Chef CV example (chef de partie applying for sous chef)

How a head chef reads your CV

Head chefs tend to skim a CV for four things: your rank, the sections you know, the kind of kitchen you came from and how long you stayed. A chef de partie with two years on pastry in a busy hotel reads very differently from one who has moved every four months. Everything else, including your profile, supports those four facts. The CV gets you a trial shift, and the trial shift gets you the job.

Keep the page plain. Kitchens are busy places and the person reading may be doing it on a phone during a break, so one column, short bullet points and no photos of food on the CV itself. Put a link to your food photos or menus in the header if you have them.

Name your rank and your section

The brigade is the ladder every chef recognises: kitchen porter, commis chef, demi chef de partie, chef de partie, junior sous chef, sous chef, head chef. Use those titles exactly, then say which section in brackets, such as "Chef de Partie (Pastry)" or "Commis Chef (Larder and Garnish)". If you covered another section on days off, say that too, because a sous chef needs to step onto any section. Titles vary between kitchens, so if yours called you something unusual, add the brigade term a head chef would expect.

Show progression inside the same kitchen as separate lines with their own dates. Moving from commis to chef de partie in one hotel tells a reader that a head chef who knew your work chose to promote you, which is stronger than any adjective.

Describe the kitchen, not only the food

Under each job, give the size and style of the operation in one line: covers on a typical service, à la carte, banqueting, tasting menu, afternoon tea, room service, or a mix across outlets in a hotel. Add the cuisine and the size of the brigade if it helps. A head chef hiring for a 60-cover bistro wants to know whether you have handled their pace, and one who runs weddings for 200 wants to know you can plate at volume.

Food safety and allergen training

GOV.UK is clear that food handlers do not have to hold a food hygiene certificate, but a food business must be able to show that staff have the right skills and up-to-date training for their role, and that includes managing allergens. In practice kitchens often ask for a Level 2 food safety course for commis chefs, and some look for Level 3 from chef de partie upwards because you are supervising others. List the level, the subject and the year. Do not claim a qualification is a legal requirement; just list what you hold.

Allergen work belongs in your experience as well as your training. A bullet saying you keep the allergen matrix for your section up to date, or that you rewrote recipe cards when a supplier changed an ingredient, shows the kind of care a sous chef has to enforce across a whole kitchen.

Stepping up to sous chef: what the CV has to prove

A sous chef runs the kitchen when the head chef is not there. The CV for that move has to show you already do parts of the job. Look for evidence in these areas and write each as a bullet with a detail:

• Running the pass or calling a service on the head chef's day off.
• Ordering from suppliers, checking deliveries and rotating stock.
• Costing dishes and keeping to a gross profit target set by the head chef.
• Cutting waste, with a figure only if the kitchen measured it.
• Writing or co-writing menus, specials and banqueting packages.
• Training commis chefs and kitchen porters, and drafting the rota.
• Keeping temperature records, cleaning schedules and allergen records ready for an inspection.

Gross profit is where many chefs undersell themselves. If you costed a dessert menu to hit the kitchen's target, say so plainly. If you do not know the numbers, write about what you did, such as using trim from the larder in staff meals and specials, rather than making up a percentage you cannot explain at a trial.

Trial shifts and stages

Many kitchen jobs include a trial shift, sometimes called a stage. The CV sets up what the head chef expects to see, so do not claim a section you cannot cook on. Bring your whites, knives and a printed copy of the CV, and be ready to talk through any dish or menu you have listed. If you have done stages in well-regarded kitchens while training, a short line under experience or training is enough.

Starting out: kitchen porter or commis chef

A kitchen porter or kitchen assistant CV can be half a page. Say when you can work, that you can keep up with the pot wash on a full service, and any time you have helped with prep. Many chefs started as porters and moved onto the larder, so if you want that route, write it in your profile. For a first commis job, put college or apprenticeship training near the top, with the practical units you completed, and add any kitchen work from placements or part-time jobs.

An apprenticeship in professional cookery, a college diploma or a Scottish qualification such as an SVQ or HNC in professional cookery all belong in the education section. Leave out school results if you have a cookery qualification and a few years of kitchen work.

Pay for chefs

The National Careers Service gives average pay for chefs of about £22,000 a year when starting and £40,000 with experience. Pay tends to rise with each step up the brigade and varies by kitchen, so check the rate on each advert and whether it is salaried or paid by the hour.