Robert Irvine Affair: From Josh Galliano

By JULIETTE ROSSANT [Editor's Note: See Robert Irvine Affairs: From the Pros and interviews of Sam Fox and Gale Gand] Super Chef spoke to Josh Galliano, Chef de Cuisine, An American Place SC: Is padding resumes a big problem in St. Louis? JG: Being in a smaller market, I don't find the padding of resumes as much. I'm always concerned with people putting names of restaurants on resumes from big cities because it is so rare that anyone actually checks backgrounds on cooks. It's also rare to have highly trained cooks from NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco in those smaller markets. For sous chefs, sure I'm going to check, but not really cooks. Most of the time, I check with friends over a beer (Hey, heard of this guy Kerry, says he worked for you). Sooner or later, it comes out through your work ethic, a conflict in a story (because we all tell stories, and a lot of them), the lack of experience, or through conjecture. SC: Do you have any personal examples? JG: I'm lucky in the fact that I worked for John Besh right before the hurricane [Hurricane Katrina]. When I came to St. Louis, I was just a cook for An American Place when a different chef was in charge. A guy in his early 30s came in with a resume that looked hacked. In reality, I just didn't like the style, but the chef let me look at this guy's resume because he said he was from Louisiana. There were some really terrible plate presentation pictures that looked like they were ripped off of a website, and then there was the work history. He said that the resume wasn't updated because this was the only one he could find on his email account. (My thought: if you are checking email, you are on a computer that can edit your file and print it. So, change it.) He then mentioned that he worked at Restaurant August, even contending that he was there right before the hurricane, which would make him working with me. While I can't judge anyone's hurricane story since I evacuated town, his story seemed more embellished than others'. I asked the chef if he wanted me to check out the resume, and he said not to worry. I called John anyway and asked him about this guy. John did not mention anything negative or positive; instead, he just mentioned that he doesn't believe this guy ever worked for him. SC: What are the most common ways people pad resumes? JG: The thing that I see people take creative license with is the length of time that they have worked somewhere. People will routinely not put down the amount of time at a restaurant or in another fashion, applicants will extend their supposed time at a restaurant. It makes sense in that most employers want a stable cook and we are in the one career where stability is not the norm. Maybe surprisingly enough, I find that applicants are very willing to discuss or inform me about run-ins with the law or the fact that they have gone through an addiction recovery program. Maybe that's a small subset of the population that is influenced by their pride in the fact that something so terrible is over. SC: What is your advice to chefs entering the workforce? JG: The advice is simple: Make my life easier. Put the honest truth on your resume, and put phone numbers and email addresses on your resume for each employer. I don't want to dig up your past, but I want to make sure that you're a good dude that will not just come in to my kitchen to write down my recipes and leave. Previous articles: Sneak Peak at Dinner: Impossible [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Robert Irvine --> back to Super Chef