Professional Career Development Report: Chef's Journey and Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of professional career development for a chef, covering various aspects of career planning and skill enhancement. It begins with a personal career lifeline, outlining the individual's journey, interests, and qualifications. The report then defines specific objectives, focusing on career growth within the culinary field, including becoming a head chef and eventually opening a restaurant. Different learning styles and models, such as Kolb's learning theory, Honey and Mumford's learning styles, and the VAK model, are discussed to understand how individuals acquire and process information. The report also highlights the qualities employers seek in a chef, such as skills, experience, and personality traits. Furthermore, it includes various analytical tools like SWOT and Force Field analyses to assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as identifying factors that support or hinder the achievement of career goals. A personal development plan is outlined to address skill gaps and achieve objectives. Finally, the report touches upon recruitment and selection processes and provides a sample job description for a chef, concluding with a summary of key findings and references.

Professional Career
Development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Career lifeline..............................................................................................................................1
Objectives....................................................................................................................................2
Learning styles and models ........................................................................................................3
Qualities an employer wants in his chef.....................................................................................5
Johari window.............................................................................................................................8
SWOT Analysis .........................................................................................................................8
Force Field Analysis - ..............................................................................................................10
Personal Development Plan......................................................................................................11
Recruitment & Selection - ........................................................................................................13
..................................................................................................................................................14
Job description..........................................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
Online.............................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Professional Career Development refers to activities or the on-going process of
developing career. Career Development is directly related to goals and objectives set by an
individual and also involves training. It deals with self- actualization and self- assessment of our
interests and capabilities. This report shows study about career lifeline and smart objectives of a
chef, various learning styles and different qualities for which a employer looks for. It also
includes various analysis such as force field analysis. Personal development planning and
recruitment and selection processes for a chef are also being mentioned in this report.
MAIN BODY
Career lifeline
Reasons why I decided to become a chef was my interest in cooking. I am fond of
making food and improvise with food ideas, but these days I am not able to improvise and invent
, I only having time to work with the proper classic techniques so that I can only instruct cooks
and other kitchen workers in the preparation, cooking and presentation of foods with my
innovations. . As I work in all sections of the kitchen including hot and cold starters, grill and
pastry, the kitchen is maintained and cleaned to the highest level to ensure the health and food
safety(Spencer and et. al., 2018).
My qualifications include General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) as a Chef
which is Hungarian equivalent. I have started my career journey from Railway Tavern, Crouch
End as a Chef in December 2012 from where I learned and became excellent in knife skills and
got aware of health and hygiene requirements. From there, I decided to do something of my own
to get expertise in various fields so I got Self- Employed and gained self experience in Planning,
Supervising of food preparation and cooking activities in a busy environment and have gained a
good record in achieving and consistently maintaining target gross. I got the knowledge of
variety of range of cuisines which also includes Hungarian, English and Foreign Dishes and then
gained good experience in working at various restaurants, pubs and inn style food production. I
have worked in Domino's where I found that there are a number of ways to improvise your
performance and grow as individual.
Currently I am working at Pizza Hut which is a brand that believes in people, which
taught me great things only happen when you have a different ideas and winning attitude towards
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your job . Here, working at the Multi- Cultural Environment, they regularly motivate and
encourages me to keep working hard. Here, at Pizza Hut I managed to reach out to more people
and learned valuable soft skills by balancing my work and life schedule.
In the Future, I am planning to set up my own restaurant as I know for being successful in
restaurant business I have to spend a lot of time and money, but it is my passion and not just a
mere business venture which will make money. I have also outlined a Lean Plan that would keep
the planning process simpler and it also includes Market Research, Financial and Budgeting
Progression, so that I can have a comprehensive look at the competitors and information about
my targeted audience. I have full UK Driving License which is also essential for some jobs and
comes with definite advantages for some and no benefits for some and also you don't need an
International Driving Permit in addition to your license. My experience with work and extra
activities have allowed me to grow with skills as an individual and filled me with the confidence
in setting and achieving my long term goals. I love to play Football, being an ambitious,
enthusiastic, creative individual and I have been playing it from so long. I have always been a
defender and I love to do it. All thanks to my hobby through which I have got many friends and
this game is full of positivity, like the feeling when you win or do well.
Objectives
An Objective is something you plan to achieve and overall plan for a mission. They are
based on real facts and are not influenced by personal beliefs or feelings. It is something through
which we look at things in a detached, impartial and fact- based way. It refers to specific and pre-
decided steps one will take to achieve desired goal(Jackson, Regis and Bennett , 2019).
As the success of any restaurant is largely dependent on its Chef as he is the only person
who is responsible for the menu selection, food presentation, the efficiency of kitchen service
and the dining experience. Therefore, my focus is on developing as a cook at one of the most
excellent and extraordinary food establishments and to contribute my knowledge in preparing
presentable and delicious dishes to provide customers with an extraordinary dining experience,
thereby adding up to the prestige of the organization. By applying my overall experience and
expertise I want to become the best chef and grow in this sector. As I am not good at quick
decision making, I will work on time management and in upcoming six months I will get a
command over it so that the customers are fully satisfied with timely work along with a great
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taste. In the upcoming Three months I want to become the head chef of my restaurant as I posses
the skills and qualities to be successful on my course and in my future career.
As I wish to open my own restaurant which means saving money to purchase and
develop the property. As I also have a keen interest in the monetary matters, also been intrigued
by legal system, business management and how they work. That is why I chose to work in large
hotels at variety of positions and properties to become an executive chef. I also aspire to be an
educator, to cater meals to a clients home or at movie locations, or to work in an institutional
setting such as a hospital or ferry to gain expertise knowledge in my field. To attain clear,
objectives at workplace, requires careful consideration of the work, that needs to be performed,
and to improve performance if one has set a goal. I will also work on new and unique dishes
with mouth-watering tastes so that more customers will get attracted and get satisfied with the
services provided to them. I will always try to improve the quality and taste of the food I prepare
by adopting consistently, quality food preparation standards, quality food suppliers which will be
helpful for me in the beginning stage of opening my restaurant(Gubbins and Garavan 2016).
Learning styles and models
Learning is a way by which individuals acquire new knowledge through experience.
Learning style is the way in which people absorbs the information and derive meaning of it.
Each and every individual have a unique learning style which enable them to respond to the
environment and dominate over it.
Different learning styles will help the student who desire to start the business in hospitality
industry in a great way.
Learning styles
Kolb learning theory
According to this theory, leaning occurs as a result of interaction between individual and
its surrounding environment. It is about adapting to the changing aspects of nature. This model
addresses four levels of learning namely
Concrete experience- This level relates to being aware of others feelings and learning from that
experience. People tend to listen rather than performing itself therefore this mode of learning
helps the individual to know what is the perspective of others towards different situation. For
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example- A chef emphasizes on the feelings and of customer and remain courteous to them.
What the customers think and feel of the food and hotel helps the chef to learn and improve
them(Choate and et.al., 2016).
Reflective observation- This involves gaining information by viewing what others are
performing and analyzing the environment from different view point. For example while
mentoring the other people, a Co-chef is watching the senior chef as how they are making the
people involved in their speech. Thus this mode helps the people to have a self analysis and
evaluating where they lack behind by listening others.
Abstract conceptualization- This is based on having a deep thinking, planning about the
situations, analyzing it and then drawing appropriate conclusion. This is much helpful for the
organizations where decision making is based on observation and prioritizing things according to
planning. Example- Customers complaining about the food forces the chef to have a deep
knowledge of the cause and then deriving solution for them which helps the chef to learn and
plan.
Active experimentation- fourth stage involves doing the activities on their own. Organizations
uses this stage while implementing on the work plan. People on this stage tend to be open
minded and are curious in participating challenges.
Honey and Mumford theory
Honey and Mumford categorized the learning style into four groups which the individuals
use while learning
Activists – These are the people who like to experience what they are learning or performing.
They are more likely to be engaged in hands on experience. For example- A chef focused on new
experiences like designing a new dish outside his experience level or who have the potential to
lead a its team is likely to flourish in future(Tang, 2018).
Reflectors- Reflectors are those who endeavours to assimilate the things by observing and
analyzing what happened. For example- chef having reflector personality stand back and review
the situation before arriving on any judgment.
Theorists- People with theorists personality try to find theory and concepts in every situation
and action. They base their actions on the concepts and facts and believes in practical thinking.
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Example- A chef having theorists learning style are more objective and engage themselves in
studying the concept and models of the situation.
Pragmatist- Pragmatist people are highly concerned of finding the innovative solution to a
problem. They seek new challenges and are keen to apply creative and unique ideas to real life
problems. Example- A pragmatist chef always perform new techniques in food with feasible
advantages. They try to become a role model by becoming a pioneer in innovative models.
VAK Model
This model has three monosyllable namely visual, auditory, kinesthetic together which
forms VAK model of learning style. This model states that people makes use of these three
sensory organs for effective learning
visual- Visually influential people absorbs the information from their eyes and retain that in their
brain like pictures, images, graphics. A chef with good visual ability though different visual aids
makes the ambiance of hotel impressive by its delicious food.
Auditory- Auditory influential people keep their ears open and prefer hearing about the incident
and things. Chef values its customers and observe them their taste, preference, listen their
feedback then have their self analysis to serve them better.
Kinesthetic- Kinesthetic influential people like to learn things through movement of their hands
and touching the things. While making the dishes for customers, chef likes to have hand on
experience by touching the ingredients and feeling what taste will they impart to the food(Biron
and Eshed, 2017).
Qualities an employer wants in his chef
While hiring a good chef for the hotel, an employer is always keen to have qualities and
skills of chef to be inculcated in each and every aspect of hotel. A chef is the face of a hotel
whether small or big. No matter whether the hotel is 7 star or one star but having a well trained
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and proficient chef not only compels the customers to visit hotel repeatedly but also helps the
hotels to give a boom to the hospitality industry in economy. During the selection and
recruitment process of chef, an employer looks for special attributes which will be advantageous
to not only the hotel but also to its entire staff. Apart from working in a hotel, having all the
quality skills of chef will help the student to set up his own business in hospitality industry.
While providing the job description, Few top skills which an employer want in the chef are
Communication skills- The required chef should be fluent in his communication skills. He
should have the ability to communicate with the people from different culture and religion. As
the people from different country visit motels and hotels therefore chef should be able to serve
them better by interacting them in their language and making them feel valued(Rudolph Zacher
and Hirschi, 2018).
Teamwork skills- Apart from communication skills, Candidate should have team spirit and be
able to motivate its team members by incorporating a sense of cooperation. Cook should be able
to handle a team of around 50 staff including suppliers and sous chef. As a team member, he will
be required to oversee the timely delivering of food and day to day operation of kitchen
Negotiation and persuasion skills- As a main head of kitchen, a chef should have the ability to
persuade and convince the customers as well as and justify the higher prices for food. He must
have the capability to maintain harmonious customer relation as well respect interact with them
to solicit honest feedback for food preparation, hygiene and presentation. He must have the
required potential to deal the complaints and grievances of customers and provide instant
solution to them. . Apart from this, he must be curious enough to greet the customers with
respect and make their experience unforgettable(Donelan, 2016).
Leadership ability- A chef is the face of the hotel and therefore he must have the needed
leadership skills both inside and outside the kitchen. Chef should be able to train the entire
kitchen staff and guide them as well as ensure that their task are being carried smoothly. Besides
this, as a responsible leader he will be required to synchronize with the purchasing department
regarding acquisition of products for management of kitchen. Chef will be responsible for
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mentoring their junior staff and maintaining friendly environment in kitchen. He should be able
to maintain a great discipline during rush hours and occasional days(George, 2015).
Organization skills- Employer need a chef who is well organized in performing its activities. A
chef is responsible for management of multiple task while maintaining the kitchen in organized
way. Chef should be able to handle every aspect of kitchen and keep the staff activities properly
planned. During the rush hours, he will be accountable to maintain the traffic flow of items.
Moreover, he must have required proficiency in organizing the kitchen tools at the right place
and ensuring the safe handling of food. Candidate must be efficient enough to avoid chaotic
situation in kitchen and checking the sanitary practices.
Ability to work under pressure- From procurement of raw material to inventory management,
Candidate should be able to deliver seamless services to the customers. During the festival
season or special occasion, chef should be able to manage the stress level that will arise from
serving thousands of customers to designing the menus & meeting the demanding deadlines.
Fulfilling the customer's demand and pleasing them with great services is what an candidate
should have. He should have the potential to perform the multiple functions in case of absence of
any staff. While working, he must follow the food and safety standards and ensure great
commitment to quality and high grade as well as use safe techniques to for cooking the
food(Midttun and McCash, 2019).
Johari window
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Illustration 1: Johari window
[Source: Johari window, 2015]
SWOT Analysis
It is a study which is taken by an organization to identify its strength and weakness, as well as its
opportunities and threats(Leenders, 2017).
Strength -
I'm talented, self motivated and innovative chef with a flourishing record of efficient
cooking of the delicious meals and impressing customers with the taste and innovative
presentation of the dishes. I could cook variety of different dishes which includes English and
foreign dishes. I also had a working experience of pub, restaurant and inn style production. I very
aware of health and hygiene and ensures the kitchen is cleaned and well maintained. I also had a
excellent knife skills could do cutting work very quickly and efficiently. I could easily handle
work in the all sections of the kitchen whether it is hot and cold starter, pastry and grill. I could
also manage the work task in busy schedule by planning, directing and supervising co-chefs for
food preparation and cooking activities which is helpful to prepare orders quickly with the high
standards.
Weakness -
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I can only communicate in English and couldn't communicate in different languages with
guests. I feel hesitate to communicate with guests and comfort them with their preferences. I'm
not aware of latest innovation among this field's new devices and equipment's. I couldn't
instantly solve the problems of the guests as I lack at quick decision making. I'm mot punctual
and tends to delay my work. Somehow I had very aggressive nature which is very harmful for
me and which is very interrupting for my co-chefs and co-workers. I couldn't take feedback from
the customers due to my hesitation towards interaction(Brinkert, 2018).
Opportunities -
The experience and expertise skills helps me to establish my own business in this field,
which is my dream. I can have more opportunities to work in 7 stars hotels in big countries as a
head chef and further could be a food manager or food scientist. As I had a opportunity to work
in 7 star hotels I had a chance to explore my self more and could become a popular chef among
the peoples with my taste and innovative presentation of the dishes.
Threats -
I could have more competitors in this field as this professions is growing so fast now a
days more and more people are pursuing this field as their future career. Now a days hotel
industry moving froward to be more advance with new technologies and I'm less familiar with
new technologies which is a big threat for me to be stable in this field.
Illustration 2: SWOT analysis
[Source: SWOT analysis:What it is and when to use it, 2019]
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Force Field Analysis -
It is change management method which is formed by the psychologist Kurt Lewin in
1951 for use in social situations. It is used as a business management tool where a major change
is required. It analyses the restraining movement towards goal by hindering forces and displays
the forces driving movement towards goal by helping forces . Force Field Analysis id best used
among the group of six or eight people by using flip chart papers and overhead transparencies so
that it is visible to everyone(Sabuncu and Karacay, 2016).
The firstly the area of change to be analyzed and that could be written as a desired policy
goal. Afterwards the forces which supports to change are mentioned and forces which are against
the change are mentioned. Then the sorting of driving and restraining forces with common
themes and afterwards scoring them to one (weak) to five (strong).
As I could communicate only in English this lacks me to communicate with the guests
from different regions I would take classes for learning different languages of regions whose
guests usually arises to the hotel. This will help me to interact more with the guests and thus how
this will raise my confidence also to communicate with the guests and provide them better
services according to their preferences and demands. I will research about the new innovations
and devices for the kitchen and would more aware about techniques which are establishing in
near future this will help me to be more familiar with them and could reduces the work burden
and save time with the effective use of such technologies. I will start meditation daily and yoga
classes for the peace of mind and to control my anger level and this will also helps me to be
calm. I will work on being punctual to my working hours and work with a proper time
management to beat up this weakness and this will help me to be more flexible to the working
hours(Hirschi, 2018).
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