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Welcome to ChefCourses.net - The reality of modern day cooking is that most chefs and cooks start out as fast-food or short-order cooks, and have to start in the lower skilled kitchen postions Gordon Ramsay famously started life as a pot washer. These positions require little education or training, and so most skills are learned on the job. After getting some experience of the kitchen, chopping, washing, handling food, watching techniques, many of these junior kitchen workers can advance to an assistant cook position. Today working in the kitchen and training to become a chef is seen as a great job! However only 20 years ago cooking was seen as a subserviant job and recieved little credibility. Today things have progressed and even the idea of taking a cooking holiday has become mainstream. This has been fuelled by the emergence of celebrity chefs, and the number of cooking TV shows their “anyone can do it” ethos is now helping to inspre people from Floyd in Italy, Rick Stein’s French Odyssey, or Jamie Oliver at home. This has taken a further twist with Gordon Ramsays Kitchen nightmares series, and Hugh Fearnly Whitingstall's programmes about the qualify of food. Today the fact is that cooking has become sexy, with cooking schools popping up across the country, cooking holidays becoming the norm, more cookery shows on TV and cooking an apirational job. ChefCourses.net is here to tell you about Chef Courses and Chef Schools there to get you on the ladder. |
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The first thing you have to ask yourself is do I have the passion, and for food this is essential, as it can be tough in the early years and you need to keep your eyes on the prize. You will need education and hands on experience. Getting a qualification from a college or experience from a top restaurant can mean the difference between getting a top job or not. Skills required to be a good chef are to be organised, be able to work as a team, definately able to handle stress, and you will require a strong heard and stamina. You should also have a flair for creativity, and able to come up with great ideas quickly. Finally being able to get a buzz out of food is essential - if you don't have the passion this will be reflected in your work. From the word go it is important you can demonstrate an enthusiasm for food and cooking to employees.You can show your enthusiasm at those first interviews by talking about your interest in food. This could mean talking about recipes you have practised at home, food you’ve enjoyed on holiday, or cookery books you've read. Following food programmes and reading magazines and food sections of newspapers will also help you demonstrate your interest. Although a high school diploma is not required for beginning jobs, it is recommended for those planning a career as a cook or chef. High school or vocational school courses in business arithmetic and business administration are particularly helpful. Large corporations in the food service and hotel industries also offer paid internships and summer jobs, which can provide valuable experience, and local government schemes are avaliable. To achieve the level of skill required of an executive chef or cook in a fine restaurant, many years of training and experience are necessary. An increasing number of chefs and cooks obtain their training through high school, post-high school vocational programs, or 2- or 4-year colleges. Chefs and cooks also may be trained in apprenticeship programs offered by professional culinary institutes, industry associations, and trade unions If you're 16 years of age or older, you can apply for a Modern Apprenticeship. You'll get practical experience in a job and gain a Level 3 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) after around three years' work. The Scottish equivalent is a Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ). This is definately worth looking in to. Of course you can study full-time at a further education college or at a chef training school. City & Guilds qualifications at varying levels are avaliable aimed at those who want to work in professional kitchens and food outlets. make sure that before you sign up for any course you ask questions about what you’ll be taught, who is doing the teaching you and how other people gaining the qualification in question got on. Make that you sign up for a course that suits you and your your goals. These chef apprenticeships are aimed at mainly under 25s. Of course there is nothing to say you can't cook professionally without qualifications. If you're happier to have one, you can still study for an NVQ/SVQ, but you or your employer will need to fund it. If you are unemployed, ask at your local Jobcentre about work schemes, they will be more than happy to help. Also get in touch with your local careers service as they will have more detail about where to find jobs, schemes and courses in food preparation and catering. Doing some homework is a good idea, and you should look in to - City & Guilds, Hospitality Training Foundation, Learning Skills Council, and Modern Apprenticeships. |
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Firstly work experience is king, getting some as a kitchen assistant helps even this is just occasional evenings and weekends. Here you will get to see chefs at work, understand kitchen implements. There are no specific entry requirements for trainee chefs however GCSEs in maths, English and other languages are helpful. A Basic Food Hygiene Certificate will be required if you are going to handle foods.. If your looking to become a top chef, ie the next Marco Piere White then you should really start working in the very be restauants right from the start. Competition is tough but if you've got ambition and commitment, you're in with a chance Below are some of the common terms you should be familiar with in order to succeed as a chef..
What about for those in America Well the American Culinary Federation certifies pastry professionals, culinary educators, and chefs and cooks at the levels of cook, working chef, executive chef, and master chef - great news eh!. Certification standards are based primarily on experience and formal training given. Chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers include the ability to work as part of a team, a keen sense of taste and smell, and personal cleanliness. Most Stateswill require health certificates indicating that workers are free from communicable diseases. Advancement opportunities for chefs and cooks are better than for most other food and beverage preparation and service occupations. Many chefs and cooks acquire high-paying positions and new cooking skills by moving from one job to another. Besides culinary skills, advancement also depends on ability to supervise less skilled workers and limit food costs by minimizing waste and accurately anticipating the amount of perishable supplies needed. Some chefs and cooks go into business as caterers or restaurant owners, while others become instructors in vocational programs in high schools, community colleges, or other academic institutions. A number of cooks and chefs advance to executive chef positions or supervisory or management positions, particularly in hotels, clubs, and larger, more elegant restaurants. So how easy is to get a job? The Job openings for chefs, cooks, are seen to be rising continuosly. While job growth will create new positions, the overwhelming majority of job openings will stem from the need to replace workers who leave this large occupational group. Minimal educational and training requirements, combined with a large number of part-time positions, make employment as chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers attractive to people seeking a short-term source of income and a flexible schedule. In coming years, these workers will continue to transfer to other occupations or stop working to assume household responsibilities or to attend school full time, creating numerous openings for those entering the field. Job openings stemming from replacement needs will be supplemented by new openings resulting from employment growth, as overall employment of chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations over the 2000-10 period. Employment growth will be spurred by increases in population, household income, and leisure time that will allow people to dine out and take vacations more often. In addition, growth in the number of two-income households will lead more families to opt for the convenience of dining out. Projected employment growth, however, varies by specialty. Increases in the number of families and the more affluent, 55-and-older population will lead to more restaurants that offer table service and more varied menus-resulting in faster-than-average growth among higher-skilled restaurant cooks. As more Americans choose more full-service restaurants, employment of fast-food cooks is expected to decline and employment of short-order cooks, most of whom work in fast-food restaurants, is expected to grow more slowly than average. Duties of cooks in fast-food restaurants are limited; most workers are likely to be combined food preparation and serving workers, rather than fast-food cooks. In addition, fast-food restaurants increasingly offer healthier prepared foods, further reducing the need for cooks. |
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Employment of institution and cafeteria chefs and cooks also will grow more slowly than the average for all occupations. Their employment will not keep pace with the rapid growth in the educational and health services industries-where their employment is concentrated. In an effort to make "institutional food" more attractive to students, staff, visitors, and patients, high schools and hospitals increasingly contract out their food services. Many of the contracted food service companies emphasize simple menu items and employ short-order cooks, instead of institution and cafeteria cooks, reducing the demand for these workers. |
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