Ten Top Tips for Getting an Executive Chef Job

If you have a passion for food and would like to have a job in food services as an executive chef, there are ten very important tips that will help you get the job. Becoming an executive chef is a very big deal in the world of food services of American foods, especially in top of the line restaurants located in the United States and abroad.

1. The job consists of being the menu maker, the person should make sure that every dish that hits the table of their restaurant is the best quality and worthy of the customer who is paying for it.
   
   
2. Executive chefs are the best culinary professionals and usually have exceptional culinary palates that are accustomed to cooking the very best foods. Like an artist they craft meals that the hungry diner will remember for ever. In addition to exceptional cooking ability, an executive chef must also be a leader, they will need to take charge and manage a busy staff of other culinary professions that includes a pastry chef, a sous chef, and kitchen and wait staff. As an executive chef you will instruct the front of the house on the availability of meals, ensure that orders are reaching the tables in a timely manner, and also ensure that every dish is cooked to perfection. You must be creative because as an executive chef you may be called upon to come up with a special dish on a daily basis.
   
   
   
   
3. You must be able to match the meal to the type of wine that a customer is making.
   
   
4. Executive chefs looking for restaurant and food service jobs must decide on their food specialty as well, a chef whose specialty is Italian food is not going to want to work in a French restaurant.
   
   
5. Training for a job as an executive chef starts when you first decide that you can cook, there is no age you should start to learn the cooking you will be doing in your career. Once you have come to this realization there are two ways that you can train for this position. You can start out working under a great chef as an assistant or sous chef, by doing this you will learn about the inner workings of cooking through hands on training and will later find that this kind of training is good.
   
   
6. Many restaurants hire from within so because of this, you will move up through the kitchen as others leave positions that are higher than yours.
   
   
7. Another way that you can get into jobs in food service as an executive chef is formal training. Most of the chefs all over the world are students of some big name culinary school, where they honed and perfected the craft of cooking. Each student goes through classes that teach them everything from making home made soups to sauces and cremes. Every student learns in both academic (from a book) and practical (hands-on) training that teaches them the proper technique on cooking and how to manage a restaurant, getting them ready to become executive chefs.
   
   
8. Once you have completed your education, you must find employment. Many times new students will work in the restaurants of the people who graduated from the school they graduate from, some get jobs after entering contests like ‘Top Chef,’ others go out and apply to restaurants, and still others go out on their own and open a restaurant. The best thing about food services jobs is that you are the master of your universe, creating the best and most innovative foods makes you a much needed and wanted commodity. Where private employers will pay top dollar, culinary professionals are finding food service jobs are in high demand as well. When applying for jobs about food services of American foods, there is a lot of competition in the field for executive chef jobs, so it is important that you know not only how to cook, but how to design foods with the best flavors and cater to the tastes of very discriminating palates.
   
   
9. You must also have leadership skills, excellent communication and the ability to keep track of a large staff of other food service professionals.
   
   
10. You must have a good education by attending culinary school or by an apprenticeship under a renowned chef, who will teach you the skills you need. It is very important to include a wide selection of foods that you can make, and be well versed in different cultural foods. The best executive chef is comfortable in the position of head chef and will have gained experience from years of cooking and managing their restaurant.
    

An important thing to remember when you are looking for restaurant and food service jobs that you represent the restaurant that you work for, and will be called upon to make perfect food every time. There are numerous ways to find employment, and you will want to research those ways. You can be hired as a private home chef, a sous chef, a desert chef or get other titles, but if you are looking to be in charge of all of these chefs, you will need to take your place as the executive chef, and run the restaurant with efficiency and great food.