College students cooking up job opportunities
4/19/2005 2:59:26 PM
By Melissa O'Quinn
The 2005 Culinary Arts graduates at College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville have been presented with the opportunity to start work immediately after graduation.
However, it’s up to them to take the jobs.
PTI Group Inc., a company that supplies food services to industrial and constructional worksites such as Hibernia, recently contacted College of the North Atlantic to offer all Culinary Arts graduates employment after their graduation.
David Zember of the PTI Group, which stands for Performance, Timing and Integrity, told Eric King, chef instructor of the program, that the PTI Group are constantly in need of cooks.
"We hire approximately 200 new cooks every year," said Zember. "I am in need of 20 cooks in the next week and a half alone."
King says the jobs that the PTI Group are offering present a great opportunity for students to accumulate the necessary hours towards their journeypersons’ certification.
He says students have to complete 5,400 hours of work experience between each level of the program, which in turn advances their certification from entry level
to apprentice to journeyperson.
After they've accumulated all their in-school and work experience, the Department of Education sends in three outside chefs, who will evaluate meals prepared for them by the students.
"If students pass the evaluation, the department gives them a theory exam to be sent away for marking," said King. "If they pass this exam with at least 70 per cent, they're considered a certified cook."
The PTI Group has already begun hiring students from the college and King says everyone has been working out wonderfully so far.
"PTI is very happy with the quality of our graduates," said King.
The college graduates 50 Culinary Arts students a year and 12-20 of them become certified journeypersons.
Zember says all graduates should apply for immediate employment, expecting prompt and likely positive response.
Barb Ryan and Eric Hynes are entry-level chef instructors of the Culinary Arts program, and they agree that a company as large as the PTI Group specifically hiring graduates from College of the North Atlantic speaks for itself.
“If we could produce 100 graduates, they’d take them all,” said Ryan. “It certainly says a lot about the caliber of the Culinary Arts program.”
Hynes says the Culinary Arts department has been receiving numerous requests for employees since the beginning of April.
“This time of year is great for graduates of the program because the opportunities seem to be endless for them and that’s amazing,” said Hynes. “However, the fact that this one major company wants to hire all of our graduates is pretty amazing too.”
While most graduating students fear the challenges of finding a job after their
graduation, King feels the 2005 Culinary Arts graduates at College of the North Atlantic have very little to worry about.
“The students and instructors are a dynamic team, providing a great combination of youth, industry experience and teaching skills," said King. "We're extremely pleased with the PTI Group's interest in our students and we look forward to a lot more interest from other agencies as well."
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For more information contact:
Stephen Lee
Communications Manager
709-643-7929
or
Tanya Alexander
Public Information Officer
709-643-7928