{"id":16166,"date":"2022-07-18T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escoffier.edu\/?p=16166"},"modified":"2024-01-15T16:31:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T22:31:59","slug":"what-chefs-look-for-when-hiring-culinary-school-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escoffier.edu\/blog\/culinary-pastry-careers\/what-chefs-look-for-when-hiring-culinary-school-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"What Chefs Look For When Hiring Culinary School Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"

After honing your knife skills, practicing developing and combining flavors, and being introduced to new ingredients, many culinary school students graduate with a sense of accomplishment. However, even if you graduate from your program with top marks, don\u2019t think your work is done\u2014you still need to put in a bit more work if you hope to obtain a culinary position.<\/p>\n

While culinary school may provide you with knowledge and experience to start a role in a commercial kitchen, it also helps to know what hiring chefs might be looking for from culinary school graduates. For example:<\/p>\n

What culinary skills might you be expected to demonstrate to a hiring chef?<\/p>\n

What could you need to know about the business side of the food business?<\/p>\n

What are the current hiring trends for culinary school grads?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what chefs are often looking for when hiring, and how Escoffier students can set themselves apart.<\/p>\n

Knowledge of the Fundamentals<\/h2>\n

Hiring chefs know that a recent culinary school graduate will still have skills to learn and sharpen, but they\u2019ll also be looking for a solid foundation of culinary or pastry techniques to build upon.<\/p>\n

To start, aspiring chefs and professional cooks will need to know basic knife skills like uniform chopping and grip technique. They\u2019ll also need to understand safe food handling and storage to keep products fresh and prevent cross-contamination.<\/p>\n

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Escoffier Chef Instructor demonstrating knife skills to a Culinary Arts student<\/p><\/div>\n

A recent graduate should know how to use common kitchen equipment like fryers, grills, broilers, and commercial stand mixers. And they\u2019ll need to be aware of different flavor profiles and how to balance them in a dish.<\/p>\n

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\"Mary“I recruit Escoffier graduates because they come to us ready to hit the ground running\u2026What I think makes Escoffier the best culinary school for us to recruit from is the fact that their graduates are predictable. I know what to expect from them. I know that they\u2019ve been trained properly.\u201d*
\nMary Ann Mathieu, Executive Recruiter at Sodexo<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Culinary school graduates often come to potential employers well-equipped with these foundational cooking skills. If hiring chefs see a culinary arts diploma or degree<\/a> from an institution like Escoffier on your resume, it could signify that you\u2019re ready to compete with the very best in the culinary job market.<\/p>\n

Plus, the completion of a required industry externship<\/a> may show that you have the experience required to work in a professional kitchen. An externship not only shows that you\u2019ve worked in the often hectic kitchen environment, but that you also have experience working with a team.<\/p>\n

Organization and Cleanliness<\/h2>\n

The well-known chef Auguste Escoffier played a major role in developing the systems found in many modern restaurants. After recognizing the need for organization in a restaurant, Escoffier invented the brigade de cuisine system<\/a> where cooks and chef supervisors each have specific roles and stations. It\u2019s an important part of every commercial kitchen that must be taken seriously for both speed and safety.<\/p>\n

Employers may expect culinary school graduates to understand the intricacies of this hierarchy system and how to thrive within it. They\u2019ll also expect graduates to take cleanliness seriously, keeping their stations organized, clean, and sanitized to prevent accidents or spills that slow down the team.<\/p>\n

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\"Holden\u201cI love hiring Escoffier students\u2026they\u2019re trained in how to handle food properly, they\u2019re trained on how to cook food properly. They\u2019re trained in how to do all of this in a very short amount of time, and they\u2019re organized doing it.\u201d*
\nHolden O\u2019Leary, Culinary Arts Graduate and Executive Chef at Jolynn\u2019s Food & Spirits<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Proper organization is also a key component of food safety and controlling costs. For example, maintaining the correct temperature of the walk-in freezer and refrigerator slows the growth of contaminants and prevents rapid spoilage. And following a first in, first out policy helps reduce food waste and keep costs down.<\/p>\n

Passion for the Craft<\/h2>\n

Working in a kitchen can be rewarding and fun, but it also requires passion and dedication if you hope to achieve success. When you\u2019ve been on your feet for six hours, the kitchen is scorching due to lit burners, and you\u2019ve just hit the dinner rush, it\u2019s easy to give in to exhaustion and pressure. However, the best chefs can use the love of what they do to dig deep and complete their work with finesse.<\/p>\n

Most hiring chefs can tell when an applicant is excited about food and cooking and when they\u2019re just looking for a job. The fact that a graduate has invested in a culinary education shows commitment to the art of cooking and a professional culinary or pastry career.<\/p>\n\t

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Watch Fall 2021 Escoffier graduates share their excitement for the future.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hiring chefs know that people who are passionate about food love to come up with new ideas and play with recipes. However, they also know that great culinarians are continuously learning from others and admitting what they don\u2019t know. So graduates must also be coachable as well as eager to gain new skills and techniques from their more experienced colleagues.<\/p>\n

A combination of passion, eagerness to learn, and humility are the hallmarks of a culinarian with a bright future.<\/p>\n

Practical Business Skills<\/h2>\n

While knowing about flavors and culinary techniques is one sign of a good candidate, hiring chefs are also looking for a diverse range of skills. One of these is the ability to add value to operations, marketing, and other areas of running a business.<\/p>\n

A young chef that can take a few responsibilities off the shoulders of the sous chef and executive chef can be invaluable. This means recent graduates should know how to calculate and control food costs, limit waste, and understand how labor costs affect profit. The ability to place orders and knowledge of basic government regulations also proves useful.<\/p>\n

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\"Curtis\u201cA balanced [culinary] program starts with obviously understanding the fundamentals of cooking \u2013 classes that include how to saute, how to bake, how to roast, steam \u2013 the entire cooking methods. It has to have some type of marketing strategy, cost analysis, how to break down numbers, the business side, understanding spreadsheets, how money comes and goes, and how to pay bills.\u201d*
\nCurtis Duffy, Michelin Star Restaurateur, Celebrity Chef, and Escoffier Advisory Board Member<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Escoffier\u2019s Associate Degree in Culinary Arts blends the creativity of the culinary or pastry arts with practical skills in business operations, accounting, and management. Students taking the program\u2019s entrepreneurship course even have the opportunity to create their own restaurant business plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While skills such as how to handle a knife or make a perfect hollandaise are important, graduates might consider combining them with overall business knowledge in this competitive and evolving landscape.<\/p>\n

Sense of Urgency\u2014with a Positive Attitude<\/h2>\n

Kitchens move quickly, and staff has to hustle to keep up. So culinary school graduates have to demonstrate a sense of urgency to prove they can maintain pace with the crew during a busy shift.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean racing around the kitchen, putting yourself or others at risk. Instead, hiring chefs need graduates who move with purpose and always think ahead.<\/p>\n

Since they\u2019re often working on more than one dish at a time, chefs have to prioritize and multitask. Making several dishes at once in a hot, enclosed space while more orders continue to roll in can make untested chefs frazzled and short-tempered<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chefs must be high-energy, but they must also contribute to a positive environment for the rest of the staff. An upbeat demeanor in the face of pressure can change the whole feeling of a kitchen from one of stress to one of camaraderie.<\/p>\n

Executive Chef Josh Hasho of Omni Hotels & Resorts explains, \u201cI hire Escoffier students because I\u2019ve noticed a different work ethic that they possess that maybe some other culinary students don\u2019t have. It was very consistent, hard working, positive attitudes. When you\u2019re interviewing someone, you\u2019re really looking for that connection, that high energy level, someone that\u2019s really into getting their foot in the door. I think that goes a lot further than what\u2019s on the piece of paper. That energy level is really what we\u2019re looking for.\u201d*<\/p>\n\t

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Omni Hotels & Resorts Executive Chef Josh Hasho says culinary school is a gold star on a resume<\/em><\/p>\n

An executive chef may not be able to gauge these traits from a simple interview, so culinary or pastry graduates may be asked to \u201cstage\u201d their skills. A stage is a trial shift where the hiring chef can assess your skills in the kitchen in real-time. Chefs can be looking for movement with purpose, high energy, and of course, culinary school fundamentals.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Take the Culinary Career Survey<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t

We\u2019ve compiled a checklist of all of the essential questions into one handy tool: career options, culinary interest surveys, educational opportunities, and more. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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