How to Get a Job in a Top Pastry Kitchen
Photo © Melanie Dunea/CPi/My Last Supper
In this series, photographer Melanie Dunea of My Last Supper takes a peek into the minds of working chefs and gets them to reveal their most prized possessions.
Pastry chef Angela Pinkerton has a few secret weapons to help her in the kitchen at New York's Eleven Madison Park. Meet them in this week's Treasured: Angela Pinkerton. Then find out how to up your own game in a high-end kitchen, below.
How to Get a Job at Eleven Madison Park by Angela Pinkerton
1. Take every chore seriously. You're not going to give this person a really important task, but we give them kind of menial tasks like cutting cookies, just to see how they deal with it. Don't look bored or annoyed. Try to do a good job and get more done. Look busy, and no matter what you're doing, be interested.
2. Clean up your act. If you don't look clean and put together, we're not going to hire you.
3. Have fun and look like you want to be there. One reason I hire people is because I enjoy being around them. When you're here 14 to 16 hours a day, you want to be around people you enjoy being around. Show your personality. Whether it's crazy or not crazy, be yourself. Don't be too nervous. I usually have people stage twice if I think they've done well, to try to see their personality a little bit better.
