The most frequent question young workers ask when starting the job hunt falls along these lines: “Should I take this job or work somewhere else?” They ask this question even when no one has OFFERED them the position. They ask it when they are unsure what kind of career they want. They sometimes ask this question before even considering what the job entails.
This? This is insane.
Don’t ask “should I take this job?” until you’ve asked “what will I be DOING EVERY DAY if I take this job?”
To know what you will be doing in your new position, ask to see the JOB DESCRIPTION.
A job description is a formal document that defines the work done by a particular position in the business.
Here is an example of a job description for an executive chef.
| Job Title: Executive Chef Job Description: The executive chef is part of an operation’s management team. An executive chef oversees the entire kitchen, from supervising all kitchen employees to purchasing food supplies to making decisions about menu items. Pay Scale: Exempt Salaried Position, $75 – 95K plus quarterly performance bonuses, based on experience Primary Responsibilities: Coordinate work of the kitchen staff and direct preparation of meals. Determine serving sizes and plan menus. Order food supplies. Hire and supervise kitchen staff, including training. Ensure all dishes are prepared properly and consistently. Ensure sanitation and hygienic standards are met. Ensure financial targets are achieved. Develop business plans. Create menus. Oversee customer relations Oversee all kitchen work, personnel, and activity. Required Knowledge and Skills: Possess exceptional managerial and organizational skills and work well with a team. Possess a high level of manual dexterity and artistic ability, as well as a strong palate. Maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness. Process broad and deep knowledge of ingredients, regional and national cuisines, the use and maintenance of common kitchen equipment, and management fundamentals. Preferred Knowledge and Skills: Knowledge of foreign languages can improve communication with staff, vendors, and customers. Spanish and Creole fluent Executive chefs are preferred for this position. A verified background in managing marketing and publicity efforts is preferred for this position. Verified experience developing and implementing HACCP plans in cooperation with the FDA and local health inspectors is preferred. Working Conditions: Ability to work efficiently and cleanly in small working quarters. Ability to prepare meals quickly while ensuring quality, safety, and sanitation. Ability to stand for hours at a time. Ability to lift weights of fifty pounds. Ability to work under extremely hot conditions. Ability to work long hours, often 12-hour workdays, including mornings, evenings, holidays, and weekends. Education and Professionalism Requirements: Five or more years industry experience, with at least two of those years in a position of senior leadership Culinary degree or extended internship Ongoing professional education (participation in national or international culinary competitions preferred) Membership in a professional culinary organization (ACF preferred) |
Human resource recruiters and hiring managers use job descriptions like this one to help them in recruiting and maintaining employees. They reference the list while reading applications, checking the experience, education, and legal requirements for holding the position – such as a diploma or sanitation certificate – to screen applicants. Screening applicants is the process of sorting through piles of resumes to figure out who qualifies to apply for a particular position. Many, many young workers apply for jobs they don’t qualify for. Since few HR departments take the time to email applicants with WHY they were not selected, these newbies don’t learn that they NEVER had a shot. Their application was deleted or thrown in the trash almost immediately.
For people who are searching for a job, studying the job description is key. It holds important organizational information, such as to whom the position reports and the boundaries between positions so there is no confusion about who is responsible for doing what. It gives the applicant a really good idea of what they will be doing, what their primary responsibilities are, and a broad idea of whether they have the skills and experience to attempt to get the job.
Applicants have to be honest with themselves. Scan the job description. If more than 20% of the responsibilities are unfamiliar, you shouldn’t even apply. Either you will have to pretend/ lie and say you can do things you can’t, or worse, you will get hired and be quickly terminated once it becomes apparent you are underqualified, a poser, and dishonest. This is a great way to ruin your reputation. Don’t do it.
Starting at the bottom: the entry-level position
If you are brand new to an industry – that is, you don’t have any experience or have not held a paid position in a particular line of work – you are looking for an hourly, entry-level position. When people talk about starting at the bottom and working their way up, this is what they mean: a job at the lowest rung of the ladder, making the least amount of money, with the fewest number of responsibilities.
This is not actually a bad thing. You may not be 100% certain you want to follow a particular career path. Getting an entry level position allows you to dip your toes into the field before committing fully. The real frustration new employees have is the requirement for experience. This is ESPECIALLY true in the hospitality industry. Many, many employers start every single employee fairly low on the scale… with the opportunity to work their way up the ladder quickly once they can prove they know what they are doing.
After all, good jobs require you to have experience – that is, to know what you are doing – but getting a position that will give you experience and to learn what you are doing is sometimes REALLY hard. This is where the “entry-level” job comes in: it gives you a place to gain the necessary skills for the better-paying work. Don’t reject entry-level positions automatically. Instead, see 6 months of working as a dishwasher or busser or whatever as an investment in yourself.
Leveling up: classes and grades of employees
If you are looking for an hourly position, the pay rate per hour is probably clear – most companies hiring hourly employees LEAD with that information. It’s on freakin’ posters.
As you get further along in your career, the paycheck will not be as clear: you will need to consider the class or salary grade of the position you are interested in while deciding where you want to work. You aren’t looking for a BEGINNING position anymore, baby! You’re not ENTRY-LEVEL anymore – you’ve got SKILLS.
These classes or grades are defined by the organization itself: for example, Walt Disney World identifies multiple levels of culinary workers. In the list below, each class of worker reports to the position directly below them. Not every culinary position is listed, of course. This is just a sampling.
- Cook 2 (Beginning Line Cook)
- Cook 1 (Advanced Line Cook)
- Chef Assistant (Lead Line Cook)
- Chef de Partie
- Junior Sous Chef
- Chef de Cuisine
- Executive Chef
- Manager Foodservice Operations
- Exempt and Nonexempt
Job descriptions have one last bit of information you need to know: whether the position is for exempt employees or nonexempt employees. These categories are defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which is a federal law that establishes legal standards for full-time and part-time employees, including minimum wage, overtime pay, and youth labor laws.
Positions that are exempt – or not covered under this law – are NOT legally entitled to overtime pay or the minimum wage established by the FLSA. Exempt positions are often known as salaried positions, because their compensation is based on a set pay per year rather than an hourly wage.
Teachers are exempt employees (that means I work much more than 40 hours a week but never get overtime). Executive chef is typically an exempt position as well, which means my old boss could demand I work 50-70 hours a week without being paid more for doing so. On the other hand, positions that are covered by the FLSA are nonexempt: these employees MUST be paid a minimum wage and overtime for every hour worked over 40 per week.
Consider the list below. It includes typical exempt and nonexempt positions in restaurant and foodservice operations.
| EXEMPT(Salaried) | NONEXEMPT(Hourly) |
| Dining room managers Executive chefs Banquet chefs Pastry chefs General Managers Catering Managers | Cooks Dishwashers Service staff Bussers Janitors Catering staff and catering salespeople Clerical staff Receptionists Hosts/hostesses |