Finding a job is not easy. In fact, in an economic crisis the world is in right now, finding a job is hard, could be very hard even. More so, keeping a job nowadays could be as hard, or may be even harder. Getting and keeping a job that satisfies you is an even tougher feat.

Commonly, the best way to ensure job satisfaction is for someone to find, apply to and enter a job that piques their interests in the first place. In choosing a career that they want to keep for life, they really do need to picture themselves in that job until retirement age forces them to stop. In actuality, a lot of people decide to change careers because they actually got their present job as a means to make a living. Once they are in the age that they become reflective of their lives, they tend to think that they would probably be stuck in that job all their lives.

And “stuck”, in this case, is not a good word. If you feel stuck in what you are doing, then maybe it is time to move on. They do say that we must work to live a life, not live to work. So choosing a job that could last a lifetime would be the first step in having a satisfying job.

While you can pick your job, once you are there, you can not have the same luxury in choosing the people you work with. This can pose a problem, only if you are too judging of other people. They may not have the same interests as you do, or, to be honest, to think in the same wavelength as you do. But in entering a new world, you must always be open.

Being open means being friendly and nice to your officemates. You do not have to be overzealous and excited about it because you might look weird or off-putting for them. Just be nice and accommodating. Anyway, you would need them to help you out when you are starting.

Along the way, you will find people you can really hang out with. They could potentially be your lifelong friends too, since you intend to stay in this job for good anyway. A great working relationship would translate to great work from all of you and the company as a whole. It would also make you feel free and light while you work. Plus it would not make you feel like skipping work almost every waking day!

Of course, no job would be satisfying without the financial rewards. Indeed, it is the primary driving force for anyone to get a job, or change job. Whatever your wage might be, the most important thing is that you are not under compensated. Your salary must be at par to your work nature, workload, skills and credentials.

And speaking of skills, if you really are good, then the job must also give you an opportunity to grow. And by growth, it means not only getting better and better in time at what you are doing it now, but to be able to do other, greater things along the way. Yes, that means there must be an opportunity to be promoted, to be better paid and be better positioned.

The perks would not hurt too. In fact they are enticing bonuses. Leaves, paid would be better, should be available and enough for the employee to enjoy what he or she has been working hard for. Being provided sufficient things that you need to perform your work effectively would be very helpful too like laptops, mobile phones and even cars, if you get lucky.

In the end though, what can make you stay is if you are happy with what you do, and with the consequences of what you are doing.

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A person can be a chef by enrolling in a culinary school or by taking an apprenticeship program or some courses over a period of time. It is highly recommended that before applying to be a chef right after graduating from a culinary school, one must experience to be an apprentice.

Taking an apprenticeship program will develop the skills, patience, open-mindedness, curiosity, and camaraderie of an apprentice. As a result, good chefs are molded and created. However, there are certain things that cannot still be obtained in a culinary school and in any apprenticeship program.

Culinary schools give the theories, history, facts, and provide a few experiences while an apprenticeship program helps a person improve his attitude and own style of cooking by experience. So how come it isn’t over yet?

Professionalism is one way to make the salary of chefs high enough to compensate their schooling years, degrees, trainings and efforts. Most of them dream to be number one, the best, the famous, and the highly regarded. Life should be a continuous process of learning. One should not be contented by what he or she already knows.

Day after day, new things are being discovered, unveiled or developed. It impossible to know it all but the more you know, the more you are likely to develop your skills in many ways. And the more you develop your skills, the more you are likely to be a professional chef.

Professionalism can be obtained by knowing the laws, the restrictions, and all that may affect human’s life. Knowledge from these things can be acquired or obtained by the help of your fellow chefs and respected ones. This is where HR trainings set in; such teach more effective ways of attaining professionalism.

HR training can be a workshop, a seminar or a forum. It may help the chefs learn the knowledge and wisdom they need to attain professionalism and commitment to work. Most likely, the knowledge and wisdom of the chefs can be acquired through seminars and forums. These are ways where certain topics on professionalism can be encountered and acquired.

Seminars, in all likelihood, tackle about leadership or new things that has been discovered or developed. While forum, particularly an open forum for chefs may introduce a new knowledge, which can be obtained by someone who has a different experience than the other chefs. By that time, the shared experience or knowledge may be rejected or be accepted. On either way, the sharer of said knowledge and the others who listen will obtain a new fact.

Perceptions and principles may be taught by a culinary school but new things are to be discovered everyday. Just like those things, these concrete theories may be changed in a matter of time. On the other hand, new ones can be learned from seminars and forums, which would mean that they may no longer necessarily attend a lesson in a school to learn these new things.

What an apprentice may experience on an on-the-job-training program may differ from what others may experience. Differences may bring uncertainty but the integration of different knowledge may bring out new facts or new discoveries. With that, an apprenticeship program may also be considered as an HR training and therefore can help chefs obtain professional growth if and only if such occurs in a workplace situation.

Most culinary schools teach the basic lessons to create a number of good chefs. While forums and seminars, HR training in general, can make good chefs professionals. This is because forums and seminars discuss topics that may bring out new one. To make it short, forums and seminars introduces specific lessons and issues that may not be offered in a culinary school.

Since HR training help molds and makes more and more professional chefs all around the globe, such program must be enhanced and modified by all means. So, these HR training simply rule – working the chefs’ way to professional and career growth!

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Chefs are known for being meticulous when ‘cooking’ and ‘food’ are the issues. They are known for creating palatable and mouth-watering foods. They may be the ones who have the most detailed works. It is applicable to say that chefs do practice excellence (like any other do) because excellence is associated with your being keen into details.

There are fast-foods and restaurants that expose the cooking of chefs in their kitchens. They are undoubtedly interesting to look at and you will really find yourself hooked while you watch them move. It is like as if it is so easy to prepare and cook dishes because of their smooth and quick actions. But in fact, chefs take a lot of study and practice to get into near perfection of their profession. In cooking, adequate knowledge, preparation, and timing are necessary. As they are essential, practice and acquisition are both needed.

As a saying goes, “Excellence is not an act but a habit. The things you do the most are the things you will do best.” My dear chefs, this is really true and it certainly happens.

HR development programs concentrate on developing people by means of training in the first place. Companies provide trainings to achieve success and that success is likely at sight by practicing excellence at work. There are three excellences at work that HR development programs aim for. These are excellence in performance, in quality, and in relationships.

• Excellence in performance. Through HR programs, such as apprenticeship program like those of the chefs, the beginners are trained by observing the professionals how to do a work properly. They learn by themselves at first. Whatever they acquire during observations, whether correct or incorrect, their learnings will be corrected, directed, and polished later when they do the work themselves in the field with the help of the professionals. The next time they do it, they already have a clear goal in mind. That is, to do it good and right. Compliments from trainers are necessary to a motivated excellence in performance.

• Excellence in quality. If quality is first, it should be number one on every agendum at every meeting. If quality is number one, then every step should be taken in the organization to eliminate businesses of reworking something to death. Areas in the business that are being reworked should be found to stop the conflict, and do it right the first time.

With step 1, excellence in quality is not that hard to achieve. With the right skills at hand and proper execution in work, quality can be obtained.

• Excellence in relationships. Assuming your company manages to strongly improve in the areas of performance and quality but without step 3 in the triad of excellence, yours will become a two-thirds company. Meaning, your company will be scrutinized more by people than any other companies. Two-third companies receive different criticisms from people for the reason that they are near ‘there’ but cannot get there.

So if you intend on working toward the goal of excellence, remember that the leap between one and three is a risky one and needs to be bridged quickly. You need to work on building relationships with both your employees and customers simultaneously.

It is vital to any businesses to build faith with every person that they work with. Everyone in the establishment should be treated with due respect. After all, excellence would be in vain if good relationships would not be given emphasis.

In the case of the chefs, harmonious relationships at work are established through common interests, food and cooking. Sharing of ideas and trivia can be a bonding experience between chefs.

In every work you do, it is indeed motivating if excellence flows naturally from you. Once you get the benefit of it, you cannot get over it. Self-fulfillment, perhaps, is the main reason why we practice excellence. Hence, we are encouraged to perform in excellence every time. It serves as a motivation to a lifetime excellence.

Communication has basically two kinds: verbal and non-verbal communication. In the communication process, the sender or speaker must learn how to deliver or disseminate the messages to his receiver or recipient clearly and completely. As it is defined as a two-way process of exchanging and sharing thoughts, insights, feelings, experiences and information from one person to another, people from all walks of life have to learn how to communicate promptly – speak and listen accordingly.

Primarily, communicating with others is an essential skill in business dealings, friendships, family affairs, and romantic relationships. The best thing is that, it is up to us to improve it since such skill is essentially important in our daily activities especially in our workplace. With these, it is your advantage if you indeed have good communication skills particularly that of interpersonal – your ways of dealing with other people as well as your means of handling and reacting to communication situations.

Interpersonal skills are not just talking and listening to other people. It is all about working with and relating to them. These include being able to encourage others, motivate and support them, accept their opinions, and give them friendly, constructive criticisms and suggestions.

Also, communication skills do not limit the conversation with our ideas or opinions. It includes the culture and unique history of a person – how he deals with the situation and how he reacts to it. From this point of view, interpersonal communication skills become crucial to some. To help you out, here is my list:

First, learn how to listen. A good communication skill starts with patience and attention in listening. By understanding others, you will be able to get across your message successfully.

Do not read other minds. We are not capable of doing that in anyway. So, the best thing to do is to communicate effectively. Frequently ask questions to clarify ideas and get the message promptly. Share your opinions and insights to make the conversation more meaningful.

Do not complicate. The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for the communication process to succeed. This simply reminds us that it is difficult to have an accurate conversation, so let us work it out.

Focus and be attentive. The success of communication relies on the interest and attention you are giving in. By being focused, you would be able to listen carefully and provide right judgment about the situation.

Wear their shoes. One of the best things to do to understand people is to put yourself in their situation. Then, you can think of what to do in case you are in that moment. The more you understand the reasons behind their thinking, the more you can understand their point of view or help them to better understand and eventually accept your point of view.

Make strategies your weapon. When you are caught in a conversation where in there are contrasting ideas, you should stay composed and relax. Use low-tone voice and avoid disturbing body language like hunching shoulders or fidgeting that will make others feel uncomfortable and offended.

Motivate others. As you show your interests, try to give those encouraging ideas and suggestions especially when in a complex situation. Value their inputs as much as they will do to you. Do not interrupt them by stating that you have the same experiences and tell your long stories while their unfinished stories are still unfold.

Learn from each conversation. There are no same conversations. Each has different words and stories to tell. If the conversation is such a success one, then you must remember the pointers that you can use to another conversation. If it is a failure, definitely, there must be something wrong that you must figure out to avoid them and learn from it too.

Smile and laugh – the most positive thing you can give and share while in a communication setting.

Indeed, improving interpersonal communication skills is such a big deal especially in our workplace. Reality bites, people judge us in our behavior and not in our purpose or intent. With this, we must be consistent in projecting our image and setting personal trademarks. Also, we should be open for some evaluation and assessment. These can be done by asking other persons’ feedback and opinions.

Just like what Paulo Coelho stressed in his book, The Alchemist, “It’s not what enters men’s mouth that’s evil, it’s what comes out of their mouths that is.” Words are just symbols of defining ourselves. They are powerful because they show who we really are, so we better watch our words and be more considerate in communicating with other people.