What does a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer do?

Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood. Day to day that includes work like use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming and Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.

What skills should a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Monitoring, 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 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Meat inventory software, Microsoft Excel, Sales software, and Web browser 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 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Deboner, Meat Cutter, Trimmer, and Wing Scorer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 62% reported their level of education as "Less than a High School Diploma". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer 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.

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer resume example

A resume for a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer needs to show the work itself: use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood. Day to day that means work like this: use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming; weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents. 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.

Deboner
Meat Cutter
Trimmer
Wing Scorer
Beef Trimmer
Breast Trimmer
Chicken Cutter
Fish Processor
Meat Trimmer
Seafood Processor
Abalone Processor
Animal Eviscerator
Animal Skinner
Animal Sticker
Bacon Derinder
Bacon Skin Lifter
Bacon Skinner
Bacon Slicer

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.

Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming.
Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.
Inspect meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and remove them along with any excess fat.
Cut and trim meat to prepare for packing.
Separate meats and byproducts into specified containers and seal containers.
Process primal parts into cuts that are ready for retail use.
Prepare ready-to-heat foods by filleting meat or fish or cutting it into bite-sized pieces, preparing and adding vegetables or applying sauces or breading.
Clean, trim, slice, and section carcasses for future processing.
Remove parts, such as skin, feathers, scales or bones, from carcass.
Obtain and distribute specified meat or carcass.
Produce hamburger meat and meat trimmings.
Clean and salt hides.

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.

Use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Inspect meat products for defects, bruises or blemishes and remove them along with any excess fat, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Cut and trim meat to prepare for packing, 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.

Meat inventory software
Microsoft Excel
Sales software
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.

Blast chillers
Bone dusters
Boning knives
Box cutters
Butcher knives
Cubing machines
Derinding machines
Electric meat grinders
Floor jacks
Forklifts
Gamb sticks
Hamburger patty makers

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
03Judgment and Decision Making
04Monitoring
05Speaking

Knowledge areas

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

Production and Processing
Food Production
Public Safety and Security
Mathematics
Administration and Management
Mechanical
Personnel and Human Resources
Transportation

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.

62%Less than a High School Diploma
36%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
1%Doctoral Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Little or No Preparation Needed”. Some of these occupations may require a high school diploma or GED certificate.

Little or no previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, a person can become a waiter or waitress even if he/she has never worked before.

Common questions

What does a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer do?: Use hands or hand tools to perform routine cutting and trimming of meat, poultry, and seafood. Day to day that includes work like use knives, cleavers, meat saws, bandsaws, or other equipment to perform meat cutting and trimming and Weigh meats and tag containers for weight and contents.
What skills should a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Monitoring, 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 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Meat inventory software, Microsoft Excel, Sales software, and Web browser 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 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Deboner, Meat Cutter, Trimmer, and Wing Scorer. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 62% reported their level of education as "Less than a High School Diploma". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmer 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.