offshore chef
by john galbraith
Hi my name is John Galbraith, im 30 years old and have been a chef for 8 years now and a head chef for the past 5 of those 8 years, i have always wanted to work offshore in sum capacity as my father was offshore for 25 years while i was growing up, some people dream of being a football player, actor or singer but my dream is to work offshore and always has been. When i came back from holland when i was 21 it was time to decide what i really wanted to do with my life and thats when i decided to train to be a chef and have loved it ever since, i did my training in house at an ala carte hotel and done all the breakfast shifts under the sun, after 2 years i moved hotels to climb the ladder and receive a bit more experience in a different kitchen, i also did functions out with my normal job and worked at drummuir castle when needed and available, drummuir castle is owned by Diageo which owns a lot of the whisky distilleries in scotland and drink factories world wide, Drummuir castle is used for all diageos most important clients as a base when they are in the north east of scotland checking out the distilleries, i was at my second hotel for a year when i was offered the head chef job and jumped at the chance, there i was in charge of 8 other kitchen staff and organised everything from rotas, ordering all ingredients utensils and anything the kitchen needed to designing menus rotation of menus during different seasons and always having the last word on any dishes that left the kitchen on my watch, after 2 glorious years in that position and a total of 3 years there it was time to move on again and give 1 of my proteges a chance to climb the ladder and freshen up my own career, that took me to the hotel i am at now as head chef running the whole kitchen and helping with the organising of front of house as catering is all about good team work, as they say 1 bad apple can spoil the whole load. i am also a black belt at tae kwon do which is a martial art i was 3 times british champion and have represented scotland and been part of the scottish team no fewer the 7 times, although i dont compete any more i still train on my own in my limited spare time as i feel this has really stood me in good stead especially for the discipline side of the kitchen, i have had my survival before but felt i never had enough experience under my belt to take it offshore in the chefing side, plus i was told i would not have a chance of getting offshore as my training was done in house and i never went to college, this has really played on my mind as i know im good enough for the catering side offshore and would easily start at the bottom so i can prove myself as this is my dream job, you may laugh and think im crazy but this is my dream job, i speak to people all the time who take there job offshore for granted or speak about packing it in and that really boils my blood because id do almost anything to have that chance to be where they are in any capacity (id even do my 1st couple month without wages, seriously), fair enough 75% of those people are the ones where they have just walked into the job because they know someone who knows someone, they do say its not what you know offshore its who you know, thats my gripe over with, can someone please just give me a heads up on would i be eligible to work offshore with my experience or is it just a dream before i go and fork out the money for my survival and any other tickets i may need? thank you very much and remember im serious of working the first few trips for free so i can prove myself. if anybody has any advice for me or any questions they can also email me at john190480@aol.com ! John Galbraith Click here to read or post comments. |