Intro
Later in life you would to plan out on what you want to do but im going to take that right back to now, year 10. I have chosen the career of a chef. This career involves coming up with new dishes, preparing and cooking food according to customers orders, designing and price menus, hiring staff, training and supervising staff, and ordering food supplies and cooking equipment for when you need it, including high quality knives, meat sliders, and grinders. There are many reasons why being a chef is a good career choice. First of all, you will be able to work in a job that feeds your passion every single day. This job is also a very high creative job so that means you can think outside the box and come up with amazing new dishes. Being a chef also allows you to have flexible working hours. Being able to have flexible working hours enables you to start to achieve your goals in life. Now here are some challenges about being a chef. You need to be able to work fast and under pressure as your customers want their food. You need to be fit, when I say this I mean you will be standing on your feet for very long periods of time and you will be lifting heavy boxes and containers of food. Your social life, to be a chef, weekends are your busiest time and you will turn-out to work most weekends which makes it hard to organize plans with your family and friends.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/chefs-and-head-cooks.htm#tab-2
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/2310/things-to-consider-before-becoming-a-chef.html
To become a chef you don't need any specific qualifications but taking certain courses can set you apart from other applicants. Here are some things you can do.
Complete a two to three year, on-the-job apprenticeship, including study towards a New Zealand Certificate in Hospitality (Cookery) (Level 4)
one year, full-time New Zealand Certificate in Cookery (Level 3)
one year, full-time New Zealand Certificate in Hospitality (Cookery) (Level 4).
You can also train to be a chef with the new zealand army or Royal New Zealand Navy
You can also go overseas and get a culinary arts certificate
There are no specific secondary education requirements for this job but home economics (food and nutrition) and NCEA Level 1 numeracy and literacy credits are useful
Here is some expert data on what she did. So my expert said that you don't need any qualifications to become a chef, but a first aid certificate is handy, she also said that you can go to toi ohomai and get a New Zealand diploma in cookery (advanced level 5). When I first thought of a job I didn't really think about the money, I was thinking about the lifestyle that it enables you to have and what I enjoy doing. The salary of average chef is $53,625 per year, the starting out salary is $48,750 per year, and the highest paid chefs which is an executive chef earns $104,500 per year.
This chart shows the salary out of 6 jobs which are accounting, physiotherapy, architects, doctor and specialist. Out of those 6 jobs project management is sitting at $153,000 per year which is the highest paid job out of them all. The lowest paid job which is the career that I chose is sitting at $55,000 per year. Accounting is shown at $82,000 per year, physiotherapy is $70,000 per year, architects get paid $91,000 per year, and doctors and specialists get paid $137,000 per year. Other benefits within the job. Good meals all the time. What I mean by this is you know how to cook good healthy meals with lots of flavor and with lots of nutritional value. You also probably will know how to cook cheaper meals then most people. Another benefit of being a chef is when you finish your shift you can take home leftover food which will be top level food that you can eat for free.
https://www.careers.govt.nz/jobs-database/finance-and-property/finance/accountant/
Leadership, Passion, and stamina, these are qualities that you NEED to become a chef. When you are a chef you must have great leadership skills in order to successfully run a restaurant and a kitchen. You need to communicate with your peers to create delicious food basically as fast as you can and at the top standard to please your customers. Dealing with hot food and in a fast environment you must need leadership skills because you can injure yourself and your peers very easily. Passion: You must have passion for what you are doing because it's the job that you have worked hard for and you are doing this job every single day. Passion is especially required for a chef because when your passion slips your customers will start to think that your food isn't that good anymore and tastes like an average meal. From then it will be hard to gain your customers back and your restaurant will lose reputation. Stamina, Chefs need stamina. Being a chef you will have to work long hours on your feet all day lifting heavy boxes and containers filled with food and ingredients. Having good stamina will allow you to work for longer and not get tired as quickly.
Creativity, Collaboration, and attention to detail are the competencies you NEED to become a chef. Your dishes that you make need to be set apart from other restaurants to do this you need lots of creativity to think of new things to make and new menus to create. Creating new flavors is a big part of being a chef. Making traditional dishes a bit different is also something that you can play around with and be creative like adding to it. Collaboration, You need to work well with others in the kitchen because you are dealing with hot food and can hurt yourself very very easily. You also need good collaboration skills with your timing of cooking because you need to tell your peers when to start to cook the food and start to plate it up. Attention to detail, Having good attention to detail can make your restaurant stand out from other restaurants. What I mean by this is, If you have good attention to detail your food will look very good and you would know where to put things on your plate.
Deliberate acts I need to do in class during year 10 to get me that step closer to being a chef. I can strive to do my best work which is going for CL5 M or E. Doing this enables me to understand my learning and show my teachers that I know what I'm doing. Another thing I can do to gain qualifications during year 10 is to get a part time job. It will show an employer that I am committed to working and that I have had past experience. Something that I can do to show passion is show that I want to learn as much as I can and show that I am interested in my learning. Leadership, to show that I can show leadership I can get a good man award because lots of people don't get these awards and for the people that don't get them I can show leadership by setting an example with my learning and behaving well in class. Creativity, to gain more creativity in class I can watch cooking documentaries and cooking videos on youtube when I finish my work and ask the teacher if I can of course. To gain collaboration skills in class I can show that I can work well with classmates and new people that I don't know very well.
Deliberate acts I need to do out of class during year 10 to get me that step closer to being a chef. Starting to get different experiences with different jobs to build a good reputation. This will help me to become a chef because my employer would want to see that I have a good reputation and see that I can be trusted to get to work on time and do what I'm meant to do. At the moment I am also building passion because I'm playing volleyball and that is helping me build more passion. Leadership, To gain more leadership skills I can get a captain role of a sports team. This will help me build leadership skills because I will be telling and showing the team what to do. Being a captain of a sports team will make me more competitive which will make me set apart from others because I will be motivated to do better than them.Creativity, I can gain creativity from cooking at home with my mum. This will allow me to think of new ideas and gain more knowledge of what flavors work well together. Cooking from home will help me explore new flavors, ingredients, and dishes. Collaboration, when my parents ask me to help them with a job I can help them which would mean we will collaborate together and get the task done. I can also build more collaboration from behaving well with my brother and getting along with him.
Deliberate acts I need to do in class during year 11, 12, and 13 to get me that step closer to being a chef. Gaining qualifications in my time as a senior will help me get closer to my goal of being a chef. Passing my NCEA L1, L2, and L3 i would like to endorse these all with merit or excellence. For me, getting excellence would be a big goal of mine. Through Tauranga Boys College I can take the hospitality and catering course at year 13. Taking this course will set me apart from other applicants from other schools as they might not have the opportunities that our school provides. Passion: To show passion in class I can show that I am willing to learn as much as possible and that I am interested in what I am learning and what the teacher says. If I can develop passion in school as much as I can it will make my job as a chef more enjoyable because this job will feed my passion everyday. A way that I can build leadership in class is by helping people when they are in need. By doing this it will gain big leadership skills and my classmates will gain more trust in me. They way that I can Build creativity in school by doing my hospitality and catering course. Doing this course will build my creativity because I will be working alongside other chefs and I will be getting ideas from what they do. To build collaboration in year 11, 12, and 13 I can build good relationships with my classmates and teachers. By doing this I can gain passion for what I do because it will make it easier for me when I get stuck. I won't be scared to ask the teacher or classmates for help.
Deliberate acts I can do out of class during year 11, 12, and 13 to get me that step closer to being a chef. The qualification side of things out of class is quite little but still very needed. Getting my restricted, getting my restricted will allow me to Drive to work and home from work so my parents don't have to pick me up. Getting my first aid certificate is a very helpful thing to do when you need to know what to do with cuts and burns. Being in a kitchen has lots of hazards and having a first aid certificate will allow me to help myself and others. Passion, To gain more passion outside of class I can become a kitchen hand a year 12. Being a kitchen hand will allow me to know what goes on in a kitchen and what the culture is like. Leadership, to gain more leadership skills you can admit when you have messed up and be straight up with your boss when you mess up. Having this skill will make your life easier because we make mistakes every day and when somebody sees you doing this then they will most likely try to do the same. Creativity, working as a chef in year 13 will allow me to be a lot more creative because I will be working alongside top chefs and I will be watching what they do and how they do it. My expert said that working alongside a good chef is the best way to gain more skills. Collaboration, having a job and being in a sports team would be the best thing to build collaboration skills because you are always communicating with your peers and working well with each other.
In conclusion, it is important to plan ahead for a successful career. You need to develop the right qualities and skills for your job because other jobs will require different skills and qualities. The qualities you need to be a chef are, to be passionate, Have leadership skills, and lots of stamina. The skills you need to be a chef are: creativity, collaboration, and attention to detail. “Cooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are so many notes or colors, there are so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart” - Wolfgang Puck.