Zoe Adjey, lecturer in hospitality

The Staff Canteen

Chef Career Advice

Based on her extensive experience working within the Culinary Education Industry, Lecturer, Zoe Adjey offers her advice to aspiring Chefs in an attempt to help them on their journey up the career ladder:

My names Zoe Adjey, I'm a hospitality lecturer here Westminster Kingsway College.

My advice to any student who studies hospitality would be to go out and try everything, aim as high as you possibly can and don't compromise don't accept second best.

I would love to be going into our industry now rather than the twenty-something years ago I went into, it's the best industry in the world you can take the skills that you learn in this industry can work anywhere on this planet, it doesn't end here your not contained by having to have certain qualifications or anything else it's all about personality and all about the way in which that you are able to work and you can do that anywhere. Best bit of careers advice I have ever been given was to listen carefully and never say no, always go and find out before you say no go and have a look.

Every time I meet a young person who wants to come on our course I want the passion, I want them to show in the back of their eyes that they want to be in this industry and that they want a career in this industry for the rest of their lives and they got the privilege of actually getting that as well. The industry expects students who leave our courses who are resilient, who are tenacious, who can move quickly on understand that this is a business as well being service industry we've got to be able to make money out of it.

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The Staff Canteen

The Staff Canteen

Editor 1st June 2017

Zoe Adjey, lecturer in hospitality