Trades & Services
The right skills on your resume can mean the difference between landing an interview and getting filtered out. Here are the exact skills chef employers are looking for in 2026.
These technical skills are the foundation of any strong chef resume. Employers and ATS systems specifically scan for these:
In-demand Menu development skills are essential for menu development workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Food safety (ServSafe) skills are essential for food safety (servsafe) workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Kitchen management skills are essential for kitchen management workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Culinary techniques skills are essential for culinary techniques workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Inventory management skills are essential for inventory management workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Team leadership skills are essential for team leadership workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Cost control skills are essential for cost control workflows and employer expectations.
In-demand Plating skills are essential for plating workflows and employer expectations.
Don't just list these — demonstrate them through your experience bullets with concrete examples:
Creativity
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Leadership
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Stamina
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Attention to detail
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Composure under pressure
Show through specific achievements, not just mentions.
Create a dedicated Skills section
Place a "Skills" or "Core Competencies" section near the top of your resume — after your summary but before your experience.
Use columns for visual efficiency
List skills in 2–3 columns to save space and make them easy to scan. Bullet points or pipe (|) separators work well.
Match the job description exactly
Copy exact skill names from the job posting. If they say "REST APIs" and you wrote "RESTful services", you might miss ATS matches.
Separate hard from soft skills
Keep technical/hard skills in your Skills section. Demonstrate soft skills through your experience bullets and summary instead.
Most chef job applications are screened by ATS before a human ever reads them. Use these keywords naturally throughout your resume:
These three skills are associated with the highest-paying chef roles:
Upload your resume and paste a job description to instantly see your keyword match score.
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