Resume Example · Hospitality
Chef Resume Example (Australia)
Illustration by ShiftResume
The short answer: a strong chef resume puts your Certificate III in Commercial Cookery and food safety training up top, then proves each kitchen section with covers per service, prep responsibilities and HACCP habits in every bullet. Head chefs hire for sections they need filled, so the worked example below is organised exactly the way they scan.
Key takeaways
- Put your Certificate III in Commercial Cookery and food safety training at the top, before your work history.
- Write each role by kitchen section — larder, grill, pans, pastry — because head chefs hire to fill sections.
- Include covers per service and prep responsibilities in every bullet to show the pace you can hold.
- Show HACCP and food-safety habits in action, not just as a certificate line.
Resume support
Three things on this page, in order:
- Copy the blank template — the layout, with brackets showing what goes where.
- Read the worked example — the same template, filled in for a fictional applicant.
- Use the tips and keywords — what to include, and the exact terms employers screen for.
In this guide: a blank template to copy, the full worked example, why it works, the ATS keywords for chefs, and how to frame split shifts and service hours.
In this article
The full example resume
This example is for a commis-to-chef-de-partie level cook with four years across a busy bistro and a hotel kitchen, applying for a chef de partie role. Names and venues are illustrative — swap in your own sections, covers and cuisines. Leave out the food photos, logos and coloured templates that hospitality software often struggles to read.
Blank template — copy and fill in
[Your Full Name]
[Job title — the role you are applying for]
[Suburb, State] · [Mobile] · [Email]
Professional Summary
[3–4 sentences: your role and years of experience + the setting you work in + your strongest evidence, with numbers where you can + the role you are applying for.]
Qualifications & Certificates
- [Certificate III in Commercial Cookery — provider, year]
- [Food safety or food safety supervisor certificate — year]
- [Other certificates the role requires — for example, RSA, with year]
Professional Experience
Write every bullet as: (Strong verb) + what you did + outcome or measured result.
- [Strong verb] + [the task] + [a number, load, volume or result]
- [Strong verb] + [a second core duty] + [who it helped or what it improved]
- Roster line: [your shift pattern — for example, rotating roster across days, evenings and nights]
Education
- [Commercial cookery qualification — provider, year]
- [Apprenticeship details, if applicable — employer and years]
Referees
Available on request — [name the types of referees you can offer, for example your supervisor and a senior colleague].
The worked example, filled in
About this example: it is built from real job ads and award requirements for the role; the person is fictional.
Priya Sharma
Chef de Partie — Grill & Larder
Darwin NT · 0400 000 000 · priya.sharma@example.com · Available for split shifts & weekends
Professional Summary
Qualified chef with 4 years across a 120-seat bistro and a hotel breakfast and functions kitchen. Confident running larder solo and grill with one other chef during services of 80–140 covers. Consistent on prep lists, stock rotation and allergen procedures, with Food Safety Supervisor training and a practical working knowledge of HACCP record keeping. Seeking a chef de partie role with a venue offering rotating rosters and menu input.
Qualifications & Certificates
- Certificate III in Commercial Cookery — completed 2022 (including apprenticeship)
- Food Safety Supervisor certificate — current · Food handler training — current
- HACCP principles training completed; allergen management training completed
- Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) — current · Driver licence — current
Professional Experience
- Run the larder section solo for lunch services of 60–80 covers: entrees, salads, cold starters and desserts, completing prep for the following day before close
- Work grill alongside the sous chef for dinner services of up to 140 covers on Fridays and Saturdays, cooking steaks, seafood and grilled mains to order and to time with the pass
- Follow HACCP procedures daily: temperature logs for fridges and cooked foods, date labelling, FIFO stock rotation and separate boards and storage for allergen-free preparation
- Train and supervise 2 apprentices and a kitchen hand on larder prep, safe knife handling and cleaning schedules
- Assist with weekly ordering for larder lines and monthly stocktake; helped reduce larder waste by using trim in daily specials
- Split shifts across lunch and dinner, 5 days per week including weekends and public holidays
- Prepared breakfast service for 100+ guests daily, including hot buffet items, egg station support and cold buffet replenishment
- Assisted with functions for 50–200 guests: canapes, alternate-drop mains and plated desserts under the banquet chef
- Completed opening and closing cleaning, coolroom organisation and delivery checks against invoices
Education
- Certificate III in Commercial Cookery — TAFE, 2022
Referees
Available on request — Head Chef and Sous Chef contactable.
The model shown is for illustration purposes only, and may require additional formatting to meet accepted standards.
Why this resume works
- Sections and covers answer the hiring question. Every kitchen hires to fill a section. "Larder solo, 60–80 covers" and "grill, up to 140 covers" let a head chef place this applicant instantly, which generic lines like "prepared meals in a busy kitchen" never do.
- Food safety is demonstrated, not declared. Temperature logs, FIFO rotation, date labelling and allergen separation are HACCP in daily practice. Listing the habits alongside the Food Safety Supervisor certificate makes the qualification believable.
- Prep and ordering show seniority. Completing next-day prep, training apprentices and helping with ordering and stocktake are chef de partie behaviours. They separate this resume from commis-level applications for the same role.
- The apprenticeship pathway is clean. Qualification, year and venue progression from commis to chef de partie read as a normal, verifiable trade history — exactly what employers check with a quick referee call.
- Availability is stated up front. Split shifts and weekends are named in the contact line and the role bullets, removing the availability interview that ends many hospitality applications before a trial is offered.
ATS keywords for chefs
Hotel groups, pub groups, caterers and mining camp operators often screen chef applications through central recruitment systems before a head chef sees them. Begin with the cuisine, sections and service style in the specific advertisement, then cover the recurring terms below where they honestly apply. Claiming a section you have never run will be found out at the trial shift, so accuracy protects you as much as keywords help you.
Spell the qualification out in full — "Certificate III in Commercial Cookery" — and match the job title in the ad, whether that is chef, cook, chef de partie or sous chef, because those titles are not interchangeable in a keyword search. For a concise opening that carries these terms naturally, see our guide to resume summary examples for shift workers.
Framing split shifts and service hours
Kitchen work runs on split shifts, early breakfast starts and late finishes, and your resume should present that pattern as normal professional experience rather than a footnote. State the roster shape in each role — splits, days per week, weekend and public holiday work — and note any early-start reliability, such as opening a breakfast kitchen at 4:30 am. If your hours have been casual across venues and you want a salaried role, casual-to-permanent job applications explains the framing, while showing night shift and roster work on a resume helps chefs moving into camp, hospital or aged care kitchens with very different rosters.
Tips for your chef resume
Short, specific habits that make the difference on applications for these roles:
Tip: Name the sections you can run solo and the ones you can support — head chefs roster from exactly that distinction.
Tip: Include your food safety supervisor certificate if you hold one; many advertisements list it as essential.
Tip: Mention the service styles you know — à la carte, functions, aged care catering — they are different hiring pools.
The bottom line
Qualifications up top, then every role written by section, with covers and prep loads in the bullets. Head chefs scan for the section they need filled — write so your fit for it is impossible to miss.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery to work as a chef in Australia?
Most chef and cook roles advertised in Australia ask for a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery or equivalent experience, and qualified chef positions usually require the completed trade qualification including your apprenticeship. Kitchen hand and apprentice roles are the common entry points if you do not hold it yet, so state your qualification status honestly and list completed units if you are still studying.
What is a Food Safety Supervisor certificate and should it be on my resume?
Many states and territories require food businesses to have a trained food safety supervisor, and venues value chefs who hold the certificate. If you have completed food safety supervisor training, list it in your certificates section with the year, alongside your food handler training and any HACCP training.
How do I describe sections like larder and grill on a resume?
Name the section, the service volume and your responsibilities: for example, ran the larder section solo for 80-cover lunches, or worked grill during 150-cover dinner services cooking steaks to order. Head chefs scan for section ownership and covers because those two facts predict whether you can hold a section in their kitchen.
How many covers should I mention, and how do I phrase it?
Give a realistic typical figure and a peak figure, such as 60 to 80 covers on weeknights and up to 140 on Saturdays, and say whether that was a la carte, functions or a mix. Avoid inflated numbers you cannot explain at a trial shift, where your actual speed and organisation will be visible within an hour.
How do I show split shifts and weekend work positively?
State the pattern plainly in each role: split shifts across lunch and dinner, five days including weekends, or rotating breakfast shifts. Hospitality employers roster nights and weekends by necessity, and a resume that already shows that pattern removes their biggest availability doubt.
Sources (4)
- SEEK Career Advice — Australian resume and application guidance for hospitality and chef roles.
- Fair Work Ombudsman — Australian hospitality workplace information, including split shifts, rosters and penalty rates.
- Workforce Australia — Australian Government employment services, apprenticeship and training information.
- Safe Work Australia — workplace health and safety guidance for hospitality kitchens.
Read more
- Cleaner Resume Example — commercial cleaning experience, checks and early-start reliability.
- Retail Assistant Resume Example — customer service, registers and weekend roster experience.
- Showing Night Shift & Roster Work on a Resume — how to present split shifts and service hours clearly.