Careers > Butchers and Meat Cutters

Butchers and Meat Cutters

$36.93K Median Salary 15.4K Job Openings (Annual Projection) -5.4% Job Growth

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About This Career

Cut, trim, or prepare consumer-sized portions of meat for use or sale in retail establishments.

Reported Job Titles

Butcher, Meat Clerk, Meat Cutter, Meat Specialist, Meat Trimmer, Meat Wrapper

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Manual Dexterity

Near Vision

Arm-Hand Steadiness

Category Flexibility

Control Precision

Information Ordering

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Problem Sensitivity

Finger Dexterity

Selective Attention

Speech Clarity

Speech Recognition

Trunk Strength

Visual Color Discrimination

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service

Food Production

Production and Processing

Sales and Marketing

Skills

Active Listening

Critical Thinking

Monitoring

Reading Comprehension

Service Orientation

Social Perceptiveness

Speaking

Time Management

Technology Skills

Spreadsheet software

Electronic mail software

Accounting software

Office suite software

Word processing software

Internet browser software

Tools

Commercial use cutlery

Power saws

Meat tyer or bagger

Forming machine

Shaft collar

Chopping machinery

Commercial use food grinders

Baling press

Commercial use food warmers

Filling machinery

Commercial use blenders

Dicing machinery

Smoking machinery

Wrapping machinery

Commercial use scales

Air dryers

Hoists

Acoustic ear muffs or defenders

Belt conveyors

Commercial use rotisseries

Commercial use food choppers or cubers or dicers

Metal detectors

Packaging vacuum

Handheld thermometer

Commercial use dough machines

Butcher scissors

Cutting machinery

Label making machines

Pallet trucks

Dehydrating machinery

Ear plugs

Commercial use food slicers

Blast freezers

Fat extractors

Saws

Sharpening stones or tools or kits

Power staple guns

Personal computers

Abilities

Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production: Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Production and Processing: Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Sales and Marketing: Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Technology Skills

Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Accounting software: Billing software; Bookkeeping software; Intuit QuickBooks; Sage 50 Accounting
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Internet browser software: Web browser software

Tools

Commercial use cutlery: Carving knives
Power saws: Chain saws
Meat tyer or bagger: Meat stringing machines; Net applicators
Forming machine: Sheeters
Shaft collar: Captive-pin shackles
Chopping machinery: Bowl choppers; Mincing machines
Commercial use food grinders: Meat grinders
Baling press: Balers
Commercial use food warmers: Steam tables
Filling machinery: Sausage linkers
Commercial use blenders: Blenders
Dicing machinery: Dicers
Smoking machinery: Smokehouses
Wrapping machinery: High speed wrapping machines
Commercial use scales: Portion scales
Air dryers: Hopper dryers
Hoists: Hoisting equipment
Acoustic ear muffs or defenders: Protective ear muffs
Belt conveyors: Conveyer belt systems
Commercial use rotisseries: Rotisserie units
Commercial use food choppers or cubers or dicers: Food dicers
Metal detectors: Rebar locators
Packaging vacuum: Vacuum package machines
Handheld thermometer: Handheld thermometers
Commercial use dough machines: Dough mixers
Butcher scissors: Poultry shears
Cutting machinery: Brisket cutters
Label making machines: Label makers
Pallet trucks: Pallet jacks
Dehydrating machinery: Rotary dryers
Ear plugs: Protective ear plugs
Commercial use food slicers: Bread slicers; Meat slicers; Slicing machines
Blast freezers: Blast chillers
Fat extractors: Specific gravity fat analyzers
Saws: Multi-purpose saw sets
Sharpening stones or tools or kits: File sharpeners
Power staple guns: Automated staple guns
Personal computers:

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