How to Make a Butcher Resume
What should butchers put on their resumes? Generally, your resume must showcase the experience and strengths which will make you an excellent fit for the job. Highlight your technical skills in carving and food handling and organizational skills such as customer and supplies management.
Key sections in a resume include:
- Header
- Personal Statement
- Work History
- Skills
- Education
What to Put on a Butcher Resume?
An employer takes an average of six seconds to gloss through a resume - give them an easy time reading through yours.
Stick to easy-to-read fonts such as Arial and Times New Roman. Keep a clean layout by using headers and explain further using bullet points right below, all in left-alignment and at 0.5-1” margins all around.
You can explore the three types of resume content formats depending on which lays out your experience best.
Chronological resume formats are a good fit for applicants who want to display their progression in the company among their selling points.
If you started at a meat factory as an entry-level butcher and continued to be promoted throughout your career, this would be a great way to show how you can handle bigger roles and responsibilities.
In this format, detail your roles in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent role, followed by the previous job, and so on.
On the other hand, functional resume formats are great for those who want to show off the various roles in their career.
Suppose you entered the butcher's shop as a janitor, moved to supplies management, and ended as a butcher. You could use this in your resume to show hiring managers your track record in learning new skills and contributing extensive knowledge and experience in various disciplines.
Have a Direct Header
Your header should be straightforward and complete. While it's the simplest part of the resume, getting this right is critical as it is the only way for recruiters to get back to you for follow-up questions or interviews.
Here’s one of many resume examples of a header that lays everything out:
CORRECT600E 506 St, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA
(402) 599-1234, bradsmith@gmail.com
Important details for the header include your personal information, such as your full name, current title, contact number, and email address. Make sure these are updated regularly for any changes.
Keep the layout simple and easy to read, and put your name and title up top. You may also add relevant icons before each piece of information or lay all the information in one line to save space.
Meanwhile, here’s an example of a bad header:
INCORRECTNot only is this resume incomplete, but it also gives an unprofessional first impression. Having a butcher that isn't professional in his dealings makes potential employers less confident about his professionalism in the workplace, which in turn impacts the level of trust they would have in him.
Employers need to trust in your professionalism if one of your responsibilities is handling something as critical as raw food products. It might be a hassle to create another email, but opt to create a more professional email address for job hunt purposes.
Demonstrate Your Work Experience
A butcher's job responsibilities are physically and emotionally taxing. Not many people can withstand working in meat locker temperatures or be on their feet the whole day and still do quality work.
It can also be psychologically demanding for those inexperienced in the industry to see an entire piece of pork and beef for slicing and dicing.
If you possess the physical and mental fortitude for the job and can prove it through your prior work experience, this must be put front and center.
Because a butcher job has no do-overs, employers would want to be sure that the butchers they hire are dependable and can do the job right the first time - else, they risk incurring a lot of waste from spoilage from improperly cut meat.
Showcase your work experience through measurable results. Your spoilage rate or daily productivity rate might give employers a good indicator of how much work you will contribute to their business.
Even your attendance in your past jobs matters - people always need to eat, so a butcher will need to be one that can be counted on to show up each day.
You might be wondering - why is there so much focus on work experience? Well, it’s not like there’s a specific class for a butcher. A hiring manager relies on work experience because it:
- Proves your interest in the job.
- Shows your strengths outside the classroom.
- Serves as a networking badge.
Here is an example of an effective work experience section in a butcher resume:
CORRECTThe Pork and Beef Shop
Los Angeles, CA, USA
04/2017 – present
- Assesses the quality of meat products to be ordered
- Prepares meat cuts and places them on display counters with each slice visible to customers
- Shapes and slices meats with a boning knife and ties them for roasting
- Cuts, trims, bones, and grinds beef and pork for ready-to-cook packing
- Prepares and packs special cuts of meat pre-ordered by customers
And this is an example of an ineffective work experience section:
INCORRECTLos Angeles, CA, USA
04/2017 – present
- Checks meat products, cuts them, and packs them
- Sets up meat display
Note how inadequately the bullet points describe the applicant's current job. The applicant has also failed to include their specific place of employment. Such apparent carelessness gives the impression that the applicant is not that interested in getting the job and probably will be just as careless in the workplace.
Describe Your Education
Recruiters will look at your educational background to assess your foundations for work as a butcher.
Most butchers have a high school diploma; a few have no formal education. With lenient educational requirements, read the job description to be sure - some look for extra certificate courses to denote experience. However, you need not dwell on this section too much as this is usually the shortest part of the resume.
Some key features hiring managers look for in educational attainment listings are:
- School name
- School location
- Year graduated or duration of study
- Academic or extracurricular awards or recognition
- *GPA - only add this if it will help your resume.
You can apply this on your resume like so:
CORRECTWith Distinction
1999 - 2003
Most Desirable Skills on a Butcher Resume
There are two types of butchers - those who work in processing plants and those in retail environments. The level of work is more comprehensive for the former than the latter, but both generally involve similar skill sets.
Understanding these key technical and soft butcher skills is essential to put your best foot forward.
These are some of the technical skills required of a butcher:
- Knowledge of butcher industry rules, regulations, and safety standards
- Knowledge of slaughtering animals
- Knowledge of meat cutting
- Knowledge of meat processing, preparation, and packaging
- Knowledge of shelf life of various types of meats
- Math skills for quick and accurate computing
- Accounting skills for financial paperwork
- Digital skills for job-related research and promotion
As for soft skills, these are the ones expected of a butcher:
- Enough emotional stamina to not be upset at having to slaughter animals
- Willingness to get your hands dirty (and bloody)
- Good health, physical strength, and stamina
- People skills
- Marketing skills
- Time management skills
- Stress management skills
Many customers think of butchers as meat experts. You can expect your customers to look to you for advice on different meat products, the best cuts of meat, how to store meat, and how to prepare meat at home. Some may even consult you on meal ideas!
A butcher with patience and interpersonal skills will flourish well in a retail setting. Having these skills also gives you more flexibility to progress into supervisory or management positions.
Write a Winning Professional Summary
The professional summary is a 1- to 2-liner at the top of the resume detailing your profession, work accomplishments, and career goals. That allows recruiters to assess if your goals are aligned with the hire they're looking for and, if so, gives them the green light to continue reading.
It might be tough to summarize your career in a few sentences, so a good trick is to leave this task for last. Write your entire resume first, and pick out your top 2-3 achievements for the summary. This way, the summary will flow well with the rest of the resume.
Make sure to pick out the results which have measurable targets achieved - this allows a hiring manager to see your track record upfront. See how this looks on a professional resume:
CORRECTA reliable butcher with more than 10 years of experience. Responsible for processing more than 1,500 kgs of meat products per day. Maintained the plant’s ISO certification status through top sanitation practices and regular machine maintenance. Seeking a long-term leadership role as meat manager or in quality assurance.
INCORRECTResponsible for processing meat products, daily cleaning, and regular machine maintenance. Seeking a role in food preparation.
An entry-level butcher resume can look just as credible with the proper professional summary:
CORRECTA graduate of Malibu High School, with honors. With more than 300 internship hours logged in Standing's Butchery, assisting in cutting and trimming of more than 500 packs of meat a day. Seeking a starting position in butchery where I can develop my skills and leadership experience.
INCORRECTGraduated from Malibu High School. Interned in Standing's Butchery as assistant butcher. Seeking a butcher position.
Additional Sections for Your Resume
Don't be afraid to add sections in your resume, especially if they showcase the skill set needed by excellent butchers. See some examples of additional sections for a butcher resume below👇:
Volunteer Experience
For those starting in the job market, you may also add volunteer experience, especially if these are in segments related to butchery, food preparation, or customer care. That may be written as a separate section.
Having on-the-ground experience - paid or no - helps recruiters assess your capabilities in handling the role.
Certifications
There are various forms of continuing education online and offline that you can use to further your knowledge and practice in butchery. If you’ve passed any of them with flying colors, feel free to add these on the bottommost part of the resume.
