Posted by
Site administrator on October 4 2017 at 13:13
This week at Chefs In Scotland Alannah and I have been busy getting lots of CVs out for chefs for positions all over Scotland and in the North of England with the view to getting chefs placed. As the season turns the availability of chefs becomes much better and there is more choice of chefs although it is still sometimes difficult to get chefs for the more rural positions. We do try and advise establishments the best ways to attract relevant candidates when we are go...ing through the recruitment process. We advise a good salary or a decent hourly rate of pay and pay weekly is an effective way to attract chefs but we can only advise. It is difficult to see some chefs leaving jobs too quickly or CVs with lots of movement but it is still very much a chef’s market even as we come close to the end of the season.
We have implemented working terms of employment for more senior positions that have solely asked us to look as we find that looking at chef retention is crucial.
Also things like working 4 days a week and some evenings off and just being innovative is good to attract chefs and also more importantly retain them.
What is the one thing other than money that would either entice you or keep you in a job?
Posted by
Site administrator on September 29 2017 at 15:50
Out and about Friday
29th September
We have over 70 chefs
out working on relief.
We already have 20
relief jobs confirmed so far this week with more to confirm.
Relief still remains
busy!!!!
We are still keen to
get the availability of chefs for over the festive period so if you haven’t yet
got in touch please let me know if you are available for Christmas Day and New
Year’s Day, double time is payable on both days.
We have met a few
chefs at our office this week with another today at 3pm.
We are looking to have
met all chefs who are registered with us on relief for the 2018 season.
Get in touch and we
will give you our availability.
Looking back, we have
had an excellent year on relief and the figures show that we are up by around
20 – 30 chefs every month.
There have been quite
a few chefs who have taken permanent jobs after being placed on relief.
Out just now:
Michael George is at
The Royal an Lochan Hotel as head chef.
Alex Burns is at
Ardvasar Hotel as relief sous chef.
Stuart MacColl is at
The Greygull Hotel as chef de partie.
Vytis Baltrunas helped
out last Saturday at an event with Taste of Moray.
Leon Edgson is at Tigh
an Eilean Hotel as sous chef.
Kirsty Hamilton is at
Powfoot Hotel as chef de partie.
Duncan Campbell at
Fishers Hotel as chef de partie.
Steven Nye is at
Victoria Hotel as sous chef.
Alan Baird is at
Esplanade Hotel as sous chef.
Glyn Musker is at
Tontine Hotel as sous chef.
There are lots more to
mention but I better stop here as I need to get on and place more chefs.
Thanks for all your
hard work it is very much appreciated 😊
Posted by
Site administrator on September 22 2017 at 13:00
With 81 relief chefs still out working this is nearly double the amount looking back 3 and 4 years ago in 2013 and 2014.
We are placing interviews with new relief chefs for the 2018 season and looking for these to take place in November and early December, if you are thinking of doing relief work please email over your CV quoting RELIEF2018 to jojo@chefsinscotland.co.uk we will call you and get you registered take references as standard an...d be in touch to arrange a suitable time to meet.
We have 22 relief jobs out so far this week with more to go out today.
A few chefs out at the moment are –
James O’Brien is at Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey.
Vlad Sviridenko is at Bridge Hotel in Buttermere.
Lillian ‘Elaine’ Clarkson is at The Royal Hotel in Keith.
Sarah Pozzi is at Four Seasons Restaurant in Onich.
Steve Nye is at The Victoria Hotel in Rothesay.
Glenn Richards was at The Glenisle Hotel in Arran for a few days with back on dry land.
The 2 Ricky’s Agnew and Leyland are at Aysgarth Hotel in the Yorkshire Dales.
Barry Owen is up in Inverness at the Kingsmills Hotel.
Ian Harvey is at The Scalloway Hotel in Shetland.
Jordan Miller is at the Mustard Seed Restaurant in Inverness.
Ryan Marshall is at The wheatsheaf Hotel in Swinton.
Craig Eggers is at The Kastille Hotel in Turriff.
Lots of excellent feedback from the establishments keep up the great work.
I am also getting everyone’s availability for working Christmas Day and New Year Day, double time is payable for both days.
Drop me a PM or email to update our records.
Posted by
Site administrator on September 19 2017 at 16:34
We are now over half way through September already – I have no idea where the time is going! I have 4 weeks left until I go on maternity leave.
We are still busy in the office and there is a lot going at the moment. Relief is still extremely busy – the jobs are still piling in and we expect they will carry on like that until the beginning of November. If you are a chef well known to us, send an email to Johanna at jojo@chefsinscotland.co.uk and we can mark you available. We are still meeting relief chefs at our office too which is keeping us busy as well.
In terms of permanent recruitment, the adverts are still coming in and we are still getting a steady stream of CVs coming in every day. We are running our competition at the moment until the end of December – any adverts placed between now and the 29th of December will be placed into a prize draw to win a CIS mug, a CIS pen and a week’s free accommodation in the CIS apartment in Nerja, Spain to be taken in March 2018.
The daily jobs are keeping us busy also, downloading CVs, adding relief and permanent chefs to the databases and calling them to register them. We also are chasing up references twice daily, as well as chasing up credit control, doing weekly invoices and receipts, arranging interviews and adding all new fee of interest jobs to caterer.
Tom- (our director of special projects) is also being kept busy in the office managing our new project – the brewery in Lockerbie. It is an exciting project for Chefs In Scotland and we are all looking forward to seeing it develop. Jessica is very much looking forward to sampling the new gin and we will also be looking to produce 2 beers as well. We are looking to call the first beer "Dryfe Blonde” and Michael is looking for a name for the second beer – something spiky / punchy so if you have an ideas, feel free to give us some suggestions.
Tom is also looking for some ideas for a logo for our brewery - Galldachd na h-Alba Brewery. If you have any ideas email tom@chefsinscotland.co.uk – if we use your idea, you could win a bottle of the first batch of Lockerbie Gin. Good luck!
Posted by
Site administrator on September 19 2017 at 16:30
Availability of Chefs 19th September 2017
Head chefs
There are head chef candidates in central Scotland if paying good money in excess of £30,000 and upwards for head chef jobs.
In rural Scotland including Inverness and all the highlands and islands, there are a few head chefs and we advise offering accommodation with permanent head chef jobs to attract candidates. Otherwise you may have to wait some time until a relevant local candidate becomes available.
In rural Scotland and particular 2AA Rosette country house hotels relevant candidates are scarce. Skye, Shetland Islands and rural Argyll there are candidates if paying good money (about £35,000 for 2AA Rosette head chef)
Suggest paying £30,000 upwards to £40,000 according to requirements and demands of the job. Ideally we advise for a five day week and over-time paid on a pro rata basis for extra days worked and for hours in excess of 48 on a pro rata basis.
Northumberland, Borders, Cumbria, Aberdeenshire, Dundee and East coast, and Perthshire there are a few Head Chefs registered.
The more central, the more candidates you will expect to get and the more rural, the harder it can get.
With all the social media currently available, many chefs are becoming very savvy about where they wish to work and establishments with records of poor chef retention may find it harder to attract good quality permanent candidates. Scotland is quite a small country.
At this stage in the season it is quite difficult to attract chefs and they will be more chefs becoming available as they finish the season in the next 8 weeks. We do advise paying an hourly rate of pay of £14-£16 per hour with accommodation provided depending on location. This will attract candidates which may be of mixed quality.
Sous chefs
If it is a live in position for 3 or 4 star hotel suggest paying £25,000 to £27,000.
In central areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling can try live-out and there are a few relevant chefs. In rural Scotland, including Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire it can be harder to get candidates and there are very few candidates available depending on the package in place.
Suggest wages of £28,000 upwards to £30,000 plus for 2 AA and 3AA Rosette sous chefs.
A good way to attract candidates is to pay hourly rates for every hour worked by chefs. For sous chefs suggest £13.50 to £14.50 per hour this will help to attract and retain good candidates. If paying salaried, we suggest five day week with overtime pro rata over 48 hours.
Chef de parties
Availability is ok in Glasgow, Edinburgh and central belt. Quality can be mixed. In rural Scotland with accommodation there are a few candidates if wages are decent, suggesting £10 to £12 per hour.
The availability of chefs who are looking for more rural jobs such as Fort William, Inverness-shire and West Coast is poor although there may be some chefs looking for live in accommodation that may be happy to relocate.
If paying by salary £19,000 for a 45 hour week works out £8.11 an hour which is on the low side. Suggest paying up to £22,000 with live in accommodation at a small charge. We would hope you will get decent candidates with this.
Commis chefs
Very few bodies available. Enclosed link to minimum wages.
www.minimum-wage.co.uk/
Availability of Relief Chefs changes daily and we can advise.
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