Cheffing - a “sensible” career?
Over the past few weeks, I have found myself frequently justifying my choice of working as a full-time chef.
Having had the privilege of completing an undergraduate and postgraduate university degree, working as a chef is considered a bad investment of my time, energy, and skills. And while I appreciate and to some extent identify with that concern, it made me wonder where these notions are coming from.
Many of the people in my environment, friends and family, have equally experienced or completed higher education and studied a variety of academic degrees. As such, I, as well as the people surrounding me, are in a privileged position of having a fairly wide choice of what to do in life, something not everyone has. But from that privileged standpoint, working in a restaurant full-time may be considered a questionable career choice and therefore potentially requires justification.
Let us first begin with a little back story.
I first started to work as a chef full-time when I was coming straight out of university. Everyone in my environment was understanding and even supportive of my choice: it was completely natural that I should be a little fed up with academia and working at my laptop. After all those years of studying, this would be a good change of scenery, an exciting experience certainly, good luck to you, and it certainly will be interesting to work in an environment that is “so different”, and “not quite so academic for a change”.
Those were admittedly also things that went through my mind at the time. I figured I’d work at that restaurant for several months (provided I didn’t break under the pressure, or worse, got fired before that), and then I’d find something else that had more to do with my degree. Fast forward nine months and that was exactly what I did. I finished working there, started doing some part-time training on the side and took on a full-time internship which was closely connected to the topics and skills I had learned at university. It was perfect.
Fast forward another couple of months and I could no longer see the purpose of the training I was doing and found myself growing completely indifferent to the work at the internship. I looked for other jobs which I could get into after the internship, but they all seemed dry and unappealing to me. And the jobs that did sound a little more interesting, would inevitably already have dozens if not hundreds of applicants. It was disheartening. I began to feel like I had neither skill nor passion that could be applied or used in the professional world.
In addition to all of this, I missed cheffing. I missed it terribly.
And so, in a moment of ennui after scrolling through LinkedIn job offers, I sent in my CV to a bunch of my favourite restaurants. Four of them got back to me within 24 hours, inviting me to a trial shift. I ended up going to a couple of trial shifts, remembered why and how much I enjoyed working in kitchens and accepted a job offer soon after.
I could not have been happier.
True, it is not connected to my studies at university, and admittedly it is not what people would call a very career-oriented choice. But I was happy. It’s a good, full-time job, I would be working between 40 and 45 hours a week, it’ll pay my bills, and above all, I enjoy it! What more does one need?
However now, when it became evident to others that this is no longer simply a “gap year” kind of choice, I was beginning to hear more questions than when I’d first started cheffing full-time.
“So how long do you plan on doing this for?”
“How are you going to progress from there?”
“But what about your degrees?”
As I said, I understand these questions because they have and sometimes do still concern me too.
Cheffing, alongside other jobs that may be considered “dead-end” career choices, are thought of as a bad investment of a person’s time and energy which leaves little room for advancement and personal fulfilment, especially in more academically educated circles. In today’s societies where university education becomes increasingly more widespread, and everyone is encouraged to build a business, become a millionaire entrepreneur, or become a well-paid professional in an esteemed company, all the work we do is meant to directly lead us to the next step in our journey towards ultimate success.
Admittedly, I too am attracted to this idea. Although I’m not aiming to build a million-dollar business any time soon, I also want to be able to find a meaningful career where I can progress and which I can balance with the other things in my life.
However, I would argue that this process does not simply have to involve academic or graduate-level jobs.
Thankfully, we have moved on from defining a successful career as a strict, linear progression where you start in a field or company after graduation and slowly move up the ladder until you retire. I am proud of my university education and grateful for the things I learned there, some of which, I am sure, have and will help me in my life and career, past, present, and future. But skills, knowledge, and networks can be gained anywhere, anytime. And so, if a job allows you to pay your bills, while providing enjoyment and meaning to your everyday life, then I say it’s a job worth doing. And on top of that, it is something that will enable you to move on to something different if that is what you want.
There is no such thing as a dead-end job if you remain curious, intentional, and open to other options.
Now, ironically, after insisting that there should be no need for me or anyone to justify their choice of being a chef, I have just written an entire article justifying myself. What I mean to say is that I consider this job to be a great career opportunity for me. Does this mean that my career will lie in cooking for the rest of my life? Perhaps, but also absolutely not if that’s not what I want long-term. It’s a new environment, a new place, a new team, and a hotpot of new influences, lessons, and inspirations coming towards me which in turn may be the catalysts for further development, be that in the kitchen or beyond.