How to attract qualified cooks

Question:

How can I attract qualified candidates to my open positions?

Answer:

We hold career fairs at the CIA, and it’s not unusual for top students to receive numerous job offers. We used to have 70 or 80 companies; now we have 120-plus on a waiting list. It’s really a buyers’ market from the graduate’s point of view for our students. So it’s hard to find qualified classically trained chefs.

When it comes to quality of life, health care, schools and other noncommercial operations may appeal to students who want a balance. Many graduate and go into restaurants or hotels, and they burn out working 60 to 80 hours a week. Then they start to change their priorities.

They begin thinking of starting a family, and want a balanced life. They’re looking for steady, predictable hours. They’re looking for those benefits such as sick time or tuition reimbursement; they like the idea of working alternate weekends or no weekends, which is unheard of in the restaurant industry.

We also have career changers who are ripe to go into something like health care because of the more mature audience. They do need to learn restaurant businesses, but then their priorities do change.

Go back to your colleges. I refer folks to career services for posting those vacancies. We have alums come back [looking for jobs]—some are five years out, some 40 years out. In addition, post your open positions to professional organizations’ websites, and make sure candidates can find you through search engines.

-Lynne Eddy
Associate Professor, Business Management
The Culinary Institute of America