Selection and Training: A How-not-to-Manual

It’s the first day of my externship. I am nervous and excited. My executive chef had told me earlier to be at HR at 10 AM. Once I get there though, they are not expecting me and I am told to make an appointment. I make one for the next day and am directed to the kitchen. Once there I am handed a menu to study while I wait for the rest of the staff to arrive. Finny, the guy in-charge of Garde Manger, arrives at 11:30 and shows me around very briefly and then I am put to work, putting away produce. About 5 minutes in, the chef tells me that I need to change my pants as jeans are not allowed in the kitchen. I immediately leave for home to change my pants. The reason I had worn jeans is that I was expecting uniforms as they had indicated on the externship agreement. It turned out though that they only provide chef jackets. Since the restaurant served Michelin-star quality food, there was a lot of intricate work to be done. I was thrown into the sea without being taught how to swim. While I managed to improve during my time there you cannot be as good if you start from a lower base. In hindsight I should have realized that there may be a problem when I was hired without a real interview. The only time I spoke to the chef before he decided to hire me was when he asked for my references. While doing a stage in the kitchen there might not have been feasible given the distance between Hyde Park and the Napa Valley, at the very least a detailed interview should have been conducted. It could have avoided the differences in expectations and led to a smoother initial experience for all involved.