Home Smallgoods Maker Resume template
Smallgoods Maker resume template
A clean starting structure with example content grounded in what smallgoods makers 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 smallgoods makers should default to, since most Australian recruiters and ATS software expect it.
Professional summary
Smallgoods Maker with hands-on experience in meat preparation, sausage making, curing and smoking. Skilled in operating grinders, stuffers, smokehouses and packaging machinery while following HACCP and hygiene standards. Reliable team member who takes pride in producing safe, consistent product for supermarkets, butchers and food service.
Key skills
- Food safety and hygiene (HACCP)
- Meat preparation, curing and smoking
- Sausage mixing and stuffing
- Operating meat grinders and sausage stuffers
- Smokehouse operation and monitoring
- Slicing and vacuum sealing machinery
- Inventory management and stock rotation
- Process improvement and waste reduction
- Attention to detail
- Work health and safety compliance
- Physical stamina and manual dexterity
Experience: example bullet points
- Prepared beef, pork and lamb cuts for smallgoods production, trimming and sorting according to product specifications before grinding and mixing.
- Mixed and stuffed sausage batches to recipe, adjusting seasoning and fat ratios to maintain consistent flavour and texture across daily runs.
- Operated smokehouse cycles for ham, bacon and salami, monitoring temperature, humidity and time to meet food safety and quality standards.
- Ran slicing and vacuum sealing machinery for supermarket and food service orders, checking seal integrity and pack weight before dispatch.
- Followed HACCP and cleaning schedules across a meat processing floor, passing internal audits without critical non-conformance.
- Trained new team members on safe grinder and slicer operation, reducing hand injuries and equipment damage on the line.
- Maintained stock rotation and inventory records for casings, spices and raw materials, reducing last-minute shortages before production.
- Worked with supervisors to adjust a curing schedule that had drifted, bringing product back within specification and avoiding rework.
Education
Certificate III in Meat Processing (Smallgoods) or Certificate IV in Meat Processing is the typical qualification, often completed while working; some workers enter with Year 12 and train on the job.
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.
- Smallgoods
- Meat processing
- Sausage making
- Curing
- Smoking
- HACCP
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand
- FSANZ
- Food safety supervisor
- Work health and safety
- WHS
- Cold chain
- Quality assurance
- Vacuum packaging
- Slicing machine
- Certificate III in Meat Processing (Smallgoods)
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.