In a kitchen, a bar, a workshop or a warehouse, the hiring decision rarely happens on paper. It happens at the pass, on the shop floor or behind the wheel, during a trial shift or a trade test that lasts a few hours. The CV still matters, but its job is narrower than most people think: it has to get you invited to that test, and that is all.
The CV is a ticket to the test
A head chef reading applications between services is not looking for a career story. They want to know, fast, whether you can do the basic work and whether they can check it without wasting a shift on you.
That changes how you write it. A good CV for a job decided by a practical test is:
- Short. One page is plenty. Nobody on a shop floor reads a second page.
- Verifiable. Every claim should be something a manager can confirm with one phone call or by watching you for ten minutes.
- Concrete about kit. Name the tickets, licences, tools and machines you can actually use, not the soft skills you believe you have.
- Reachable. A phone number you answer, because trials are often booked for the same week.
The logic is simple. The trial is where you prove quality. The CV only has to make the trial feel like a safe bet for the person booking it. If you over-write it, you raise expectations that the trial then has to meet, and a manager who expected a star and got a solid cook is more disappointed than one who expected a solid cook.
How to write it for that purpose
Lead with a short line that says what you do and in what kind of place. Then put tickets, licences and equipment above your work history, because that is what gets scanned first. Work history comes after, with the name of the place, the type of operation and the volume you handled.
Some example lines, written the way they would sit on the page:
"Line cook, 2022 to 2025, 90-cover bistro with a set lunch menu; ran the grill section alone on weekday lunches."
"Food hygiene certificate, level 2, current. Comfortable on a combi oven, a salamander and a vacuum packer."
"Forklift licence, counterbalance and reach truck, two seasons in a chilled distribution warehouse with pick rates tracked daily."
"Qualified electrician, domestic and light commercial rewires, own hand tools and a multifunction tester, full driving licence and van."
Notice what these lines do. They give the scale of the operation, so the reader can picture you in their place. They name equipment the employer owns or cares about. They cite certificates by their real names, so the reader can ask to see them. And they skip adjectives like "passionate" or "hard-working", which nobody can verify from paper and which the trial is going to test anyway.
What to cut is just as useful. The three-line career objective, the list of office software, the generic hobbies: all of it takes space that a licence or a piece of kit could use.
If your experience is spread across casual work, seasonal jobs or a family business, list it anyway, with dates and what you did. In most trades the hours you have put in weigh more than the name on the letterhead. If a lot of your history already lives on a LinkedIn profile, a tool like Postulit can turn it into a first draft that you then cut down to one page.
What actually gets assessed on the day
The official task might be "prep this veg", "make these five cocktails", "wire this board" or "load this trailer". The assessment is wider than the task.
Speed, but not at any cost
Managers watch pace, but they watch it next to quality. A commis who rushes a brunoise and bins half the carrot does not win on speed. Work at a pace you could hold for a full service, not the fastest you can manage for ten minutes.
Cleanliness and the state of your station
Clean as you go. Wipe down, put tools back, keep your board and your floor clear. In a salon, a garage or a kitchen, the state of your station at the end says as much as the finished job. Plenty of trials are quietly decided by who picked up a cloth without being asked, and who offered to do the toilets when the rota said so.
Safety habits
Knife handling, lifting technique, isolating a circuit before touching it, wearing the right PPE, checking mirrors twice on a driving assessment. Skip one safety step and good work stops counting. If a procedure on their site is unclear, ask. Asking reads as competence, not weakness.
How you take correction
Almost every trial includes a moment where someone tells you to do it differently. Often this is deliberate. The answer they want is "got it", followed by doing it their way. Arguing that your last place did it better is the fastest way to end a trial early, even when you are right.
Whether the team wants you back
The last question is informal and often decisive: would the people who worked next to you want you on their shift? Learn names, say thank you, help carry things that are not your job. Nobody writes this on a scoring sheet, but it gets discussed in the corridor after you leave.
What to ask and what to bring
Ask before the day, not on arrival. A short message or call is enough:
- How long is the trial, and what time should I arrive?
- Is it paid, and how?
- What should I wear, and do I bring my own knives, tools or safety boots?
- Who should I ask for when I get there?
Then bring what applies to your trade: knives in a roll, clean whites or black kit, safety boots, hi-vis, hand tools, your driving licence, originals of your certificates and your right-to-work documents. A printed copy of the CV helps too, because the person running the trial is often not the one who read it.
The pay question for unpaid trials
This is where markets differ most, and where you should check rather than assume. In many countries, a short unpaid trial is acceptable only while it stays a skills check: a limited period in which you show what you can do, without producing anything the business sells. Once you are serving real customers, covering a gap in the rota or making work that gets charged, many markets treat that as work that must be paid, usually at least at the minimum wage.
The detail varies by country, sometimes by region or sector, and it changes. Before the day, look up the rule where you live, or ask a union or the local labour authority. It is also fair to ask the employer directly: "Is the trial paid, and how long does it last?" A serious employer answers that without fuss. A place that offers a week of free "trial" shifts is telling you something about how it runs.
The trial is a test of you, but it is also your only chance to see how the place treats people before you sign anything.
Following up after the trial
Send a short message the same evening or the next morning. Thank the person who ran the trial by name, mention one specific thing from the day, and say clearly that you want the job and when you can start. Four or five lines is enough.
If you hear nothing within the time they gave you, one polite follow-up is enough. If the answer is no, ask what you should work on. Kitchens and workshops are small worlds, and the head chef who turns you down this month may send you to a friend's place next month.
The practical takeaway
Rewrite your CV so that the top third of the page lists your tickets, licences and the equipment you can run, with one line of scale for each recent job. Cut anything a manager cannot check. Then, for every trial you are offered, send the four questions above before the day and a thank-you after it. The CV gets you through the door. The rest happens with your hands.