Butcher careers guide and job profile

You might never have thought about a butcher job before, but actually being a butcher is a career choice that’s alive and kicking because there’s currently a national shortage of people with the right skills. You could work in retail in an independent butcher’s shop or supermarket chain. You could also work with a meat wholesaler, preparing and storing meat before it’s sent on to retailers and customers like hotels and restaurants.

Finally, you could work with the Meat Hygiene Service to check standards in meat plants and abattoirs once you’re a qualified butcher. It’s a current fact of life that many people eat meat. For as long as we eat meat as a society, the treatment of the animals and the meat they provide needs to be done right.

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Useful skills to put in your CV for butcher jobs:

• Great communication skills – (for friendly and knowledgeable customer service)
• Maths skills (for pricing meat and weighing it as needed)
• Steady hands (you’ll be doing precision work with knives and other equipment)

How do you get these skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

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School, College And Training

You don’t need any formal qualifications to become a butcher, but having a certain level or numeracy and language skills may help you get hired by employers (who may set aptitude tests as part of their recruitment process). With this in mind, it’s useful to have GCSEs in grades 9-4 (A*-C) in English, maths and a science subject.

To progress more speedily in your career, you can study for relevant qualifications.

Example butchery qualifications to study for:

• Level 2 diploma for proficiency in meat & poultry industry skills
• Level 3 certificate for proficiency in meat and poultry industry skills
• Intermediate Certificate in Meat and Poultry (or Meat and Poultry Management)

While at school or college, speak to your careers advisor about useful training and/or courses for you to take and find out more about the types of career routes available.

Progressing your career

With time and experience you could have the opportunity for career options like progressing to supervisor or manager roles, especially in supermarkets and chains. You could also build your career by working in larger and more prestigious independent butchers’ shops, like the ones where their meat gets a royal seal of approval.

You could also become self-employed and set up your own shop, or move into catering, meat manufacturing and wholesaling.

Who Can Help?

Many professional bodies also offer a range of training opportunities, including activities that count towards continuing professional development (CPD). Find out more below:

• ABP offer butcher apprenticeships and early careers in the meat industry.
• Tasty Careers offer early career insights and support for getting into the food industry.
• The Institute of Meat – The Institute of Meat (IoM) is a professional body for people from the meat industry and related fields of activity. They encourage and help to fund education and training throughout the industry

Many young butchers get started in this career through a training or apprenticeship scheme. You’ll typically get structured training while you work and earn, and industry-recognised qualifications.

You’ll find all kinds of butcher apprenticeships available from a wide variety of providers.

With a Level 2 Butcher Apprenticeship you can expect to pick up core skills and knowledge like:

• The principles of butchery, including selection, welfare and handling of livestock, and slaughter practices including Halal and Kosher
• The principles of minimising waste, maximising yield and predicting how to cost meat as a result
• Knife handling skills including cutting, boning, trimming and mincing of meat (including the use of equipment)
• Stock control, product pricing, quality assurance and delivering what customers and contractors expect
• Health and food safety, including hygiene in a food production environment

For an Advanced Butcher Apprenticeship, you may also expect to cover:

• A deeper understanding of good practice and health and safety policy
• Managing the food safety and hygiene process, including disinfection of equipment
• The end to end process for red and white meat selection and preparation
• The range of methods for chilling, maturing, handing and storing meat

Once you are ready, the GOV.UK Find an Apprenticeship service can help you to find suitable positions.

Work Experience Tips

Work experience is very useful for this role.

You’ll typically start out as a trainee or assistant and learn on the job, potentially doing structured training at the same time through an apprenticeship.

• Get practising with YouTube cookery videos showing you how to use and prepare different cuts of meat for recipes.
• Talk to your local butcher about using different cuts of meat – they have lots of knowledge and will be happy to share it if you’re not holding up the queue.

You’ll be feeding your local community and learning about a wide variety of meat – and what people can do with it to save money and eat delicious food at home. There can also be some creativity involved as you progress in your career.

Deliveries often arrive early in the morning so you could have an early start to the day. In large supermarkets there will usually be a shift system so while you might need to sometimes work overtime or on evenings and weekends, this need not be the case all the time.

If you become a qualified independent butcher you can get to create new and interesting food, experimenting with cuts, spices and sauces. Think of how many varieties of sausage there are out there, from spicy chipolatas to pork sausages with apple and stuffing.

You could even become something of a local celebrity, showcasing your skills at local festivals.

Example daily job responsibilities

• Buying and storing stock
• Checking deliveries for their content and hygiene
• Transporting meat to cold storage areas like walk-in freezers
• Cutting, boning and trimming meat
• Giving great customer service when it comes to serving meat and also giving advice on how to prepare and cook it
• Creating attractive product displays
• Travelling to markets and wholesales to pick up and deliver stock and products.

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• Apprentice butcher
• Trainee butcher

• Assistant butcher
• Part-time butcher

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.