like this: inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment, work surfaces, and serving areas, to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices; ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock. 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.

Cook
Grill Cook
Line Cook
Prep Cook
Preparation Cook
Appetizer Preparer
Back Line Cook
Banquet Cook
Breakfast Cook
Broil Cook
Fry Cook
Back of House Team Member
Broiler Cook
Chef De Partie
Foreign Food Specialty Cook
Hotel and Restaurant Cook
Ice Cream Chef
Larder Cook

O*NET records 26 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.

Inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment, work surfaces, and serving areas, to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices.
Ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock.
Ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.
Season and cook food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience.
Turn or stir foods to ensure even cooking.
Observe and test foods to determine if they have been cooked sufficiently, using methods such as tasting, smelling, or piercing them with utensils.
Portion, arrange, and garnish food, and serve food to waiters or patrons.
Weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment.
Bake, roast, broil, and steam meats, fish, vegetables, and other foods.
Wash, peel, cut, and seed fruits and vegetables to prepare them for consumption.
Coordinate and supervise work of kitchen staff.
Estimate expected food consumption, requisition or purchase supplies, or procure food from storage.

20 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.

Inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment, work surfaces, and serving areas, to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Season and cook food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience, 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.

Facebook
Food safety labeling systems
Inventory management software
Menu planning software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Word
Point of sale POS restaurant software
Recipe cost control software

Tools and equipment

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

Blenders
Boning knives
Charbroilers
Chefs' knives
Cimeter knives
Commercial microwave ovens
Convection ovens
Conveyor ovens
Filet knives
Food slicing machines
Food steamers
Fryers

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
measure ingredients

What this job rates as most important

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

01Monitoring
02Active Listening
03Coordination
04Critical Thinking
05Speaking
06Time Management

Knowledge areas

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

Food Production
Customer and Personal Service
English Language
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.

44%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
19%Less than a High School Diploma
18%Post-Secondary Certificate, awarded for training completed after high school

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 Cooks, Restaurant do?: Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. Day to day that includes work like inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment, work surfaces, and serving areas, to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices and Ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock.
What skills should a Cooks, Restaurant put on a resume?: O*NET rates Monitoring, Active Listening, Coordination, Critical Thinking, and Speaking 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, Restaurant list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Facebook, Food safety labeling systems, Inventory management software, Menu planning software, and Microsoft Excel. 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, Restaurant work?: O*NET records 26 titles for this occupation, including Cook, Grill Cook, Line Cook, and Prep Cook. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Cooks, Restaurant need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 44% 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 Cooks, Restaurant 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.