Archive for the ‘Career’ Category

As the name suggests, a pastry chef is an expert in preparing baked foodstuffs in a professional setting. His services are primarily required in facilities like hotels, cake joints, bakeries, and restaurants. He focuses on the preparation of pastries, cakes, cookies, puddings, icings, breads, desserts, and almost any sort of baked foods. If he is working in a big hotel, he is handed over the responsibility of overseeing the pastry section. This includes guiding members of the kitchen staff to prepare different types of foods.

Owing to the preparation of baked products, a pastry chef needs to do much of his work using hands. He might take the help from an assistant while doing these tasks though. On a given working day, he is supposed to experiment with different recipe ideas to come up with unique servings which can be liked by customers. In a big hotel, the dessert menu is normally prepared by this specialist. The pastry chef makes sure that the dishes are baked, prepared, and presented well within the given time frame. He has to use his creativity to decorate cakes and desserts beautifully. This consists of cutting and peeling fruits to decorate desserts. A pastry chef might also need to work upon projects which require a lot of additional attention to customized preparations, such as in the case of preparing big multi-tiered wedding cakes.

Along with the management of kitchen staff and preparation of baked goods, a pastry chef has to look after the cleanliness of the kitchen. He has to inform the manager if there is a shortage of supplies used for preparation in baked products. In addition to all these tasks, he is supposed to create an estimate of the cost required to prepare a particular baked item and offer the delicacy at a certain price. He also prepares a periodical budget for things and supplies to be used to run the department. A pastry chef who has a substantial amount of hands-on experience can even work as a professor in a culinary arts school.

Pastry Chef Education Requirements

When it comes to the educational requirements for becoming a pastry chef, successfully completion of a course from a culinary arts school is necessary. Make sure you undertake a specialization in the field of pastry and dessert preparation. Along with the course, you can even look forward to work as an apprentice under the supervision of a professional pastry chef in a good restaurant. After gaining the basic work experience needed, you can start searching for a job as an assistant pastry chef in a small restaurant and keep excelling in your career.

Pastry Chef Salary

The base pastry chef salary range starts at $24,500 per annum. However, with around five to nine years of experience, you can earn a maximum of $48,000, which is pretty decent. The state of Colorado is reported to be the highest paying in the profession, with a range of about $34,000 to $57,000 per year. New York is the second highest paying state for pastry chefs, with an annual pay up to $55,000 approximately. Likewise, the salary classification for this job can be done using a many different factors.

These are just the general points in a pastry chef job description. It is a proven fact that these type of careers are quite stressful at the start, but turn out to be lucrative once you become a seasoned professional. Note that this is not a job for those who do not like or can’t wake up early. Pastry chefs working in bakeries usually start their normal day at about 5 a.m. or earlier, to make sure the products are fresh for serving. If you want to become a pastry chef, along with the educational qualifications, you should be willing to try your skill in preparing unique recipes.

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If your in-hand salary seems too less, then pursuing a part time job will give you an excellent opportunity to earn a few extra bucks. Or if you do not have the time to devote to a full time job, then working for a few hours is a good way of adding to your savings. Lucrative part time jobs give you the opportunity to work at your own pace and eliminate the pressures of grueling working hours. This allows you to be involved in your domestic activities such as looking after the children or the elderly as well. So, if you think you are an ace at multitasking or want lessen the burden of work, take a look at few part time job options that may help you solve your financial and time crunch.

Personal Fitness Trainer
The entire working class reels under the pressure of innumerable health risks, due to lack of physical activity and mounting mental tensions. In times like these, if you think you can help them by being a personal fitness trainer, then here’s a job for you. Many offices today provide physical fitness classes to their employees to take care of their health and ensure the right mental state for optimum productivity. Join as a physical trainer and help these individuals lead a better life, in exchange for money.

Life Coach
The young and the restless minds know little about their interests, inclinations and abilities. To make things worse, only a few get the required guidance to make the right career choices, while many just wander till they stumble upon a convenient arrangement. There is no prescribed qualification to be a life coach. They come from all sorts of backgrounds. A life coach basically helps people to set goals, develop strategies to achieve them, deal with obstacles and achieve the predetermined objectives. One needs to have excellent communication skills along with being an active listener to be an effective life coach.

Freelance Writer
Think you can write? Then being a writer today can help you earn more than what it did a couple of years back. Whether it is virtual writing or real time writing for a publication, there are ample of opportunities that provide part time jobs as a freelance writer. Citizen journalists, freelance feature writers, freelance reporters or writing for websites are some of the options for those willing to experiment with the quill. Some of these jobs pay per article, thus the actual amount you can earn varies with the number of articles articles you write each month.

Librarian
Sometimes the old books in the house don’t do more other than eating dust. Put these antiques to some good use by starting your own library. Arrange the available books according to their genre and stack them up properly with labels. Fix a monthly subscription fee and a one time admission fee. You can buy one book a month and also take in donated books to increase your collection.

Jewelry Maker
A little imagination is all it needs to turn those lose beads into beautiful jewelry items. Novel creations have better chances of earning goodwill, as they are unique in style and design. You can design your own jewelry items and make them too. The materials required to make them are easily available in hobby stores. To advertise these items wear them yourself.