Line cook resume: what this week’s postings actually ask for.
We pulled live line cook postings on Oct 20, 2026, read them line by line, and counted what employers asked for. Use it to check your resume against the real thing.
From live postings this week, Oct 20, 2026. A small sample, shown as listed. No made-up numbers.
| Asked for | Share | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Food safety and sanitation rules | 3/3 | |
| Knife skills and prep work | 3/3 | |
| A clean, organized station | 3/3 | |
| Working fast in a busy kitchen | 3/3 | |
| Teamwork and clear communication | 3/3 | |
| Following recipes and prep lists | 2/3 | |
| Ovens, grills, fryers and slicers | 2/3 | |
| Labeling, stocking and storing food | 2/3 |
Pay and titles in this week’s line cook postings.
These are the ten postings one Indeed search returned on Oct 20, 2026. They are a snapshot, not the whole market, and pay is shown exactly the way employers posted it.
$15 to $29.24 an hour on hourly cook postings; one sushi chef role at $175 to $200 a day. One line cook listing first posted in October 2024 is left out of the range.
9 of the 10 postings listed pay. Ranges are the lowest and highest figures we saw, not an average.
- Line Cook
- Line Cook/Prep Cook
- Prep Cook
- Cook
- Sushi Chef
- Seasonal Restaurant Cook
Titles from the same 10 postings. Search for more than one of them.
Same work. Said like it counts.
Most line cook resumes describe the job. Hiring managers look for the scale and the result. Here is the move, on one line.
Cooked food and helped in the kitchen.
Worked the grill and sauté station on 200-cover Friday nights: prepped to the chef’s list, cooked to recipe and kept a clean, labeled station through close.
Illustrative example. It shows the method; it is not a real person’s resume.
Use your own numbers. If you do not know a figure, leave it out. A guessed number can cost you the interview.
What recruiters scan for first.
A first pass on a resume is quick. These five things should be easy to find in that time, ideally in the top third of the page.
- Your station by name: grill, sauté, fry, cold side or prep.
- Volume: covers a night or the busiest service you worked.
- Food safety, said plainly. All three postings we read in full asked for it.
- Knife work and prep. All three named it.
- The kind of kitchen: full-service, sushi, Italian, catering or campus dining.
Start with the kit. Add the Sundays if you want them.
Every option is paid once. Nothing bills you again, and if the kit isn’t right you have a week to tell us and we fix it.
The kit
- Your resume, rebuilt for the role
- Readiness Scorecard, with three next moves
- Interview prep for that exact job
- Seven days of free revisions
The bundle
- Everything in the Iron kit
- Plus four Sundays of The Range, from the same upload
- One form, one payment, $9 less than buying both
The weekly drip
- Four Sunday-morning emails
- Up to five roles a week, posted that week, in your area
- Each scored against your resume, with a cover letter written only from it
- Never a repeat; a week with nothing worth sending doesn’t use a Sunday
After you pay you go straight to one short upload form. Paid through Stripe. Your statement reads CADDIE* CAREER.
When your four Sundays are up, your last Range email offers four more for $15. It’s a link, not a renewal. Listings can close without notice, and we never promise interviews or offers.
Line cook resume questions.
Do I need a food handler card?
None of the three postings we read in full named one, but all three asked for food safety. If you hold a food handler or food manager card, list it. Rules differ by city and state, so check yours.
I have only worked prep. Can I apply for line cook?
Yes. One posting we read was a combined line and prep cook role, and another listed prep tasks like chopping, measuring and labeling as the core of the job. Show the prep you did and any time you covered the line.
Do I need culinary school?
None of the three required it. One called culinary school training an asset and asked for a high school diploma as desirable. Two of the three asked for kitchen experience instead: one required it, one preferred it.
How do I show speed on paper?
Use a number: covers a night, tickets an hour or the size of the menu you cooked. All three postings asked for someone who keeps up in a fast kitchen.
Do I need a summary at the top?
Two plain lines are enough: your stations, the kind of kitchen and the volume you handled.
Nearby roles.
Skills carry between jobs more than titles suggest. If you are weighing a move, the guides for server and cashier resumes use the same method on their own postings, and so do the ones for sales associate and warehouse associate roles. Every guide we have built is listed on the resume guides page.
Free tool: check your resume against a job ad. It runs in your browser; nothing is saved.