Chef CV: example and tips

Keywords that come up in chef job ads

Chef job ads differ depending on the kind of kitchen: a la carte in a restaurant, functions and banquets in a hotel, canteens and large kitchens, or institutional kitchens in hospitals and care homes. A canteen kitchen wants to hear about structure, volumes and special diets, while a restaurant wants to hear about ingredients, pace and presentation. Use the same words as the ad where they match what you have done. Many employers use applicant tracking systems that look for these words, and a free ATS check shows which ones are missing from your CV. Most ads in Norway are in Norwegian, so it helps to know terms such as fagbrev (trade certificate), selskap (functions) and spesialkost (special diets). These words come up often:

• A trade certificate as a chef or nutrition cook.
• A la carte, functions, banquets, catering and canteens.
• Mise en place, knowledge of ingredients and cooking from scratch.
• Menu development, ordering, stocktaking and food waste.
• Food safety internal control (IK-mat), hygiene and temperature control.
• Allergens and special diets.
• Pace, structure and teamwork, able to work evenings, weekends and holidays.
• Roles: apprentice, chef, sous chef and head chef.

Formal requirements: trade certificate, hygiene and allergens

Many employers ask for a trade certificate as a chef. The training takes two years at school and two years in a company, starting with the restaurant and food programme in upper secondary school. There is also a separate trade certificate as a nutrition cook, formerly known as institutional cook, for kitchens that make food for hospitals, care homes and other institutions. According to utdanning.no, you can take a master craftsman certificate in cookery after the trade certificate. If you have worked in kitchens for a long time without a trade certificate, you can take it as an experienced worker through the praksiskandidat scheme. According to the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (Udir), this requires at least five years of varied experience.

Under section 8 of the Food Act (matloven), the business must make sure everyone who works with food has the necessary skills, and the hygiene regulations require training in food hygiene that suits the tasks. There is no single hygiene course that is mandatory for all chefs, but courses in hygiene, HACCP and food safety internal control should be in your CV with name and year.

Allergens are part of the job. According to Mattilsynet, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, places that serve food must give written information about the 14 allergens that must be declared, even when the food is not prepacked, and the information must be updated when the dish of the day changes. If you have been responsible for allergen lists, special diets or internal control, say so. It is something head chefs look for.

Example of a summary for a chef CV

The summary should say whether you have a trade certificate, what kind of kitchen you know, one result or sense of scale with a number and what you are looking for. Here is a made up example you can use as a pattern:

Example: “Chef with a trade certificate and seven years of experience in a la carte and functions, the last three as sous chef in a restaurant with 80 seats and up to 250 guests on a Saturday. Has developed seasonal menus, run the kitchen on the head chef's days off and cut food waste by a quarter. Works in a structured way under pressure and is responsible for allergen lists and internal control. Looking for a head chef or sous chef role in a kitchen that uses local ingredients.”

Replace the numbers with your own, and only write what you can explain in an interview. You will find more examples in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

Everyone knows what a chef does. What the head chef wants to know is how busy it was, what you were responsible for and what improved. Use the number of guests, functions and dishes, food cost as a percentage, food waste and how many apprentices you have supervised.

• Weak: “Worked in the kitchen.” Strong: “Ran the hot section alone on evenings with up to 180 guests, keeping waiting times for main courses under 20 minutes.”
• Weak: “Cooked for functions.” Strong: “Planned and cooked for 40 functions a year with 30 to 300 guests, from menu and purchasing to service.”
• Weak: “Responsible for food waste.” Strong: “Introduced weighing of food waste and new mise en place planning, cutting waste by 25 percent in six months.”
• Weak: “Ordered goods.” Strong: “Was responsible for ordering 60,000 kroner of goods a week, keeping food cost at 30 percent of revenue.”
• Weak: “Followed hygiene routines.” Strong: “Kept the food safety internal control and temperature logs up to date, and the kitchen received the top smiley rating at every Mattilsynet inspection in the period.”
• Weak: “Had apprentices.” Strong: “Supervised three apprentices through to their trade test, and all of them passed.”

Skills, systems and courses worth including

Skills in a chef CV become stronger when they are specific. “Versatile chef” says less than the kitchens, techniques and courses you actually have. Include what you can do:

• Kitchens and techniques: a la carte, functions, sous vide, fish and game, baking, vegetarian and plant based.
• Special diets and allergens, for example gluten free, lactose free and texture modified food in institutions.
• Systems: ordering systems, till systems with kitchen display screens and digital systems for food safety internal control.
• Courses in hygiene, HACCP, allergens, first aid and fire safety, and cooking competitions you have taken part in.
• Costing and menu pricing, stocktaking and tracking food waste.
• Languages: Norwegian and English, and any other languages you use in the kitchen.

Apprentice and newly qualified, or many years in kitchens

If you are an apprentice or newly qualified, give the company where you trained, the sections you have worked and what you learnt. If you did well in your trade test, include it. Summer jobs and extra shifts in a cafe, a canteen or as a kitchen porter also count, because they show that you know the pace and routines. State when you can work. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice for a CV with little experience.

If you have worked in kitchens for many years, cut older jobs to one line and use the space for your responsibilities: menus, food cost, staffing, leading the kitchen team and supervising apprentices. If you are aiming for sous chef or head chef, figures for food cost, waste and number of guests are what set you apart. If you want to move from a restaurant to a canteen or institution, show that you are reliable and know special diets. Keep the CV to one or two pages.

Common mistakes in a chef CV

Most mistakes are easy to fix. Look out for these in particular before you send your CV:

• Just a list of restaurant names, with no information on the type of kitchen or what you did.
• No numbers for guests, functions, food cost or waste.
• The trade certificate is far down the page or has no year.
• Courses in hygiene and allergens are missing.
• The same CV for a restaurant and a canteen, even though they look for different things.
• Gaps in the CV with no explanation. Our guide to gaps in your CV shows how to write about them.

Create your chef CV in under a minute with Selja

A hotel kitchen, a canteen and a restaurant look for different things, and rewriting your CV for every ad takes time. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the words from the ad, such as a la carte, food safety internal control or special diets, where they match what you have done. That way you can apply to more kitchens in less time.

Selja never adds experience or skills you do not have. If the ad asks for something your CV does not show, for example experience with special diets, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. It is free to start: take a free ATS check against the ad, or check your CV for free. Get started when you want to create your first application.

The application, the trial shift and the interview

Many kitchens ask for a short application, and some ask you to come in for a trial shift. Keep the application to one page: what kind of food you cook, why you want to work there, and when you can start. If you have eaten at the restaurant or read the menu, mention something specific. See our example of a job application for a template you can build on. If you are applying to the same place as the waiting staff, our guide to a waiter CV may also be useful.

In the interview you are often asked about hygiene, allergens and how you handle a busy night when something goes wrong. Practise with the interview questions for the role. If you are wondering about pay, the free pay check shows figures from Statistics Norway (SSB) for your job and experience.