Chef Recruitment

Whether looking for culinary employment or searching for professionals to fill an available culinary position, there is an employment service to fit every need.  Many employers have moved away from placing help wanted signs in windows or placing chef classified ads, to using recruitment, temporary, or staffing services for their hiring needs.  The type of service employers choose depends on the current needs of their organization.  Recruitment firms are enlisted when restaurants are seeking highly qualified chefs for permanent placement.  These services offer screened, interviewed, and tested candidates to employers for immediate employment.  In exchange for these available chefs, organizations will pay chef recruiters a one time placement fee.  Culinary Professionals generally turn to recruitment firms to find employment in facilities that will allow them to utilize their experience and knowledge.  Experienced candidates will often compete for these positions due to the prestige and increased pay that generally accompanies these careers. 

Employers experiencing unusually high amounts of business, or suffering from employee absenteeism, generally turn to temporary services to find a chef.  These temp agencies offer the same services as recruitment firms, but place candidates for temporary positions.  They pay culinary candidates an hourly wage based on agreements with the organization or establishment using their services.  Chefs looking for supplemental income, working around a strict schedule, or interested in experiencing different careers in different facilities are often attracted to these temporary positions. 

The final type of culinary employment agency is a staffing service.  Chefs looking for a career change, or a more stable career may use the services offered by a staffing service.  These services offer candidates the opportunity to work as a temporary employee for a 30-90 day probationary period before being hired full time into a company.  Organizations seeking to fill permanent chef openings often prefer these contracts which allow them to critically evaluate employees on the job before making a long term commitment. 

Each employment service is unique, and may offer employers a combination of services including pre-screening, interviewing, testing, drug screening, and/or background investigating,.  Candidates, however, can benefit from the application and resume writing assistance, training, assessments, and coaching that many services offer.

For more information on culinary recruitment, please visit the following sites:

• Job Descriptions Online
• Piracy Rights
• Florida Department of Law Enforcement
• Bella Online
• Homebased Recruiter

For an alternative to recruiting services, please visit iHireChefs, and online job board.