Chef CV Example

People enjoy fine dining, and they’ll pay well to dine where a chef produces great food. But you’ll only get to showcase your culinary skills if you impress your future employer with an effective chef CV.

Employers look for chefs who are experienced in preparing meals, presenting dishes and cooking with different foods and ingredients. Scroll down to learn how to write an outstanding chef CV using four guided tips.

1. Open with a convincing CV personal statement

A great chef CV starts with a strong CV personal statement of 2–4 sentences that introduces your expertise with food and cooking.

A CV personal statement sits at the top of your CV under your name and contact details. You can format your chef CV personal statement as a paragraph or use bullet points.

A chef CV personal statement’s goal is to help employers understand exactly who you are and what skills and expertise you can bring to their restaurant or business.

Your chef CV personal statement should:

• start with a professional title with a strong adjective (for example: ‘Experienced chef’, ‘Top chef’)
• introduce your previous experiences as a chef
• summarise your most relevant skills
• explain how you’ll be beneficial in that position

Here’s an example of a well-written chef CV personal statement that highlights the applicant’s key chef skills and years of experience:

2. Choose proper CV formatting

The correct CV layout will make your chef CV look organised and easy to read.

So use a standard CV format. For the quickest results, use a professional CV template for your chef CV, but if you prefer a made-from-scratch document, ensure that it contains five to six sections.

Here’s what to include in a CV for chefs:

1. Your CV title
2. Your personal statement
3. Work experience section
4. Education section
5. Skills section
6. Additional sections such as your hobbies and interests or certifications

If you include an additional section at the bottom of your CV, make it short and use bullet points..

And because employers are primarily interested in what you’ve done recently, emphasise your most recent work history by using reverse-chronological CV format.

Reverse-chronological CV format means starting with your most recent (or current) job, and then working backwards. Reverse-chronological format lets employers see your most recent positions or education first, which are usually the most relevant.

3. Highlight your chef CV skills

An impressive chef CV that showcases your exceptional key skills will secure an interview. So don’t forget to list your hard and soft skills on your CV.

Chefs also need many hard skills to succeed as a chef in a fast-paced restaurant or hotel. Chefs learn many hard skills from culinary school, years of practical experience, and working in restaurants.

For instance, some hard skills for chefs include preparing gourmet dishes, creating menus, and managing the restaurant’s budget.

Here are some other hard skills for your chef CV:

By contrast, soft skills are qualities that show employers how you relate to others in a professional setting.

For instance, a chef that makes high-quality meals and knows how to present them is an asset to a company. However, a chef who supervises their kitchen staff effectively and has good time management skills shows employers they can handle several responsibilities and also get along well with the rest of the staff.

These are essential soft skills to include on your chef CV:

Also, showcase any specific certifications you have as a key skill on your CV or in a separate section for certifications. For example, a first-aid certificate is relevant because it shows you can handle medical emergencies in the kitchen, such as burns.

4. Quantify your chef experience using hard numbers

Recruiters like to see numbers and results on a CV because positive numbers mean their business will grow with you on their team. And quantifying your contributions using hard numbers gives evidence of your value and shows how much you’ve positively impacted the restaurants and hotels you’ve worked in.

So include any relevant data such as percentages, sales, and time worked that’ll help your accomplishments and work experience section stand out.

Here’s an example of how to use hard numbers in your chef CV’s work experience section:

• Increased loyal customer base by 25% through exceptional dinner service
• Trained 10+ kitchen staff members to meet strict standards defined by head chef, Marco Pierre
• Increased restaurant revenue by £6K per month by catering for special dietary requirements
• Generated £2K per month savings by transitioning from six vendors to only one supplier
• Decreased food and drink wastage by 10% through wastage and spoilage tracking