"Chefs are one of the highest deficiency occupations in the hospitality industry"

What products did you showcase?

White Now is, put simply, a go to service for jobs for the club, gaming and hospitality industry. We receive jobs ads or requests to recruit for positions and then advertise them on www.whitenow.com.au and affiliated job boards. Our ‘products’ include a short listing service, designed to be most effective for recruiting mid-level, senior and executive positions; a full recruitment service which suits high level executive positions where the client or board of directors would benefit from a highly, specific, intense and critical process; general employment consulting helping with development of job descriptions, interview questions, reference checking and Human Resources advice; ‘Request For Tender (RFT)’ document development for contracting caterers, security and other external contractors and now talent sourcing and searching.

What White Now will be addressing in 2017?

With White Now being so ‘in touch’ with our clients, the big concern for the industry is difficulty in sourcing qualified and motivated chefs at all levels. This was confirmed by all of our clients who dropped by to see us at the AGE.

Reports and data being released show that chefs are one of the highest deficiency occupations and the ‘in demand’ for these skilled workers will only increase in the coming few years. Other than sourcing from overseas talent pools, which is laborious and full of government red tape, the reforms that are being suggested are mainly apprenticeship-based, such as government incentive payments at the commencement and completion of apprenticeships; additional funding to employers of apprentices for small-medium sized business, rural and regional located employers, the employment of adult apprentices and people from diversity groups. Government funding an industry-led incentives pilot programme. This would allow industry groups or employers to come forward with a business case for securing funding to support apprenticeships in a particular industry, occupation or region.

All of these reforms will take time to build numbers in the kitchen workforce.  There is good news afoot. White Now are excited to be in the process of developing ‘out of the box’ options which will assist the industry in securing future chefs and see a revival and reinvigoration of ‘cooking’ as a profession.