Should I Consider a Career in Culinary Arts?

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Overview of Culinary Arts Profession

As time passes, the more culinary arts becomes ever more appealing and popular in the mainstream. Cooking shows are popular on TV, and cooking shows and cooking books are gaining millions interesting audiences. With great success means more people have the chance to enter the culinary business in order to make a living.

The culinary arts profession has its ups and downs. Remember, above all else, cooking is not just about being in love with the profession—it is about devotion, concentration and hard work. Once the orders is in, a restaurant start to overwhelm you, you need to know how to pick yourself up, hold things together, and pull through, always ensuring that no client is left disappointed.

Positive Sides

There are a lot of positives in the culinary business. If you are good at what you do, cooking can be great fun. If your team is doing a good job, all of you will be enjoying your everyday work schedule immensely. You have to move around quite a bit and it’s far from a boring job in which you have to go through files and stare at a monitor all day.

You can always change your shifts, which means there will be more spare time where you can do your outside-of-job activities. Also, remember that this is a job that is very easy to get, particularly if you have the experience and a charming personality. Cooks are in demand everywhere, in every neighborhood, and if you have past experience, few jobs are easier and more enjoyable to perform. Being employed full-time in a kitchen means that your health insurance help with a life insurance claim need to be covered and you will have provided accommodation by your employer.

Negative Sides

On the other hand, culinary arts jobs can sometimes be tiresome, continuous and breaks are often scarce. Remember that the kitchen is not an entirely “safe” place. You are working fast, under stress and you never know when a mistake will be made – either by you or your colleagues. Perhaps the biggest problem people find with culinary arts jobs is the fact that the payment is often difficult to satisfy because of the difficult and long-term stages of advancing through in the career.

You begin as a simple assistant then you usually need five years of experience or more to become a chef. This is the only way your salary will rise. Then, you need at least ten more years to become a properly well-paid executive chef. The lower you are in the rank-list, the less well paid you are. For instance, in the first stage, you can reach about $20,000; from $25,000 up, it’s all about being a professional chef and what your resume looks like.

Necessary Skills

To be successful in a culinary arts job, you have to be skillful so the dishes you prepare are always delectable. You have to be consistent, so the meals do not arrive late and risk angering patrons. You must be devoted and like what you do because it will be your life, job, and hobby for a long time to come. It is highly advisable that you take some culinary arts courses or a class before you apply for a job, because employers are always looking for something extra that gives you the edge.