A chef is a responsible and interesting position. Today the profession is not common among young people, but it is gradually becoming more widespread, as it is popularized through the media. Let’s take a closer look at the description of the chef profession, responsibilities and career building.
Description of the profession
A chef is a person who leads and controls all the processes that take place in the kitchen. Both men and women can work in this position. The tasks of a chef include creating and developing menus, requisitioning products, controlling kitchen sanitation, and many others. The chef is the head chef in any kitchen. His opinion is not challenged, and all other employees must obey the instructions of their boss.
Since the described position is a managerial one, the head chef must have a long working experience (often professionals start as a simple cook or even a waiter).
Famous chefs can work as salaried employees, open their own restaurants or act as experts (for example, advising restaurateurs, cooking on individual orders of show business stars or other famous personalities and so on).
Pros and cons of the job
Like any other job, the profession of chef is not absolutely perfect, it combines a set of characteristics of positive and negative nature. Before you make the decision to be the main person in the kitchen, you should carefully examine all of the pitfalls.
To begin with, the pros of the chef profession should be mentioned.
A small age of entry into the profession. It’s no secret that no matter what career path you choose, it takes a lot of experience to reach the heights of professionalism and obtain the highest qualifications. In this regard, professionals of world renown are recognized at a fairly advanced age or even at the dawn of their lives. This is not the case with chefs. Thus, the average age of obtaining such a position is 35 years. At the same time, you can start your professional career as early as 18.
The creative component. Despite the fact that at first glance the work of a chef may seem quite routine, this is absolutely not the case. Undoubtedly, in the course of your professional activity you will have to perform some routine functions that will not bring you much pleasure (for example, filling out requests for products and working with other documents). However, at the same time, it is worth bearing in mind that the main part of the work of a cook in the kitchen consists of showing creativity, creating new dishes and finding unusual combinations of products.
Short and relatively easy training. In order to become a programmer, you need a broad knowledge of mathematics, for lawyers it is important to know the law, medics will not do without chemistry, and so on. There is no doubt that all of the above professions are popular and prestigious, but to obtain a position in this area is impossible without specialized education, which requires a lot of effort and time. Quite the opposite is the case with chefs. For example, people who graduated from colleges, schools or other specialized secondary institutions are often hired for entry-level positions. Sometimes it is possible to get a job with only professional courses. This means you don’t have to put in a lot of time and effort or have specific technical knowledge to get started in your professional career.
Leadership position. The chef is the leader of all kitchen staff and occupies a leadership position with a high status. This fact is a plus in the job for many, but on the other hand it is necessary to keep in mind that with leadership comes responsibility.
Demand. A chef is a professional who will always be in demand. In fact, this profession is not popular among young people, but if you seriously study cooking and have an interest in this area of human activity, you can become a well-known and in-demand specialist.
At the same time, when choosing this profession, you should consider all the risks and negative consequences that come with the job.