A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine.
If you wish to hire for a good chef, he/she must possess all the skills and experiences that you're looking for. Consider some factors that fit to the best candidate for this job role.
I have here some tips on how to hire a good chef:
1. Use a recruiting agency.
-Using an agency can help to keep your search quiet until you are ready to make the transition. A chef recruitment agency will make the process smooth for you. The right agency helps you find an experienced private or personal chef within a very short time.
2. Use word-of-mouth advertising.
- Talk to your suppliers; they may know someone who is looking for a change. While this isn’t necessarily discreet, word-of-mouth can be one of the best ways to hire a chef.
3. Post an ad online.
-Job posting websites are great for tossing a wide net to try and catch potential applicants. You can even post anonymous job listings called "blind ads" if you are looking to maintain discretion. By posting a blind ad, you gain the advantage of accessing a large pool of applicants without alerting current staff or competition.
4. Hire Internal Employees
- Hire who you already know and trust. Hiring within often boosts company morale because of two reasons: employees like the prospect of upward mobility and having room for growth, and hiring a known person within the company lessens the fears that can come with having a new boss.
5. Check for Commitment
- It’s important to choose candidates who have a track record of stability — meaning they have stuck with their current position for at least a year. Less time than that, and there’s no record of how well the chef managed the seasonal ups and downs of a restaurant.
6. Taste Their Food
- Taste their product. Before you make any decisions, have your candidates design the sort of menu your customers will be eating every day to a strict budget. Then, have them cook for you. This is a good opportunity to talk through the chef’s ideas and figure out if he has the common sense to control costs while delivering a quality dish. Plus, there’s no substitute for tasting the product.
7. Contact Their References
-At the minimum, you should be calling the candidate’s references and checking if he or she is punctual, effective, honest and focused. If you’ve identified a weak spot in the candidate’s profile — for example, they’re weak in supervising — be sure to ask their references about it.
