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start at the bottom and work your way up to fully embrace and
appreciate the process of being a chef and running a restaurant,”
says executive chef Anna Bran-Leis in a November 2017 article
on Food & Wine magazine’s website. “But it builds character and
helps you appreciate the people doing the more painstaking jobs,
like dishwashing. Every part of a kitchen has its own important
role.”

Certification and Licensing

Chefs are not typically required to be certified or licensed, but
being certified by the American Culinary Federation can lead to
higher-level positions and larger salaries. Depending on the cer-
tification, chefs must have a high school diploma or equivalent,
have worked for a specified number of years on the job (usually
three to five years), and received a passing score on written and
practical exams.

Internships and Volunteer Work

Most culinary programs require one or more internships conduct-
ed in kitchens outside the school environment. Whether paid or
not, these can provide aspiring chefs with invaluable on-the-job
experience, as a March 2018 article on the culinary blog Chefify
explains: “There are some incredibly skilled people at the top of
the culinary profession and being around them can be very moti-
vational. An internship is a fast track to seeing these great minds
at work in their own environments, which may in turn inspire the
rest of your career.” Internships cover every aspect of cooking,
from knife skills and kitchen equipment training to how to fix an
entire meal from appetizers to dessert.
According to the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), there
are many volunteer opportunities for aspiring chefs. They can vol-
unteer to help cook at charity events in their communities or at
local rescue missions, soup kitchens, or homeless shelters. They
can also help out with local food-related festivals. In an article
on ICE’s Diced blog, Lauren Jessen writes, “There are too many
great volunteer opportunities to name, ranging from nonprofit
work to glitzy events, weekly shifts to one-night commitments.”

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