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.
Lead Line Cook Overview
Working as a Lead Line Cook
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.
What Does a Lead Line Cook Do
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.
How To Become a Lead Line Cook
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.
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Lead Line Cook Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a lead line cook can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as kitchen manager, progress to a title such as general manager and then eventually end up with the title operations director.
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Average Salary for a Lead Line Cook
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Noble House Hotels and Resorts Lead Line Cook Lead Line Cook | Noble House Hotels and Resorts Noble House Hotels and Resorts | 01/15/2021 01/15/2021 | $33,39201/15/2021 $33,392 |
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Lead Line Cook-Smashburger Lead Line Cook-Smashburger | Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma | 01/12/2021 01/12/2021 | $33,39201/12/2021 $33,392 |
Sundance Resort Lead Line Cook-Foundry Grill To Lead Line Cook-Foundry Grill To | Sundance Resort Sundance Resort | 12/24/2020 12/24/2020 | $35,47912/24/2020 $35,479 |
Gecko Hospitality Lead Line Cook Lead Line Cook | Gecko Hospitality Gecko Hospitality | 09/16/2020 09/16/2020 | $41,74009/16/2020 $41,740 |
Adecco Staffing Lead Line Cook Lead Line Cook | Adecco Staffing Adecco Staffing | 06/23/2020 06/23/2020 | $33,39206/23/2020 $33,392 |
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Lead Line Cook Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Lead Line Cook. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Lead Line Cook Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Lead Line Cook resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Lead Line Cook
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 24.3% of lead line cooks listed kitchen equipment on their resume, but soft skills such as comprehension and dexterity are important as well.
- Kitchen Equipment, 24.3%
- Customer Service, 8.3%
- High Volume, 5.8%
- Line Cooks, 5.3%
- Quality Standards, 5.3%
- Other Skills, 51.0% See All Lead Line Cook Skills
Best States For a Lead Line Cook
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a lead line cook. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Rhode Island, California, and Vermont. Lead line cooks make the most in Washington with an average salary of $37,531. Whereas in Rhode Island and California, they would average $37,474 and $37,366, respectively. While lead line cooks would only make an average of $37,344 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Nevada
$36,040
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
$37,475
Avg. Salary
3. Arizona
$34,252
Avg. Salary
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