Interviewing for Chefs – I am often asked to give tips as to how to best present your talents at interview. Interviews are one of the most stressful situations you can encounter and the mere thought can make your stomach turn like a pocket of pommes Chateau? Your brow sweat like a vindaloo?
There is a lot of pressure on chefs to present in a professional manner, especially as you are expected to interact with guests, build teams, control expenses as well as cook.
I have five top tips for chefs on interviews:
Research
Put simply you need to do your homework. Find out about the company you will be seeing, the Exec Chef, the culinary style. Check out the menus. Try and eat in the restaurant if you have enough time in the days before the interview. What ingredients do the Chefs use? Google is a great tool for research. Make sure you go into the meeting with as much knowledge as you can. It will help with the inevitable nerves. Make sure you know the venue for the interview and plan to leave with plenty of time in hand. Being late for an interview and stuck in traffic will put your blood pressure through the roof. Brush up on your basics, you may be asked how to make a blond roux, a demi-glace or a crème patissiere? Get that wrong you may see the door early.
Interviewing for Chefs – Presentation
I like to see a chef dress as a chef. So black pants, clean whites and shiny shoes. If you look like a Chef you have an advantage already. But, be careful with too many logos, you are not a formula one driver. Tie back your hair, hide the tattoo depicting you ex-girlfriend and the Chinese writing that really says “sweet and sour pork and rice”. Be careful with piercings and big earrings. No Jeans and last nights béarnaise sauce under your nails. OK, so you get the picture?
Portfolio
I love to see great photos of a chefs work. Like you see in Food and Home and Chef Magazine, professionally taken and well styled. A good tip would be to put together an online portfolio of work and a brochure type hand-out of your best work. Pick 8 – 10 photos and present them to the interviewer with a proud flourish. Do not steal anyone else’s work from the interwebnet, google image search will expose you as a plagiarist and a fraud.
Demeanour
Walk in with a purpose, no slouching, make eye contact, and squeeze out a smile. Please don’t present your hand as the fish of the day, a firm handshake please. Be professional, alert and answer questions in full, not one word answers or “shaggy dog stories”, expand do not overshare. Keep your ego in check but don’t forget to be confident about your talents. Oh, and no cussin’, you are not Gordon Ramsey
Interview Preparation Cook off
Be prepared for a cook off. This is an opportunity to show your skills. Most of our clients ask for a cook off or a trial shift before making a final decision. A real chance to show the interviewers what you can do. Remember they will watch your knife skills whilst you prep, your techniques, presentation and taste. A good idea would be to enter competitions with SA Chef, plenty of opportunity to practice under pressure in front of critics. Even the top Exec Chefs are asked to do a practical test these days regardless of reputation and background
Just one last thing, give some thought to who you would like to emulate or aspire to as a chef, your role models. Most people would think themselves as Ramsey, Oliver, White, Roux or Nigella. But do not forget Dale-Roberts, Shnier, Higgs, Dartnel, Cameron or Liebenberg.
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Stephen is a hospitality professional from Johannesburg South Africa. His career started with THF hotels in the UK and subsequently with the Southern Sun Hotel group in Johannesburg. Stephen’s first steps into entrepreneurship was Hickmore Recruitment / CareerMap, a leading supplier of Senior and Exec recruitment services. Stephen was a founder of Pple Hospitality (formerly HSC) the largest Hospitality Industry full-service outsourced staffing company in South Africa. In March 2020 Stephen became a director and owner of the Swiss Hotel School South Africa, which is now his full time endeavour. Stephen writes for a number of publications on food and hospitality industry matters, trends and opinions.
