I want to start a career in Hospitality & Catering

xyummimummito2x

Hello,

I am 21 and I have been considering starting a career within the hospitality and catering sector, but I do not have a clue where to start and i'm hoping someone can guide me in the right direction!

I have GCSE's, and 2 AS Level's in Business Studies & I.C.T

I have not had any work experience as I had my first child after finishing sixth form, and as I now have two young children, I would only be able to work part time to begin with, until they are of school age.

Many jobs state that you must have relevant experience, certificates etc, but I don't know where the best place for me would be to start, and I would be grateful if someone could help!

Thank you in advance

steve1980

Speak to Business Link but to be fair, I'm not sure you stand much hope starting on your own. Catering is a cut throat business. Why not try and get a job with a catering company and see how you get on?

Don't forget that working anything over 16 hours will affect your benefits (if you receive them).

HannahIOW

To be honest, when I worked in catering I found the best way to get a foot in the door is to start at the very bottom - washer upper.

GothicStirling

I had absolutely no qualifications when I got into catering, and worked my way up to management.

I started out collecting glasses in a pub, then in canteen in a bingo hall, I then worked in a deli/cafe, then as a waitress/bar steward in a hotel, a supervisor for a restaurant at a safari park and then an assistant manager at a vistor centre. If you don't have any food hygiene or alcohol licensing training most employers will train you themselves.

The best place to start is either in a hotel or tourism in my opinion. Just don't try an start at Hilton!

Any idea of what part of the sector you are interested in? There is events catering [weddings, concerts, football matches etc], the licensed trade [pubs], cafes/bistro, fast food, tourism, large restaurants, small restaurants etc.]

Personally I would go around local business and see if anyone is willing to hire you, it's getting to that time of year when we're desperate for staff.

Good luck!

angeltreats

Not to be pessimistic but it's very difficult to find jobs in the H&C industry that don't have long, antisocial hours and it might not be ideal for someone with young kids. I jacked in my last job because I was so fed up of working evenings and weekends and never seeing my husband. Now I have a job I enjoy with much nicer hours (no evenings, every Sunday off so at least we have a day off together) but the money is terrible, and you'll find that a lot of chef jobs are very badly paid with little or no benefits.

What sort of thing do you want to do - front of house, chef etc?

HannahIOW

Agreed, very anti social hours. That's why I eventually packed it in. Loved what I did, hated the hours.

GothicStirling

angeltreats wrote: »

Not to be pessimistic but it's very difficult to find jobs in the H&C industry that don't have long, antisocial hours and it might not be ideal for someone with young kids. I jacked in my last job because I was so fed up of working evenings and weekends and never seeing my husband. Now I have a job I enjoy with much nicer hours (no evenings, every Sunday off so at least we have a day off together) but the money is terrible, and you'll find that a lot of chef jobs are very badly paid with little or no benefits.

What sort of thing do you want to do - front of house, chef etc?

Not necessarily, and not any worse than retail.

Some cafes run 9 to 5 Mon to Sat. If you work in a tourist attraction they run 9 to 6. If the OP gets experience, she could work within a school or university.

Good chefs can easily earn in excess of £50,000.

As for poor wages it depends on the company, some will pay NMW, The company I worked for last year paid me £7.50 ph.

angeltreats

Good chefs can earn good money, yes. If they're a head chef, sous chef or pastry chef in a fine dining establishment, and it takes a long time and a lot of hard work and having very little life outside of work to ever get to that level, and you're expected to work VERY long hours, like 60+. I definitely wouldn't say they "easily" earn their money. I will never ever be earning that sort of money, because I'm not prepared to put the hard graft in.

Nobody working in a cafe that opens Mon to Sat 9 to 5 earns £50k, unfortunately (unless you actually own the cafe). A lot of them open on Sundays too, and part time hours tend to involve weekends. I did have an interview for a school job and the hours were something like 8 to 4, Monday to Friday, term time only, so something like that would suit the OP, but the job was basically running the kitchen (so obviously experience was needed) and they wanted NVQ level 2 plus food hygiene certificate, which I've seen specified in a lot of job ads. If you're working your way up from the bottom with no qualifications (so probably potwasher with a bit of veg prep if you're keen) it will be minimum wage to start off with.

sweetilemon

I would apply for jobs and see how you get on. If you dont have food and hygine it may depend on the competition in your area, they may train you. Always worth a try.

GothicStirling

angeltreats wrote: »

Nobody working in a cafe that opens Mon to Sat 9 to 5 earns £50k, unfortunately (unless you actually own the cafe).

I never said that.

There are plenty of employers in catering sympathetic to working mothers. It just takes work finding them. If the OP works hard enough there is nothing stopping her finding a catering job that will pay £16,000 +

I've been a manager. So yes, I gave mother's shifts that worked around childcare, I've had staff who worked several jobs who I let skip off early, I have been incredibly flexible for students [especially when they have been struggling to do their studying.]

I can name a plenty catering outlets that don't open Sunday's. If a employee came to me wants a weekend day off, then I would work arounded and get a student to do that shift instead.

I would rather work catering than in retail, where my sister regularly does 10 hour shifts for NMW.