I'm Gillian Ross and I'm a Commis Chef here. I've only been cheffing
since July and this is my first chef job here.
We've got two basic shift patterns
we've got half seven till 12 o'clock in the afternoon and then you come back at five
o'clock for evening service
and then there's the 12 o'clock in the afternoon until finish so if I'm on the
morning shift then you'll do breakfast for everyone that's staying in the hotel
and then prep up for the next day
which just involves cutting up more breakfast stuff for the next morning
so you don't have to do that when you come in
and then we've got a list that we work from
that can be done before service like sauces
and things like that which just need heated up.
General day-to-day jobs
like cutting up vegetables
just chores that need done every day.
I got to this position just by chance really
in school I thought I either wanted to do cheffing or something else
I wasn't too sure
in school I never really thought about what I was going to do.
I ended up working here part time while I was at college
studying for something else
and I was working as a waitress.
I just got kind of fed up with it and there was a position coming up in the kitchen
so I just thought I'll go for that and see what happens
and I've been there ever since
I've really enjoyed it.
There's certain courses which you need to do
like I've done a food hygiene course
that's basic for working around food.
I'm also doing an SVQ level 2 in Professional Cookery. You can also go to college and study
it full time
which I haven't done
most of my learning's been practical-based
I've just learned as I went along
throughout the job.
You need a good ability to work in a team
that's really essential because you're covering each others' backs.
You need to be able to work hard
it's a hard job.
You are here a lot of time
there's not really a personal life involved 0:02:00.590,0:02:03.860that's the only downside I would see is the long hours.
The upsides of the job are when you get to put your own input into a menu and you design
a dish and plate it up and you just look at it and think, "oh that's really good."
When the waiting staff come back and say, "compliments from this table" and you
think, "ah ha! that was me" [laughs].
My advice to you would be if you wanted to go into a career in cheffing is to be prepared
for the amount of hard work you're going to have to put in
but you do get rewards at the end of it
if you love food and you love dealing with food then you'll love the career.
But just be prepared for hard work and long hours.