Home Cheesemaker Resume template
Cheesemaker resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what cheesemakers actually do day to day, not generic filler. Download and replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details.
Which resume format should you use?
Reverse chronological
You have a steady work history. This is the format almost every recruiter and ATS expects by default.
Functional
You're changing fields or have gaps in your employment. Leads with skills rather than a job-by-job timeline.
Combination
You're early career or have worked consistently but for only a few employers. Blends a skills summary with a shorter chronological history.
This template uses the reverse chronological format: the one most cheesemakers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Cheesemaker with hands-on experience across the make room, from pasteurisation and culture addition through to pressing, brining and maturation. Skilled in monitoring pH, temperature and moisture to keep batches consistent, safe and within spec. Looking to bring reliable process control and attention to detail to a creamery or dairy manufacturer.
Key skills
- Food safety and hygiene
- Starter culture and rennet handling
- Curd cutting, stirring and heating
- Hooping, pressing and moulding
- Brining and wheel turning
- pH, temperature and humidity monitoring
- Cheese vat operation
- pH meter and curd mill use
- Cheese press operation
- Dairy batch records software
- Process improvement and yield control
- WHS and dairy hygiene compliance
Experience: example bullet points
- Pasteurised milk and added starter cultures, rennet and salt for multiple cheese styles, following batch recipes and recording all additions in dairy batch records software.
- Cut, stirred and heated curds to target moisture and texture, adjusting cut size and cooking time based on pH readings and curd firmness.
- Drained, hooped and pressed curds into moulds and vats, monitoring press schedules to achieve consistent wheel shape and density.
- Turned, brushed and brined wheels throughout maturation, checking rind development and recording room temperature and humidity.
- Monitored pH, temperature and humidity at each stage, logging results and flagging any deviation to the head cheesemaker before it affected the batch.
- Maintained food safety and hygiene standards across the make room, including cleaning vats, presses and tools and completing daily sanitation records.
- Contributed to process improvement by trialling a revised curd cutting schedule that reduced fines and improved yield across a run.
Education
Certificate III in Food Processing (Cheese Making) or Certificate IV in Food Processing, often completed through a dairy traineeship, is the most common pathway. Some cheesemakers hold a Diploma of Food Science and Technology or a bachelor degree in food science, while others learn on the job after Year 12.
Keywords an ATS is likely to scan for
Applicant tracking systems match your resume against terms in the job ad before a person ever sees it. Only include the ones that actually apply to your experience, but if a term below matches something you've done, use the same wording the job ad uses.
- HACCP
- FSANZ
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand
- dairy food safety
- WHS
- food safety supervisor
- pasteurisation
- starter cultures
- rennet
- curd
- whey
- cheese vat
- pH meter
- curd mill
- cheese press
- dairy batch records
- cleaning and sanitation
- SOPs
- quality assurance
- Certificate III in Food Processing
- dairy traineeship
- artisan cheese
- maturation
- brining
Getting past ATS screening
- Match the specific skills, certifications and terms used in the job ad, not just your own wording for the same thing.
- Keep formatting simple: no tables, text boxes, columns, headers/footers or graphics. Parsers frequently drop content placed in these.
- Submit as .docx or PDF unless the job ad specifies otherwise.
- Use standard section headings (Experience, Education, Skills) rather than creative alternatives.
- List your core skills and technical competencies in their own section so a keyword scan can find them instantly.
This is a starting point, not a guarantee of interviews. Tailor every bullet point to your own real experience and the specific job ad.