Career Resources and Information for Chefs and Cooks
Culinary school is about taking your passion for cooking or baking and applying it to a career. For this reason a big part of your choice in education should come from career goals you have prior to school, as well as those you mastermind while in school.
Food Service Industry Job Market
For example, the job market for chefs and professional cooks varies from region to region. Major metro areas are usually fertile ground for breaking into the food industry field, but don’t discount the culinary job opportunities in smaller locations as well. Some very inventive chefs own and operate fine restaurants in out-of-the-way locations.
And what exactly is your career goal? Is to be an executive chef, pastry chef, research chef, even military chef? The direction in which you drive your culinary career is only limited by your imagination.
Landing Your First Job as a Cook or Chef
It’s likely that your first job in a professional kitchen will not be as executive chef, possibly not even sous chef. Prepare for the idea that you will be low man on the totem pole, so to speak. Entry level kitchen jobs include:
If it’s any consolation, many of the world’s most famous chefs began their careers as dishwashers and line cooks. Throughout this guide you'll find many references to the career placement and job planning services offered through most culinary arts schools. Thing is they don't magically happen--you must pursue a job and a career, but plenty of very valuable resources are available through your chef faculty and career placement offices--use them.
Financial Career Planning
Earnings right out of culinary school are meager as well. In fact, chefs follow their careers not for monetary reward, but for the passion for the job. You must have a love for cooking or baking to succeed. Even celebrity chefs have passion. Yes, many earn millions of dollars a year, but they’ve done so because they’ve parlayed their passion into other related fields: publishing, television, product endorsements, and restaurant ownership/entrepreneurship.
Fortunately the food service industry is fairly insulated from steep economic downturns especially in areas with heavy tourist and corporate traffic and visitation. Good food remains a key part of our economic and social fabric. AND you have plenty of upward mobility within the industry, plenty of earning potential depending upon your motivation, goals and ambition.
Use this guide to explore your options for career direction, the variables in the job market and creative ideas for carving out a culinary career niche.