Lead line cooks are key members of kitchen staff, working under the supervision of a head cook and overseeing the work of line cooks. Preparing simple dishes that require less sensitive handling than main courses, like soups, salads, and sauces is the responsibility of lead line cooks.
They also function as the right hand of the chef when it comes to preparing desserts. And, of course, making sure health and safety regulations are adhered to by everyone under their rank is also their job.
A lead line cook is not the role for anyone newly entering the culinary world. So if you have made it so far as to consider a lead line cook position, you already know how to handle stress, a fast-paced job, and working long hours. You also have a number of exquisite cooking techniques under your belt, and your passion for cooking is firm.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a lead line cook. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.78 an hour? That's $32,817 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 282,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many lead line cooks have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed comprehension, dexterity and physical stamina.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a lead line cook, we found that a lot of resumes listed 24.3% of lead line cooks included kitchen equipment, while 8.3% of resumes included customer service, and 5.8% of resumes included high volume. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the lead line cook job title. But what industry to start with? Most lead line cooks actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.
If you're interested in becoming a lead line cook, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 18.5% of lead line cooks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.5% of lead line cooks have master's degrees. Even though some lead line cooks have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a lead line cook. When we researched the most common majors for a lead line cook, we found that they most commonly earn associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on lead line cook resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a lead line cook. In fact, many lead line cook jobs require experience in a role such as line cook. Meanwhile, many lead line cooks also have previous career experience in roles such as sous chef or cook.