Private household cooks prepare meals in private homes. Includes personal chefs.

  • Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.
  • Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.
  • Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.
  • Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.
  • Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.
  • Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.
  • Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
  • Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.
  • Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.
  • Create and explore new cuisines.
  • Serve meals and snacks to employing families and their guests.
  • Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.
  • Travel with employers to vacation homes to provide meal preparation at those locations.
Work Context
  • Spend Time Standing — 88% responded "Continually or almost continually".
  • Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls — 80% responded "Continually or almost continually".
  • Structured versus Unstructured Work — 70% responded "A lot of freedom".
  • Electronic Mail — 50% responded "Once a week or more but not every day".
  • Freedom to Make Decisions — 66% responded "A lot of freedom".
  • Time Pressure — 63% responded "Every day".
  • Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 34% responded "Very important".
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Work Activities
  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
  • Monitoring and Controlling Resources — Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.
  • Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
  • Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
  • Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
  • Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.
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Detailed Work Activities
  • Prepare foods for cooking or serving.
  • Compile data or documentation.
  • Plan menu options.
  • Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
  • Prepare foods for cooking or serving.
  • Prepare breads or doughs.
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Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production
  • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Sales and Marketing
  • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
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Skills

Critical Thinking
  • Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Service Orientation
  • Actively looking for ways to help people.
Management of Material Resources
  • Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Time Management
  • Managing one's own time and the time of others.
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Abilities

Near Vision
  • The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Finger Dexterity
  • The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Manual Dexterity
  • The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Problem Sensitivity
  • The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
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Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Achievement/Effort
  • Persistence
  • Initiative
  • Leadership
  • Cooperation
  • Concern for Others
  • Social Orientation
  • Self Control
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Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Video creation and editing software
  • YouTube Hot Technology
Accounting software
  • Intuit QuickBooks Hot Technology
  • Cost tracking software
Electronic mail software
  • Email software
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Education

Get started on your career:

Job Outlook

New job opportunities are less likely in the future.
Salary
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