With the nights getting darker and Christmas quickly looming it has been a busy week at Chefs In Scotland. This week I made my first head chef placement in the North of England. We have also made placements in the centre of Glasgow and one for a commis chef in Perthshire. Adverts are flowing in steadily with positions available all over Scotland and with the new CIS for chefs tab you can register for jobs in your area to be sent directly to you via email.
The CVs continue to come in with more and more people using our websites and applying for jobs. We are happy to help chefs write their CVs and we do have a basic model we use, so if you are struggling with CV writing please give the office a call. I understand that it is difficult in this industry and sometimes having the correct wording and layout on your CV can be the difference between getting the job and not.
At the moment I am trying to get in touch with colleges and universities offering this service as well as placements for new chefs in places that they would get good training with stable head chefs and a good team in place. However this is proving difficult as the colleges don’t seem to be responding at the moment. But we will continue to push on, as we are with Moffat Business and Training Centre. We are still proceeding with this project as the unsightly old Mercury building continues to lay empty.
Relief is as busy as ever as you would expect at this time in the season. If you need cover please let us know with as much notice as possible.
For now I must get on with chasing up references for chefs so they can then be progressed for jobs they have applied for.
Jessica
Counted up and we have 108 chefs still out working on relief that we have placed this summer.
We stop charging after 8 weeks so there are many we are not charging for anymore
Relief still remains incredibly busy as expected for the time of year. It may ease off a little in the next two weeks, possibly not.
Our “magic 15” list will be getting worked out over the next few weeks and will appear at the beginning / middle of October.
There has been some excellent work from the relief chefs on our books this season and a lot of chefs staying on in their relief jobs along with those chefs who have permanent jobs being able to help out the odd day / week when they have a bit of time off. It is all very much appreciated and noted.
Jonny Lewis has returned up to Tongue at The Ben Loyal Hotel working as sous chef.
Scott MacIntyre is fitting in well at Kincraig Castle in Invergordon.
Daniel Imbuye got excellent feedback from his time on Shetland at The Scalloway Hotel.
Victor Garcia and Blair Mackay are extending their stay at The Oban Caledonian Hotel and reminiscing about working in Edinburgh.
Lillian Clarkson is finishing up in Forres at the Ramnee Hotel where she has been working as Sous Chef.
Allen Jack has also extended his stay until the end of September at The Islay Hotel.
Thanks to you all for all your hardwork.
So finally into September and it is starting to feel like autumn already. Although it remains bright it is starting to feel chilly even though summer hasn’t really been, well not in Moffat anyway. This week at Chefs In Scotland we said goodbye to Annabel who was here helping us over the summer so it is back to Michael, Johanna and myself in the office, and also Bentley the basset-hound who spends most of his day sleeping. Annabel will continue to help with the Moffat Business and Training Centre project which we will continue to progress with.
Relief continues to be extremely busy with 30 jobs out last week and availability of relief chefs is tight. It does change on a daily basis so do get in quick if you need cover. Permanent placements seem to have quietened down with only one last week but there are more chefs available it seems. A position registered yesterday in Glasgow got 20 applicants so far, however the more remote areas such as the Western Isles get only one or two. So we continue to wonder why is it there are so few candidates for the beautiful areas we are lucky to have on our doorstep.
I am currently looking for a chef de partie for a Michelin starred establishment in the north of England where we continue to get more work including relief, adverts and permanent placements. But I am yet to find chefs of that level that are interested as they must have minimum 2AA Rosette experience. So if you are interested in this fantastic opportunity please let me know.
We are happy to meet chefs in Moffat and discuss permanent or relief work and we especially like to meet all of our relief chefs. So if you wish to come and meet us please give the office a call or send an email recruitment@chefsinscotland.co.uk
Anyway best get on and order some more pens as the supply seems depleted from our ever popular competitions.
Jessica
For the last ten weeks I have been an intern at Chefs In Scotland. I am a student at Edinburgh University studying Accountancy and Business and was home for the holiday looking for a summer job. I was very pleased when Michael offered me an intern position as ‘Office Junior’ working 30 hours a week.
Over the last ten weeks I was answering phones as well as working my way through my two main incubator projects. Incubation offices are becoming increasingly used worldwide. I was given a project and came up with ideas which I then passed on to Michael who would help direct and manage the projects. The two main projects were to update the manual and help the new ‘Moffat Business and Training Centre’ come to light.
The manual was written back in 2006 so it needed to be re-written with the new procedures and operations to be updated. I started off by archiving the office then went through the old manual page by page, updating it with the new information. The new manual now has 6 sections: Accounting and Finance, Administration, Employee Information, Adverts, Permanent and Relief. There is now a physical manual which corresponds with the manual on our computer system.
I have lived in Moffat for 15 years and have never seen the town without the derelict hotel the Mercury Inn. I was very interested in the project the new ‘Moffat Business and Training Centre’. The Mercury Hotel has been an eyesore for the town since 1999 so I was pleased to be able to try and help the town where I grew up as a girl. Earlier this week Michael and I met up with two members of the Dumfries and Galloway Council, a representative for the Secretary of State and a local architect. Dumfries and Galloway Council are going to help us with the new ‘Moffat Business and Training Centre’ by acting in an enabling role.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Michael, Johanna and Jessica this summer, learning about the fast paced industry of hospitality. There are a lot of funny things happened in the office: Bentley, the basset hound, trying to steal Michael’s lunch, being one in particular. Getting adverts is probably the best part of working Chefs In Scotland (especially with the 15% bonus scheme Michael set up for every advert I managed to get). This week I also got my holiday pay, which as an accountancy student, I was pleased to see was 12.07% of all hours worked!
Working in the heart of a small business like ‘Chefs In Scotland’ I believe has equipped me with a lot of new skills which will be useful in later life maybe when I have a business of my own.
Annabel
Here we are getting to the end of the season now and the availability of chefs for permanent positions is becoming slightly better. We have already made two permanent placements this week. One over on Skye at Isle Ornsay hotel which has 2 rosettes and another placement at The Buccleuch and Queensberry Arms Hotel over in Thornhill, they have one rosette and are keen to push for more. I was glad to make this particular placement as I used to work there when it first opened after being refurbished in 2012. Best of luck to all the new placements starting this week and next.
I arrived back from holiday from Spain last Thursday and I have been working on building up the list of permanent positions. I have been sending out the new brochures to different places all over Scotland and some in the North of England too, if anybody would like to see one please PM myself, Michael or Johanna and we will get one sent out to you.
Annabel, our office junior for the summer, has been working on our new manual. The last time the manual was re-written was in 2006 so there have been lots of new procedures and operations to update. She has also been dealing with the pitch which we have to put to Dumfries and Galloway council next week. This is to make a compulsory purchase for The Mercury Inn which we hope to turn in to Moffat Business and Training Centre. In a small town like Moffat, the old building has become an eyesore and I personally would like to see something done with it which would be beneficial to the town.
There have been some interesting articles in the news this week with regards to chef retention and the lack of chefs out there. We are suggesting that employers think outside the box with regards to recruiting chefs. This could be one weekend off in a month, offering overtime after 48 hours worked or providing training courses and uniforms. Sat Bains has put his staff on a four day week with no decrease to their salary, ideas like this makes the job more attractive and you will be more likely to get an increase in candidates applying for jobs. We are happy to advise on staff retention and wage structure, just give the office a call and speak to myself or Johanna.
Today in Moffat the weather is very dull and I think it’s safe to say the end of the summer is nearly over for us. It won’t be long before the cold winter nights will be drawing in. For now all we can hope for is a few dry days to see us through autumn.
Jessica
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