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Sous Chef Resume: Templates, Examples & Essential Skills
You'll learn about:
Sous chef, one of the most vital jobs in a professional kitchen, is second in command after the executive chef. They manage the day-to-day running of the kitchen, including monitoring staff, ensuring food quality and standards as well as aiding with menu planning, inventory, and supply management. For large operations, some variations might further specify hierarchy such as executive chef, head chef, line cook, etc.
You may have heard “First impressions are lasting ones”. That's it, a polished sous chef resume from which the employer can learn a great deal about your chef skills.
How to write a professional sous chef resume?
Step 1: Write an eye-catching resume headline.
The resume headline is a short phrase right below or in line with your name to briefly describe you as a professional. A catchy sous chef resume headline should lead recruiters to pick you out as a potential candidate at a glance.
Examples of Resume Headline for Sous Chef Positions:
- Certified sous chef and food passionist
- Executive sous chef with 5+ years of experience in French and Italian pastry
- Catering sous chef with a focus on Mexican fusion
📚 Further reading: Resume Headline | Examples, Templates, Writing Guide
Step 2: Craft a professional summary statement for your sous chef resume.
A resume summary (a.k.a. personal statement) is a short paragraph that showcases your qualifications and achievements in the field. While crafting a professional statement for your sous chef resume, think of it as a way to describe your work experience, expertise and skills within two sentences.
Also, be sure to emphasize what you are looking for in the job and demonstrate how you would add value to the team in your sous chef resume summary.
Examples of a Professional Resume Statement for Sous Chef Positions:
- Innovative sous chef with 10 years at large and fancy restaurants. Highly capable of preparing a wide variety of unique appetizers, soups, and desserts as well as numerous cooking techniques from countries all over the world.
- 8+ years of experience as a sous chef. Proven leadership skills with a track record of training and managing strong teams focused on quality, standards, presentation, and safety.
- Junior sous chef with 3 years of experience with a focus on Asian fusion. Highly adapted to a fast-paced kitchen environment supervising up to 10 line cooks at a time.
Find more resume summary examples at Summary for Resume｜Examples, Templates, Writing Guide.
Step 3: Include key sous chef skills in your resume.
The skills section shows the hiring manager what you are capable of and what specific tasks you can handle regarding the position.
List of Hard Skills and Soft Skills for a Sous Chef Resume:
Soft skills:
- Communication
- Attention to detail
- Leadership
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
Hard skills:
- Certifications
- Food & Beverage knowledge
- Restaurant industry knowledge
- Culinary techniques
- Sanitation methods
Here are some tips for listing sous chef skills in the resume:
- Showcase both soft skills and hard skills
- Only mention relevant skills
- List around 5-10 skills
📚 Further reading: Dos and Don'ts of Writing a Professional Skills Section of Resume!
Step 4: Tailor your resume for the sous chef position.
Tailoring the resume to a specific role takes a lot of time and effort but it's really worth it. What hiring managers are looking for is whether your sous chef resume showcases the skills and experience needed for this position. For instance, they can clearly distinguish between an executive sous chef resume and a junior sous chef resume.
Check out some ways to help you customize an impressive sous chef resume:
- Take a close look at the executive chef job description to make sure you fully understand the job duties.
- Match the job description with appropriate content on your sous chef resume regarding expertise, skills, job duties, and accomplishments.
- Provide compelling evidence via figures, facts, and examples.
- Do the final check by placing your sous chef resume side-by-side with the job description to see whether everything fits and makes sense.
Step 5: Proofread your sous chef resume.
Employers can be very picky, especially for such a detail-oriented job as a sous chef. Even a minor typo on your sous chef resume or sous chef cover letter might disqualify you from the job application. Hence, it is highly beneficial for you to proofread your sous chef resume before sending it to the hiring manager.
Online resume builders like Cake, provide service in building a professional sous chef CV.
What is the best sous chef resume format?
There are 4 major types of resume formats: chronological resume, functional resume, combinational resume, and targeted resume.
📝 Chronological resume format:
It is the most commonly used format. For this format, the job applicant lists information in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent experience and followed by previous ones.
📝 Functional resume format:
The functional resume is a skilled-based resume format that emphasizes the applicant's skills and achievements instead of work history. This allows you to keep the focus off unemployment gaps you may have or a career path that is not closely related to the job opening.
📝 Combinational resume format:
As the name suggests, it is the hybrid version of chronological and functional resume formats. For this format, you usually showcase your skills first, followed by a chronological listing of your work experience.
📝 Targeted resume format:
A target resume simply means not a generic one that applies to multiple positions. It should be highly customized for a specific job opening to make you the best fit.
Since you are applying for a sous chef position, you may consider applying the hybrid/combinational type for your sous chef resume format. Compared with the others, a combinational resume format allows you to showcase:
- Technical and transferable skills you've developed over a specialized career
- Full details of employment history
- Culinary degrees or any relevant certifications
👍 Tip: Still don't know how to pick the right resume format? Check out the Resume Templates & Formats Guide that may be useful in your resume writing!
How to make a sous chef resume template?
After having full insight into a professional resume, it's now time for you to start creating a sous chef resume template! With a template, you get a sense of what information to or not to include in your sous chef resume as well as how to order it logically.
Whether you're writing your first sous chef resume or updating an old one, the following tools will help you to draft a unique sous chef resume template to impress hiring managers and land you the job interview.
Microsoft Word
▶️ How to get a sous chef resume template in Word?
- Click File (at the upper left corner) → New From Template
- Search for “resume"
- Select the resume template that you want to use
- Click Create to start editing in Word
▶️ Tips for using a sous chef resume template in Word?
- Best fonts to use: Times New Roman, Cambria, Arial, Calibri, Georgia
- Keep it simple and concise
- Make it easy to read by utilizing bold text and bullet points
- Save it as a PDF file
Online Resume Builder
Find it a bit challenging to create a great sous chef resume on your own? No need to panic.
Cake has everything you need for a professional sous chef resume template and useful resume writing tips.
▶️ How to build a sous chef resume template with Cake?
- Go to Cake.
- Log in with your account or register for a new account.
- Go to the upper right corner → “My dashboard" → “My resumes".
- Select “Make resume from scratch" → “Create my Cake".
- Choose the ready-made template you like and simply drag and drop snippets to add, remove, and edit the content.
Top 10 Sous Chef Resume Dos and Don'ts
Whether you’re writing a resume from scratch or revising a built-in one, follow 5 dos and 5 don'ts to make your sous chef resume stand out from the others effectively.
✅ Dos
1. Tailor your resume for the sous chef position and include only relevant information.
For sous chef positions, hiring managers expect to see candidates who have gained great knowledge and experience in cooking, the F&B industry, and kitchen management. In addition, applicants with skills and qualifications closely related to the specific opening will likely catch the attention of recruiters. Thus, be sure to have all relevant features in your sous chef resume.
2. Add quantifiable and measurable achievements to your sous chef resume.
When listing your work experience, showcase your measurable achievements to make your sous chef resume more convincing, professional, and impressive to hiring managers.
How to add metrics and figures in your sous chef resume?
- Associate them with specific job tasks and context
- Put the most outstanding achievement upfront
- Use less-specific superlatives (first, only, best, top, highest, etc) in case you can’t quantify your accomplishments.
3. Optimize the sous chef resume for ATS.
Research by Jobscan has revealed that over 98% of 500 big companies use ATS for their recruitment. Make sure your sous chef resume will pass the system easily and reach the hiring managers effectively by following these tips:
- Avoid heavy graphics, wacky fonts, colors or designs.
- Stick to conventional sections like “Personal statement", “Work Experience", “Skills", “Education"
- Include keywords from the sous chef job description
- Use an online resume builder like Cake to create a professional sous chef resume template
4. Choose the right sous chef resume format.
As mentioned earlier, a combinational resume format is recommended for such positions as sous chef or junior sous chef. Meanwhile, you may also consider using a targeted format for your executive sous chef resume.
5. Use action verbs in your sous chef resume.
For your sous chef resume objective and work experience, try to use action/power verbs that are relevant to the position. This way your sous chef resume can not only stand out from ordinary resumes, but is also more ATS-friendly.
👍 Action verbs commonly used in a professional sous chef resume:
- Assisted
- Created
- Commanded
- Conducted
- Controlled
- Coordinated
- Designed
- Developed
- Filled
- Hired
- Led
- Maintained
- Managed
- Monitored
- Planned
- Prepared
- Recruited
- Reported
- Scheduled
- Trained
🚫 Dont's
1. Mix up a sous chef resume with a sous chef CV.
Keep in mind that a resume and a CV (Curriculum Vitae) are different though they are both supporting documents for a job application.
📝 See the differences between a resume and a CV here!
2. Adopt an old-style sous chef resume objective statement.
As a resume objective is often considered outdated, it’s better to remove it from your sous chef resume. Adopting an old-style resume objective statement could reveal that your sous chef resume isn’t up-to-date and you didn't put a lot of effort into the job application. A resume summary works better in showcasing your qualifications.
3. Disclose confidential information about previous employers.
Revealing confidential information in resumes is one of the biggest mistakes which can eliminate candidates from consideration for any job.
Examples of confidential info about previous employers in a sous chef resume:
- Business & Marketing Plans
- Customer Database
- Invention/Patent
4. Include unnecessary personal details that might lead to discrimination.
Providing personal info not only makes your sous chef resume lengthy but also might lead to discrimination, such as:
- Height/weight
- Social security number
- Gender
- Marital status
- Religion
5. Send the resume as a Word doc.
Your sous chef resume format can get garbled when moving across platforms, especially as a Word file. Thus, saving it as a PDF is the best way to go.
Sous Chef Resume Sample (Text Format)
Tomo Alexis
Innovative Executive Sous Chef with a Focus on Tex-Mex Pastries
(+361)-647-6458
[email protected]
Dallas, TX
Professional Summary
8 years of extensive experience with exceptional skills in managing, developing, and delivering a complete range of dining services in large and highly professional operations such as hotels, restaurants, and casinos. Greatly organized in maintaining cleanliness and orderliness of all work areas and equipment. Capable of handling staff and inventory management, recipe development, food presentation, and cost control.
Work Experience
Herbsaint | Dallas, TX
Executive Sous Chef
11/2016 - 1/2020
- Conducted day-to-day inspections, food sanitation, and kitchen equipment safety reports.
- Managed a team of 35 chefs, reporting to Head Chef.
- Full charge of banquet kitchen with multi-use facilities serving 1000+ guests per day.
- Responsible for large catering operations generating $3 million yearly on-site and $5 million yearly off-site catering including 3 catering vehicles of 35000 sqr.
The Rum House | New Orleans, LA
Sous Chef
01/2010 - 05/2015
- Maintained an A rating with the Healthcare Department in terms of cleaning and sanitizing procedures.
- Mentored and trained 10 junior staff, improving kitchen operational flow and performance by 45%.
- Developed process that reduced waste by 60% and improved supply turnover by 45%.
- Prepared meals for lunch and dining services with an average of 120 tables per day.
Education
2006 - 2009, Bachelor's Degree in Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management
California State University, North Ridge, CA
Relevant coursework:
- Culinary techniques
- Pastry
- Meat science
- Food safety
- Kitchen management
- Creativity in cooking
Skills
Hard skills
- Knife work
- Italian cuisine
- Latin American cuisine
- Sanitary methods
- Banquet functions
Soft skills
- Leadership
- Adaptability
- Creativity
- Teamwork
- Multitasking
--- Originally written by May Luong ---
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