It can be a daunting time for young adults this time of the year with exam stress and leaving school. For many young chefs this is the time to go off to college or join an establishment on an apprenticeship programme. I have spoken to quite a few chefs who have never been to college and have just stuck themselves in at the deep end and trained within establishments and learned on the job. Many young chef’s come to me looking for work and they often don’t have any experience working in a kitchen environment. It can be challenging trying to find positions to suit young chefs as many establishments don’t offer training programme’s simply because they either don’t have the time during the season to do so or they don’t have the man power to do it.
Many establishments do offer young chef's who are in the middle of a college course/ degree to work in their establishment over the summer before returning in September. This can be a fantastic way for the chef's to gain more experience and take their new skills back to college with them, it also helps them to build a CV whilst at college.
What advice would you give to a young chef looking to start their career in the industry? Would you recommend college or go straight into an apprenticeship within an establishment?
A HIT training survey of 16-20 year olds found that 2/3 of them were considering taking on an apprenticeship. It is great to see the apprenticeships coming back because for a long time they were a valued way of getting into a specific industry. Over half of the respondents of the survey said that they wouldn’t be considering a career in hospitality which is such a shame to hear.
A lot of people who organised the survey agreed that it all starts at the beginning to keep a new employee engaged which includes making sure they have an induction so that they feel included right from the word go. I have been to some establishments when your arrival is so expected, and you really feel a part of the team. I have also been starting jobs at other establishments when they don’t even know you are arriving which doesn’t make you feel particularly included or wanted even!
So what can we do to get more young people involved and bring them into the industry?
We have 25 relief job booked out so far for this week, 78 relief chefs out in total.
If you would like more information on relief and how it works please email your CV to jojo@chefsinscotland.co.uk or call 01683 222830.
Relief gives you the chance to see Scotland/North England, get paid by the hour, learn in different kitchens and be able to be more flexible.
We have lots of positions available just now all over, if you want more details just get in touch.
We also have lots of permanent and seasonal jobs available if you are looking for a change you can email your CV to recruitment@chefsinscotland.co.uk or visit our website and apply for positions directly www.chefsinscotland.co.uk to get automatic emails of new jobs please register with CIS for Chefs https://www.chefsinscotland.co.uk/content/account/
Here are a few chefs we have out at the moment
Sarah Pozzi is over in Mull and the Tobermory Hotel/Galleon Restaurant
Sebastian Luszczynski and Allan Baird are at The County Hotel in Stornoway
Eimantas Radzeicis is new to relief and is up at the Tongue Hotel
Paddy Welsh and Paul Sellers are both at the Dryfesdale Hotel in Lockerbie
Another new relief chef Kaspars Lapins is at the Ceilidh Place
And another new chef Marcin Rozwadowski is at Ballathie House Hotel House
Thanks to all our relief chefs for your continuous work and support 😊
Head chefs
If paying good money and in a central location such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Dundee, Aberdeen and Perth the availability of head chefs is good, basically, the more central and the larger local population the better availability
What is good money for a head chef? This can vary from a small pub to a large five star or 3AA Rosette Hotel and can be anything from £16 per hour for a one-man job cooking simple food to £45,000 and upwards.
For a standard hotel job, we would suggest in the region £35,000+ with overtime paid pro rata over 45 to 48 hours as sanctioned by management.
Bonus schemes always help and can be based on getting a gross profit margin of over say 65 to 70% and it is always advisable stressing in advance how often the bonus is paid and what the exact criteria are. Other bonuses may be based on increase in sales. Keeping wages ratio down and helping to achieve certain net profits subject to maintaining quality of food, kitchen cleanliness and staff retention.
In more rural Scotland it is harder to get and retain chefs and often accommodation should be offered to attract suitable candidates.
Sous chefs
The availability of sous chefs in rural Scotland is average. Sometimes, a mature former head chef will be happy to take a step back to work alongside head chef.
In more central Scotland, there are some candidates about if paying decent money (i.e. upwards of £28,000 or £13-14 per hour) and offering good working conditions.
In rural Scotland, there can be a need to think outside of the box to retain and attract good sous chef candidates. Its is almost essential that you will need to provide accommodation in rural areas.
Chef de parties
Availability is ok in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the central belt.
In rural Scotland with accommodation there are some candidates and you may get applicants if wages are decent, suggesting £11 to £12 per hour or a salary of between £23,000 - £25,000. The more money you can pay the better the availability there is. We are also suggesting thinking outside the box such as including one weekend off a month, working 4 days a week and other training and incentive schemes.
Commis chefs
There are a few candidates available centrally or further afield if offering accommodation.
Pastry Chefs: this is quite a specialist position and there can be a couple of specialised pastry chefs looking, not always though.
Enclosed link to minimum wages which are increasing as of April 1st 2019.
www.minimum-wage.co.uk/
Availability of Relief Chefs changes, and we can advise daily. The rates of pay are £12.50 to £18.50 per hour according to the position.
The stability of employment can be transformative though, he says. "It gives routine. It builds up self-confidence and self-respect. Someone can say 'I earn my own money now, I pay taxes. I'm not a charity case anymore'. We need to make them feel human."
It’s good to see that Gary Usher has gave someone the opportunity to get themselves off the street and back into employment. There is a bad stigma around the way employment works in our country. I was watching a programme on the BBC last night about offenders getting back into work in Glasgow. Some of these offenders have totally changed their lives around and are keen to start fresh again and enjoy the rest of their life. You find a lot of places will not employ ex-offenders due to their past and it is sad to see because how will they ever get out of the cycle of being unemployed? I know that there is a company situated in Dumfries that focuses solely on helping ex - offenders find employment again. Companies like these are needed in this society, or the cycle will never be broken for these people.
Everyone deserves a second chance at life and it’s nice to see that Gary has provided this chance to this man.
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