Chef CV – What Employers Want to See

Chef CV – What Employers Want to See, by Nick Baldwin

The process of reviewing a CV or resume for chefs (or any other profession for that matter) has been likened to going on a blind date. The reader is meeting you for the first time and they want to find out what they need to know as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Simply put, these things are:

  1. What does this person do right now?
  2. What are they capable of doing?
  3. What do they want to do?
  4. Do any of these things match what I’m looking for?

Surprisingly, many people don’t put this information on their CV. Instead they fill it with long and clever phrases or, worse still, extracts from their job description which say nothing to catch a recruiter’s eye.

Hiring managers and recruiters are not known for their levels of concentration or their lengthy attention spans. But they will still want to know the most important things about you as quickly as possible.

If a chef CV doesn’t tell them that in the first few seconds then they will usually stop reading it and move on to the next one. I know this because I was a recruiter for more than 20 years and saw it happen daily.

Part of what I do as a professional CV writer is conduct assessments of people’s CVs. I offer a free initial chef CV review service, so believe me I see a lot of them! Sadly not many leave a great impression. So what do employers want to see in a CV?

Read: Chef CV Writing Tips

Chef CV – start with a strong profile statement

Whatever your role, your first opportunity to set the scene is with a strong profile at the beginning which clearly, concisely and convincingly tells the reader about you as an individual, what you do and what makes you stand out.

The reaction we’re aiming for here is not necessarily ‘Wow!’ More like ‘At last, a suitable candidate for that job.’ ‘Wow!’ is good but remember you’ll have to live up to and exceed that expectation at interview, so it’s important to balance magnificence with realism.

Structure your Skills summary

Impressed by the profile, the recruiter is now keen to read more, so they will move on to reading the skills summary. This should be a clear portrayal of your key skills i.e. the things you are known for being good at.

Do not waste this space by filling it with meaningless chef CV clichés like ‘team player’, ‘people person’ and ‘great communications skills’. This space needs to be filled with substantial, job-related skills which give an indication of what you do and where you can be positioned, your personal brand.

Chef CV – include lots of interesting achievements

Recruiters will then read your chef CV employment history, probably the largest part of the document and it’s vital to keep them interested.

Nothing is more certain to end a flourishing relationship with a recruiter than filling this section with copy and pastes from current and past job descriptions. This will only describe functional tasks and the text isn’t going to reflect you. To a seasoned recruiter it will likely be very obvious that this is what’s been done and it will harm your application.

Instead, keep their interest alive by including some illustrative achievements, examples of things you have accomplished and that you are proud of in current and past roles.

Most importantly – please remember that your chef CV/resume does not need to include everything you have ever done. No-one, however committed to the task, will want to read every word of 3+ page CV. A recruiter is much more likely to put a long chef CV to one side (by that I mean in the bin!) and not bother to read it at all.

Chef CV – What does yours say?

It can be useful to get an objective view of how your chef CV looks from an unrelated third party. We are highly skilled at rating a person’s CV content as a % match for what employers want to see in a CV for an applicant’s skillset and point in their career. This is just one of the CV services me and my team offer.

About Nick

Nick Baldwin is an accomplished writer of CVs and resumes with a wealth of experience writing polished and compelling documents as well as LinkedIn profiles for individuals at all levels around the world, with particular experience in the US, UK, Middle East and Australasia.

Having enjoyed a highly successful career with a multi-national recruitment company for many years, Nick has a strong background and hands-on experience of recruiting at all levels both for his own companies and for clients, giving him a 360 degree understanding of the role of a strong CV.

To find out more about DoMyCV and the services Nick and his team offer visit: www.domycv.com – or email: info@domycv.com

Read: Chef CV Writing Expert – How to Hire One

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