Millions of Americans work in the Food Service industry. Often those jobs start off as part-time jobs or temporary jobs. Over time, many of us learn we really enjoy the work and decide to advance into a food career - moving into restaurant management jobs, food service management jobs, catering manager jobs, or some other Food related specialty position, like a Pastry Chef job or Executive Chef job. There are many food job opportunities to advance you into a solid career, and earn you more money. Follow the advice in this article and you may just see your own Food career aspirations become reality.
Recent studies report four primary reasons why more than half of all Food Industry job interviews end without a job offer being made. Learn these four issues and how to overcome them. Use that knowledge to adjust your own job search, and advance yourself in your current job, or get a great job somewhere else. Do that, and you will likely see your own restaurant or food service job suddenly transform into a career proposition.
As you will see in the examples below, job seekers often fail because of poor attention to details and lack of planning as it relates to their job search. It's true. Most of us still believe that a basic, simple resume that outlines where and when you worked is all you need to get a great job. Sorry, that's no longer true. Gone are the days where your resume was your ticket to a great job. Doesn't matter if you deliver a thirty page resume with unending details on projects or professional references or success stats. Nowadays the focus is on the whole package. Today a serious job candidate in the Food industry must have a well structured job search plan that takes into consideration the needs of the employer and requirements of the job - and how the job seeker can - and has - successfully managed those responsibilities in the past; including associated work documents, job references, past job statistics and real-time examples of how you have solved problems and created production in a similar environment, all are essential aspects of getting a career level job offer. But they are not difficult to organize, once you know how. It's bringing a potential employer a complete package about you and how you relate to the job you want that will get you hired into the title you seek.
Let's start with the four key areas where most food job applicants and other Food Service workers have issue - and how to fix them.
1. Resume Mistakes
Sounds simple, but it's true. Sloppy work. Superficial information. Misspellings. Lack of information relating to the job. No job related statistics. There are over twenty areas on a resume that will knock you out if not handled correctly.
Our firm specializes in organizing resume information so the employer's mind is given a guided tour of the job seeker's experience, as it relates to the job at hand. Our clients, food firms of various types, expect us to adjust the resumes of job candidates so they make sense to the job, so no one wastes any time with job seekers who really don't seem to fit the job. Generally speaking, most food job candidates who generate their own resumes (or have it done by a friend or associate) do not focus the resume text to such an extent as to address several specific aspects of the job being sought. Big mistake. The details tell the employer how well you understand their needs.
2. Job Reference Issues
Not knowing exactly what your job reference will say to a possible employer may kill your chances to get hired. When you ask someone to use them as a professional reference, typically the conversation is friendly and everyone's intention is to do right by one another. But time changes attitudes. People have good days and bad days. Circumstances alter. So the best intentions may not get the result you expect when, months later, a potential employer calls your professional reference for details about you.
By collecting references in writing, with associated names and contact information, and designing those reference to address specific aspects of your work - aspects that reflect well upon your ability to successfully perform the tasks required by the employer for the job you seek. Deliver such practical references along with your resume, on separate sheets.
3. Poor Job Interview
Again, a failure to properly prepare for specific types of job interview questions leaves many job candidates with answers that seem too nervous, too weak, disorganized responses, contrived explanations. Not because you don't know the answer, but because you didn't plan a response in advance, so you search for words in your mind as you sit in the middle of your job interview.
Some people have timing problems, so they are very late for their interview or way too early or they just don't show up. Others don't consider their attire, so show up in clothing that is too casual or too formal, or too sexy or suggestive, or just plain inappropriate.
Don't blow a job interview for lack of preparation or forethought. Determine which questions will likely be asked in the job interview, and write down answers for each. And it is always smart to answer questions whereby you offer a practical example or real-life anecdote to illustrate each answer.
4. Weak Match To Job Requirements
You have the skills and experience -- but you cannot clearly express them - result = NO HIRE.
Every word, written or spoken by you in your job search, should reaffirm your mastery over the skills required to perform the job you seek.
With some thought, as you develop your own food job search plan, you can overcome these primary food employment issues and advance into your own unique Food Industry career position.
Mark Baber - 20 years experience as an Executive Search recruiter.
FOOD JOB SPECIALISTS - Learn how to increase your income, or land the career level job you've been seeking all along, or find help with solving job issues. Let us help organize your credentials, assist in distributing your resume to firms you approve, and assist to set and prep you for job interviews so you express your credentials in a manner that satisfies employers' hiring needs. http://www.JobNewsRADIO.com
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