As pastry shows and baking are both on the rise in pop-culture, it only makes sense that as a pastry professional, you might find yourself a little lost in your career when it comes to Googling the steps you should take to get promoted. There’s so much noise and not enough clarity on smart steps to take, besides maybe landing a spot on a reality competition TV show.
That’s why it’s so important that you’re clearly communicating your value as a pastry chef to your head chef or employer. Here’s three ways that you can start communicating your value right now to level up your pastry skills and increase your chances of getting promoted.
Optimize A Pre-Existing Process
This is by far the easiest strategy to implement first. All you have to do is look at what you’re already doing, pay attention to any “hacks” or shortcuts that you’re using and then share those with your head pastry chef or team. As the International Institute of Culinary Arts, New Delhi notes, “Like every profession, pastry chefs have some unique baking hacks too that is part of the skillset that they acquire over the years.” Even if you’re just starting out, there’s probably more than one thing you do a little different.
Create A Signature Pastry Item
This is your Five Daughter’s Bakery moment. Creating your own signature pastry item doesn’t have to be a reinvention of the wheel. You just have to infuse your art and personality into it. When owner and baker Isaac Meek first started baking out of his family kitchen, the only thing he was making was 100 layer doughnuts. Most people would have called them cronuts, but not Isaac. That’s because what he was making was his signature creation, combining purely organic and natural ingredients in his own unique process to create something original that would be worth an hour wait in line to buy.
Differentiate Yourself on Social Media
Too many blogs say that you should work to grow your audience on social media, and it’s true. But that doesn’t mean that you need to be doing every single action item. The number one thing to focus on when growing your audience on social media is how you set yourself apart from other pastry chefs on social media. It’s about what makes you, you. Pay attention to what your images are saying, the messages that are being conveyed and make sure that they align with the stories you want to be telling. For some inspiration, here’s a list of 10 innovative pastry chefs to follow on Instagram.
Every single one of these strategies works to align who you are with what you’re already doing to communicate and enhance your value as a pastry chef. Clearly communicating that value to your employer is what gets you noticed and promoted. It’s only when you’re out of alignment that you get passed over for promotions and watch someone else rise up instead.
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