As we move through August, with early Autumn September in Scotland a little over three weeks away, there are still lots of ASAP relief jobs on our books.
Permanent recruitment has fallen away post lockdown and this is something that we are looking to rectify.
Historically, Chefs In Scotland (CIS) placed lots of permanent chefs in positions across the length and breadth of Scotland and sometimes further afield.
Going back to when we had the offices on Wentworth Street in Portree there were maps of Scotland full of red pins to signify where the permanent jobs were that we were trying to fill. And we did fill plenty.
It was not unusual to send out 60 plus CVS for applications in a week, and sometimes over 100. We would often place 2, maybe 3 and sometimes up to 6 or more chefs in permanent positions in any given week. Permanent recruitment can be a little demoralising at times as a lot can go wrong.
No shows, runners or often just chefs looking to leave as the agreements put in place have not been honoured.
There were always the good permanent placements though, those satisfying ones where the chef stayed happily in the position for many years and obviously enjoyed their work.
This is something, over the coming months, which we will try to move back towards, to the times when we had a good list of Head Chef positions at all major cities in Scotland and were placing suitable chefs in these positions.
Relief work is a much needed part of the business and is the most lucrative, but over the coming months and into 2024 we are going to push to get back to more permanent placements and relishing the challenge.