Best Jobs For Former Cooks [2023]

It’s tough to be a cook nowadays, and more and more of them are losing confidence in their own profession.

While the amount of people majoring in courses preparing people for a job as a cook isn’t necessarily dropping, fewer and fewer people are applying to become cooks in the first place and the workforce itself is looking grim.

With so many cooks no longer sticking around, this begs the question:

What are they all doing now?

We were curious, so we looked through the resumes of former cooks to see what kind of jobs they were moving into after leaving the field. There were thousands of answers, so we made the cutoff at the top 100 jobs.

But given that there are some very surprising and interesting items on this list, we’ve decided to highlight a few of those instead.

Best Jobs For Former COOKS

Some of these items are admittedly more attractive than one another as far as actually working the job goes, but one way or another, you’ve got to admit they’re eye-catching.

The full list of those jobs can be found below.

Detailed Ranking of the Most Common Jobs of Former COOKS

Rank	Job Title	%
1	Cashier	2.56%
2	Sales Associate	2.19%
3	Customer Service Representative	1.93%
4	Line Cook	1.61%
5	Assistant Manager	1.16%
6	Machine Operator	1.16%
7	Manager	1.09%
8	Server	1.09%
9	Prep Cook	1.04%
10	Chef	0.97%
11	Sous Chef	0.86%
12	Crew Member	0.81%
13	Driver	0.76%
14	Executive Chef	0.76%
15	Security Officer	0.74%
16	Internship	0.67%
17	Supervisor	0.62%
18	Delivery Driver	0.62%
19	Forklift Operator	0.57%
20	Sales Representative	0.57%
21	Warehouse Worker	0.56%
22	Kitchen Manager	0.53%
23	Production Worker	0.5%
24	Warehouse Associate	0.49%
25	Material Handler	0.48%
26	Technician	0.46%
27	Welder	0.46%
28	Customer Service Trainer	0.46%
29	Associate	0.44%
30	Package Handler	0.41%
31	Grill Cook	0.39%
32	Administrative Assistant	0.37%
33	Lead Cook	0.37%
34	Owner	0.37%
35	Certified Nursing Assistant	0.37%
36	Assembler	0.36%
37	Volunteer	0.34%
38	Operator	0.33%
39	Stocker	0.33%
40	Head Cook	0.32%
41	Team Leader	0.31%
42	Cook, Cashier, And Waitress	0.31%
43	Baker	0.3%
44	General Manager	0.29%
45	Picker	0.29%
46	Waitress	0.28%
47	Home Health Aid	0.27%
48	Dietary Aide	0.25%
49	Security Guard	0.25%
50	Shift Manager	0.25%
51	Food Service Worker	0.25%
52	Maintenance Technician	0.25%
53	Packer	0.25%
54	Custodian	0.25%
55	Ship Worker	0.25%
56	Janitor	0.25%
57	Housekeeper	0.25%
58	Cleaner	0.25%
59	Helper	0.24%
60	Teacher	0.24%
61	Assembly Line Worker	0.24%
62	Customer Service Associate	0.24%
63	Specialist	0.24%
64	Owner/operator	0.24%
65	Food Prep	0.24%
66	Manufacturing Team Member	0.23%
67	Store Manager	0.23%
68	Cook/dishwasher	0.23%
69	Shift Leader	0.23%
70	Installer	0.22%
71	Cook/server	0.22%
72	Farm Hand	0.2%
73	Merchandiser	0.2%
74	Line Cook, Prep Cook	0.2%
75	Mechanic	0.2%
76	Truck Driver	0.2%
77	Barista	0.2%
78	Chef Manager	0.2%
79	Overnight Stocker	0.19%
80	Office Assistant	0.18%
81	Service Technician	0.18%
82	Pharmacist Technician	0.18%
83	Kitchen Supervisor	0.18%
84	Food Service Director	0.18%
85	Maintenance Worker	0.18%
86	Order Selector	0.18%
87	Cook Supervisor	0.18%
88	Bartender	0.17%
89	Sorter	0.17%
90	Stock Clerk	0.17%
91	Clerk	0.17%
92	Sales Consultant	0.17%
93	Picker And Packer	0.17%
94	Painter	0.17%
95	Office Manager	0.16%
96	Correction Officer	0.16%
97	Substitute Teacher	0.16%
98	Press Operator	0.16%
99	Landscaper	0.16%
100	Helper/driver	0.15%

Most Common Jobs For Former COOKS

These are all good jobs, all of them either utilizing some skill that a cook would have or being a stepping stone to a different career.

Here’s the thing about these jobs though — they’re pretty much exactly what you’d expect a lot of former cooks to do.

How We Determined the Best Jobs of Former COOKS

Using resume information from our database of over 7 million resumes, we looked at all resumes that listed cook under their work history. Then we looked at which jobs showed up on their work histories following their stints as a cook, sorting them by their most frequent.

That’s how we made the initial ranked list.

To make our list of most interesting jobs, we looked through the ranked list to see if any positions:

Showed up in fewer than 1% of all new jobs
And, were not part of the 100 most common jobs in our database

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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