The topic is an essay (minimum 500 words) describing the leadership skills you believe are necessary to achieve your personal goals in the foodservice and hospitality industry, and how you think completion of the bachelor’s degree program will help you acquire those skills and A am over the required word count.
Just looking for some other opinions.
In the high school classroom the skills required to succeed, which are specific to the food industry, are not even mentioned much less explained. There are however, abilities and knowledge, which can be applied to many different fields, that are taught. Some of these abilities are organization, time management, planning, resource management, memorization, effective social skills, communication, basic math and English, understanding, and the ability to adapt. These all could be used in a variety of fields and in any number of ways but are especially useful in the food industry. An education at the Culinary Institute of America will enable the development of these qualities, essential for effective leadership as well as climbing the ranks of the industry. The CIA can direct the focus of these leadership qualities in a way no other education can, targeting an area and developing it with application to the food industry in mind.
A majority of the first two years at the CIA will be in the kitchen, developing top of the line cooking skills. This is of course needed, but to build a career out of only the first two years of classes would be difficult. Shifting from the great deal of time spent in the kitchens, over to more traditional classrooms is definitely something that will better prepare me as a chef and an individual.
Personally, I hope to one day own my own food service establishment or partner with someone who has a similar goal. From my current perspective this appears to be not only a long way off, but also puzzling as to how I can accomplish it. Through my work experience, in limited quantities, I have seen how a restaurant is run. To be successful it takes leadership skills, a passion for ones work, and cooking know-how. The first two apply to most anything, but this is true only in general terms. The leadership needed in the food industry is unique to the field.
I have a passion for cooking; I do it almost everyday and my experiences at The Lodge at Woodcliff only reaffirm my feelings. Some of the basic cooking skills have been taught to me, but I want to expand my knowledge of cuisine and dining and also how to become successful making a business out of it. I am unsure specifically which specific type of establishment would fit me best mainly due to the fact I have not experience the gamut of possibilities yet. This is one of the reasons the idea of taking an externship is so appealing. The trip would not only lend a totally new experience to learn from in terms of leadership, ethics, and success, but also aid in choosing a career.
I take preparing cuisine to be an art form that can be as pleasing to a taster as any painting to an observer. Delighting people with my passion is something that I already acquire joy out of. I hope to learn how to better myself in as many ways as possible to perform with the greatest level of excellence. It would be impossible to learn everything there is to know about cooking, but the pursuit of excellence, accordance with ethics, and understanding of leadership, which goes along with it, can be put into action completely.