Getting The Job, That Wasn’t My Dream Job
With much hard work and some summer classes I became eligible to graduate early. I figured I would get a leg up on my competition; the swarm of college students all fighting for the same thing… a job. With the hope of paying off those dreadful high interest loans.
I started the job hunt in early October. Daily I was scoping out the Boston Chef website as well as may other job hunter outlets. My resume was up to date; my cover letters were tweaked to make sure each hiring manager knew why I should be their next employee. I would check my e-mail daily, no hourly, lets be real, I hit the refresh button every five minutes in the hopes of getting a response. My impatience was getting the best of me, and I was losing hope quickly. I started thinking to myself, maybe I should get an office job. in the end an office job would probably have a much higher starting salary, but without a doubt I would be sacrificing my happiness for a paycheck.
About a month and a half later I started getting a flood of email responses from people saying that they either wanted to set up interviews or stages with me, or both! I was excited, and overly confident that every interview I had would go well, and that I would win them over.
My dream job out of college I thought I would be making at least $20.00 an hour. I figured with the experience I have I would at least be an assistant pastry chef, and that I would be able to offer someone some of my creative ideas.
My interviews quickly knocked me down a few pegs. Even the best jobs which I loved would only offer $10.00 an hour starting out. At that rate, I would be better off working at McDonalds as a kitchen manager. Needless to say I was not very happy, but I didn’t want to give up. I have two degrees. An associate’s degree in baking and pastry arts, and a bachelor’s degree in culinary management , I am not an expert yet, but still know my worth.
With the help of my amazing chefs at school I was given yet another interview with an alumni from my school. The job seemed promising, and they offered me a little bit more money, so I accepted.
My first day on the job was 9am on New Year’s Day. As the new girl I have been subjected to chopping large quantities of lettuce as well as other vegetables for salads 8+ hours a day, and as of right now, I don’t know if there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
the moral of this story is don’t chase paychecks, chase dreams because when you find work that you love you will never truly work a day in your live. We are way too young to be miserable!
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Gourmet Bae
Hello fellow bloggers. My name is Bailey, but you can call me Bae. I am a 22 year old college graduate, and an aspiring pastry chef. I have recently been released into the real, wild, culinary world, and I am slowly finding my way. In the midst of it all I plan on exploring restaurants, pursuing food photography, critiquing recipes as well as creating my own, as well as reading as many chef biographies as my free time allows. I think it is important to know about the chefs that have paved the way for us fellow culinarians. It also allows you to sound educated when conversing with others in the field. I am very excited to see where this adventure takes me; I hope you will come along for the ride!
