Education level
Job area
Your role as a cook
As a cook, you’ll work as part of a team to make food for people staying in our hospitals and facilities. You may also help with food service, catering and snacks for our public facing kiosks and food outlets.
Your role will involve:
- preparing basic meals as part of a set menu
- catering for people with special dietary requirements
- packing, transporting, serving and storing food and supplies
- using, cleaning and maintaining knives and kitchen equipment.
We have full time, part time and casual roles, and you may work different shifts as part of a team.
How a cook is different from a chef
A chef has more training and experience than a cook. Their role may include extra jobs like deciding menus with managers and dietitians, ordering ingredients and supplies, or supervising a team of kitchen staff.
What your day might look like
Many of our cooks work in large, modern kitchens in our hospitals and health centres. You’ll prepare and plate up hundreds of fresh meals on site each day. You may also help with meal planning and preparation for the days and weeks ahead. You’ll spend a lot of your working day standing and using industrial kitchen equipment like ovens, steamers and braising pans. You may also need to move or lift boxes or food supplies at times.
Read more about working as a cook on the Your Career website.
Qualifications
Our cooks often have one of the following qualifications, but you may not need one for an entry level position.
- Certificate III in Commercial Cookery
- Diploma of Hospitality Management
Pay and benefits
Your pay rate and benefits will depend on your role and your pay point. If you have a Certificate III, you’ll start at operational stream grade 2, pay point 1. You’ll get a different rate if you have a higher level qualification.
We also offer:
- regular wage increases
- a superannuation rate of 12.75%
- a supportive workplace with flexible working arrangements
- several types of leave
- salary packaging.
If you're moving to start a new job with us, you may be able to get help with moving and travel costs.
Career paths
Getting experience as a cook can lead to other roles.
- Cook supervisor or chef
- Food services manager
- Operational services manager
You may need qualifications for some roles. If you've done some study in the past, ask your training provider if they can count towards a higher qualification.