I am now into my fourth year working at Chefs In Scotland and I can’t quite believe how quickly the time has flown by. As many of you may know I came to work at Chefs In Scotland after an accident took me out of the chef world. I had previously worked at Chefs In Scotland for about 6 weeks in the summer of 2012 and when I saw they were looking for an office junior in April 2015 I emailed Michael my CV and by the end of the week I was back in the office. It started off just filing, calling chefs, doing references and generally assisting Johanna and Michael and we were based at the offices in Sunnybrae. As I got more confident in the day to day goings on in the office, I got given the junior chef vacancies list and that’s where it all started. I started slow and it took me some time to get into the swing of it and was set on meeting my daily targets for CVs out and arranging interviews before I finally got onto placing some chefs. I started off getting a hold of a few head chef jobs when Michael was on annual leave and placed my first head chef in Northumberland in September 2015 which isn’t quite as quick as Tom Barr who placed a head chef during his second month at Chefs In Scotland. However nearly 4 years on and we placed 5 head chefs last month, this included one establishment abroad, as well as Orkney, Glasgow, Fife and Aberdeenshire. As the year comes to an end in the coming weeks, we have been busy getting lots of filing done as well as getting chefs registered and references chased up. Bracing ourselves for a very busy January and 2019 season to follow.
In my time here, which is short compared to some of the head chefs I speak to who have been in jobs for five, ten, years plus, I have really enjoyed speaking to chefs from all over Scotland and further afield. What begun as a little bit of filing has now turned into a career which although can be frustrating at times, with no two days the same, it is also very rewarding helping chefs through their careers.
After the office move in May this year it really has been a positive move for Chefs In Scotland with us all working towards the same goal which is to ensure we are providing the best service to both chefs and establishments all over Scotland although we will quite happily welcome any other jobs in America, Hong Kong, the Caribbean and other places abroad looking for chefs also.
Here’s to many more years.
Monday 17th December – Friday 21st December
9am to 5pm
Saturday 22nd December
10am to 12 noon
Monday 24th December
10am to 3pm
Christmas Day (25th Dec) and Boxing Day (26th Dec)
Closed
Thursday 27th December and Friday 28th December
9am to 5pm
Saturday 29th December
10am to 12 noon
Monday 31st December
10am to 3pm
New Year’s Day (1st Jan) and Wednesday 2nd January
Closed
Thursday 3rd January
As normal
Well it’s the last day of November (how did this happen?)
There haven’t been many relief jobs coming in this week but this is expected for the time of year.
We do still have 51 relief chefs out working which is 11 more chefs than last year which is brilliant 😊
If you are not working and have availability, please do send a copy of your CV in and we will chase references as standard.
We can mark you available, but priority is given to those who have had placements via CIS over the summer season.
For existing chefs who have done work all year round would suggest 40 – 60% chance of getting you work over the winter.
If you can also get in touch with your availability for Christmas and New year.
Here are some of the chefs we have got booked at the beginning of November
Maria Sullivan has completed her first job on relief at the Kintail Lodge and is at the Balmacara Hotel in Kyle of Lochalsh.
Graham Smith went to the White Horse Inn and is currently at The Fife Lodge in Banff
Peter Norrie is currently working an 8 week stint at The Chesters Hotel in Aberdeen
Dale Paton was back helping at the Bluebell Inn in Crookham
Bobby Ainsworth was busy at the SU Scotland in Aviemore covering another few dates
Jonny Lewis was at the Lodge on the Loch in Aboyne.
George McCallum is up in Orkney at the Storehouse.
Claudio Rickard is at Moffat House Hotel.
Michael Staniland is at The Glenisla Hotel in Perthshire
Thanks all for all your hard work and continued support we do appreciate it 😊
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I have been in the Chefs In Scotland office now for almost 3 months, I have been dealing with the junior recruitment since I started. I enjoyed taking over the Sous Chef recruitment whilst Jessica took over relief when Johanna was on annual leave. This gave me an insight into the hard work that goes into senior recruitment and relief work.
During my time at chefs In Scotland I have learned that not everything always goes to plan. Over the course of 3 months I have managed to successfully place 8 out the 15 chefs I originally placed. A lot of the time the chefs leave due to not enjoying the position they were placed at as they sometimes feel the position isn’t right for them. These things happen and it’s just part and parcel with the job.
On a lighter note, many of the chefs I have placed in long term positions seem to be content within their roles in the kitchen. It is great to here that chefs are getting on well and enjoying their job; it’s a great feeling and makes the job worthwhile. I am still continuing to receive jobs in from many hotels and restaurants and still receive many CV’s on a regular basis. It is great to still receive jobs in at this time of year, especially so close to Christmas.
The process of getting chefs in is a straight forward process. We use a simple chef interview form to get up to date details from the chef and to understand what they are ideally looking for. We then chase up references to see how the chefs got on in previous employment. This gives us an understanding of their ability within the kitchen which helps us to evaluate a suitable level that the chef can work at. References must be contactable and we would ideally like 2 recent references. Ideal references would be from a previous manager or head chef that you have worked with. We then decide which hotels or restaurants would be suitable for the chefs. Interviews or trials are set up after this process which gives both the chef and the establishment a chance to evaluate the suitability for the chef. After this process the chef is either offered the positon or regretted.
We have many establishments in rural areas of Scotland and as far up at the Shetland Islands. A lot of the time chefs are happy to go anywhere to gain experience which allows them to progress in their career and get experience in new environments. Working in rural areas of Scotland can be challenging, especially during the winter periods, however many rural jobs offer better career prospects and a higher salary as oppose to the city. These are however subject to each establishment. Many junior chefs see this as an opportunity to leave home and live on their own; this can be a very rewarding time in a young chef’s career and can often lead them on to promotions within establishments.
I’m still looking for chefs for positions around Scotland which will be starting in the New Year and will continue to work with young chefs.
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 very 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 £14 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 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
good if providing accommodation. 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 candidates
about if paying decent money and
offering good working conditions there is no reason why you cannot keep a good
sous chef with a stable track record.
In rural Scotland, there can be a need to think
outside of the box to retain and attract good sous chef candidates.
Wages should be (i.e. upwards of £25,000 or £12-13 per hour)
Chef de parties
Availability is very good in Glasgow, Edinburgh and
the central belt.
In rural Scotland with accommodation there are candidates
and you will get applicants if wages are decent, suggesting £10 to £12 per hour
or a salary of between £20,000 - £24,000. The more money you can pay the better
the availability of chefs is.
For chef de partie jobs it is a chef market.
Commis chefs
There are usually a few candidates available
centrally or further afield if offering accommodation.
Enclosed link to minimum wages.
www.minimum-wage.co.uk/
Pastry Chefs: this is quite a specialist position
and there are often a couple of specialised pastry chefs looking, not always
though.
We find that the availability of candidates who are currently employed to go for interviews from the second week in December until the beginning of January is slim.
Availability of Relief Chefs changes, and we can advise daily. The rates of pay are £13 to £17 per hour according to the position.
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