Hi. I am dong a project for school, about careers, and what we want to be, after leaving high school. I am thinking, right now, that it would be fun to be a pastry chef. The problem is, that I need to interview a pastry chef, and I was hoping that maybe somebody here could help me out. I will need this back within a couple days, so if you are willing to answer all of the following questions, it would help me out greatly. :D

1. What is your career?

2. What is your name (only your first name)?

3. Position at your job?

4. Name of the business that you hire for/ fork for?

5. How many people does this business employ?

6. How do they find their job applicants ( newspaper, agencies, schools, internet)?

7. What is the starting wage in this field?

8. What is the educational level required to start this job? (What kind of education is needed?)

9. Is there any expierience required to work as a pastry chef?

10. How do you use the following skills at your job (if you do) explain.
- Reading
-Arithmatic
-Communication

11. How do you use the following thinking skills in your job (if you do). explain.
--Reasoning
--Creative Thinking
--Decision Making
--Problem Solving
--Visualization
--Lifelong Learning

12. Would you say that you need the following personality traits in your job?

-Sociability
- Integrity/honesty
- Responsibility
-Self esteem
- Self Management

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13. have you ever competed by yourself or on a team in a pastry competition? If you havent, would you like to?

14. have you ever made a sculpture out of ice, chocolate, sugar, or marzipan?

15. Which culinary school did you go to, if you went to one? Explain some things about it.

16. Do you enjoy your job?

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THANK YOU! for answering these questions. It would help me out sooooooo much!!!!!!!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 01:00 am: Edit

well.......
this could be fun.
i can complete this on Sunday.
your not from simi valley are you ?

By Beanzie (Beanzie) on Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 03:51 pm: Edit

Nope I'm not from Simi Valley. Thank you for your effort! I really appreciate it.

By Beanzie (Beanzie) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 03:43 pm: Edit

question #4 has a typo, its supposed to say ... hire for/ WORK for

not fork for

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 08:04 pm: Edit

It's Sunday Spike!!!!!!!
Don't ask the kid where he's from, are you trying to get leads for Michael Jackson or something?????
Just answer the questions!!!!!

By Beanzie (Beanzie) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 08:42 pm: Edit

You can answer the questions! I just need somebody (that is, or is close to a pastry chef) to answer them! Please!?!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 09:45 pm: Edit

1. What is your career?...Pastry Chef

2. What is your name (only your first name)?...spike

3. Position at your job?...Pastry chef

4. Name of the business that you hire for/ fork for?....I fork for myself

5. How many people does this business employ?....One, sometimes more.

6. How do they find their job applicants ( newspaper, agencies, schools, internet)?...all the above.

7. What is the starting wage in this field?...it can be from min wage to 15.00 p.h.

8. What is the educational level required to start this job? (What kind of education is needed?)...school is good, but if you just have a work history that can be just as good.

9. Is there any expierience required to work as a pastry chef?...yes, lots of it, you have to have done everything in the Bake shop, and Pastry shop. And do it well.

10. How do you use the following skills at your job (if you do) explain.
- Reading...all the time.
-Arithmatic...all the time.
-Communication, well theres different forms, but yes, all the time.

11. How do you use the following thinking skills in your job (if you do). explain.
--Reasoning...what to do first.
--Creative Thinking...what products to make for the day.
--Decision Making...see above.
--Problem Solving...who screwed up what and how to fix it or make another.
--Visualization...what your products will look like, ya don't all want them to look the same.
--Lifelong Learning...yes it is.

12. Would you say that you need the following personality traits in your job?

-Sociability...yes.
- Integrity/honesty...YES
- Responsibility...YES,YES.
-Self esteem...don't care.
- Self Management...yes.

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By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 09:49 pm: Edit

let me know if that does it for ya.
good luck.
I also will come to your class and speak, that starts at $3,000.00 for about 2 hours.
I pay my own way there and back and pay for my hotel.

By Beanzie (Beanzie) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 09:53 pm: Edit

Yeah, this works. Thank you!!!!!

No thanks on the 3,000 dollar thing... allowance doesn't pay that much ;D

By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 10:34 pm: Edit

Did you read that, she just
wanted "somebody"....close enough to a pastry Chef!!!!!
Those answers were pretty lame Spike, especially #11!
How come there were no substance abuse questions????...no "in the weeds" questions, no stress related questions????...Oh yeah, this is a pastry Chef, you guys have no stress!!!!!!!!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 09:57 pm: Edit

Everyone knows the only stress that Pastry Chefs have, comes from Ex. Chefs.
and we don't have substance abuse problems(it was hard to write that with a straight face) and everyone knows Pastry Chefs NEVER GET IN THE WEEDS
Other than that, we are a very peaceful people.
and theres nothing wrong with # 11, it's to the point!, what did you want me to write??

By Chefrev (Chefrev) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 12:47 am: Edit

1. What is your career? Clergy/Food service

2. What is your name (only your first name)? John

3. Position at your job? Baker (that close enuf?)

4. Name of the business that you hire for/ fork for? Inn at Nichol's Village--Sojourner Restaurant

5. How many people does this business employ? about 25-30 in the restaurant alone. 120+ in whole complex.

6. How do they find their job applicants ( newspaper, agencies, schools, internet)? newspaper, schools, walk-ins and internet.

7. What is the starting wage in this field? depends on experience, but I started at $8.00/hr

8. What is the educational level required to start this job? (What kind of education is needed?) While it's good to have education from a culinary school, experience has taught me more. I personally have had NO culinary education.

9. Is there any expierience required to work as a pastry chef? To start out you need desire and commitment. Experience comes with the work. You ask lots of questions, make lots of mistakes and learn from them.

10. How do you use the following skills at your job (if you do) explain.
- Reading: reading everything I can get my hands on about the field, reading recipes, trade magazines, etc.
-Arithmatic : costing out food products, scaling recipes, figuring out how many hours of overtime I got screwed out of.
-Communication: getting feedback on one's performance ("That sucks!"), working on the line ("NO! Fire 2 Chocolate mousse THEN the profiteroles!")

11. How do you use the following thinking skills in your job (if you do). explain.
--Reasoning : Using common sense
--Creative Thinking : using taste memory to come up with interesting items.
--Decision Making : Can we make it through the weekend without making brioche again?
--Problem Solving : Making stuff on the fly and making it well, helping out when others call off and we're getting slammed
--Visualization : Picturing what new items would look like, where is the business going and how do we help it get to where it should be?
--Lifelong Learning : Learn something new every day! Always know you don't know it all.

12. Would you say that you need the following personality traits in your job?

-Sociability : Getting along with the S.O.B.'s and morons, lots of apologizing, look out for each other (prayer helps too)
- Integrity/honesty : Do your job, do it well, and don't take anything you're not given...and keep your ferschlunger hands off the waitresses!
- Responsibility : don't blame others for your screw ups, explain, don't give excuses.
-Self esteem : Don't take crap from anybody, but choose your battles carefully. Let the unimportant stuff roll off your back. Most of it's unimportant.
- Self Management Dress for work, take a shower and shave once in a while, Jeez, this is so basic. GET A LIFE OUTSIDE THE BUSINESS.

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13. have you ever competed by yourself or on a team in a pastry competition? If you havent, would you like to? No, but it'd be fun to see if I could do it.

14. have you ever made a sculpture out of ice, chocolate, sugar, or marzipan? no.

15. Which culinary school did you go to, if you went to one? Explain some things about it.

16. Do you enjoy your job? Most of the time.

By Beanzie (Beanzie) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 03:53 pm: Edit

Thank you, Chefrev and Chefspike, these will help a lot.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 12:24 am: Edit

13. have you ever competed by yourself or on a team in a pastry competition? If you havent, would you like to?...........yes i have and came in first place in all of my competition.

14. have you ever made a sculpture out of ice,..yes chocolate,...yes, carved differnt things but the best was "David" out of choc. sugar...yes, pulled, blown, sugar cubes, poured, nougatine., or marzipan?...yes,the holiday figures, clowns, people, naked girls.

15. Which culinary school did you go to, if you went to one?...Schoolcraft Comm. College, Culinary Arts, Michigan Explain some things about it....small, total class size about 30-35, times two classes per shift or in 7-8 hours. produced food for cafitiera in lunch room, did events and sp. parties, outside catering, sp. cakes, wedding cakes and anything extra you wanted to make, produce, or do for practice.

16. Do you enjoy your job?....Next to dating girls in Los Angeles its the best thing i've ever done.
I DID'NT SEE THESE THE FIRST TIME AROUND. OH WELL.
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By Chefmanny (Chefmanny) on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 12:23 pm: Edit

Typical pastry Chef......does not look at the whole picture!!!!!!
It's all about...ME, ME, ME!!!!!!
Look at me LA girls, I'm a pastry Chef staring at your ti#@!!!!
They probably just hang out for Elwood!!!!!!

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 02:07 am: Edit

boy, what crawled up you?
girls like pastry chefs, what can i tell ya?
and yes, they think elwood is very cute.
hey, at my age, ya gotta go with what you have on hand.
and i like to have a blond on one hand and a brunett on the other.
HaHaHa.