Specialty Cook Overview

There are certain skills that many specialty 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 dexterity, physical stamina and sense of taste and smell.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be a specialty cook, we found that a lot of resumes listed 21.4% of specialty cooks included sous, while 17.7% of resumes included kitchen equipment, and 13.6% of resumes included cuisine. 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 specialty cook job title. But what industry to start with? Most specialty cooks actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.

If you're interested in becoming a specialty cook, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 19.8% of specialty cooks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.5% of specialty cooks have master's degrees. Even though some specialty 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 specialty cook. When we researched the most common majors for a specialty cook, we found that they most commonly earn associate degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on specialty cook resumes include high school diploma degrees or diploma degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a specialty cook. In fact, many specialty cook jobs require experience in a role such as cook. Meanwhile, many specialty cooks also have previous career experience in roles such as line cook or sous chef.