A Path into People - including you chefs

Many of you are seeking a route into a people team as your long-term plan within hospitality and there is good news, it’s possible for anyone.

Next up, as promised, it’s People.

We are so frequently asked about what this path looks like and how you can best stand out to get there. There are many different types of people roles, and they differ greatly from business to business.

And when we say anyone, it is becoming more common for back of house peeps to find themselves in people roles, we see this happening in our partner restaurants, and closer to home, Hayley in my own team, is evidence that Chefs can make exceptional people people!

Within a people dept, there are many areas; straight up HR, culture, L&D, training, recruitment and sometimes more, dependent on size. CIPD qualifications, once a non-negotiable, are becoming less mandatory to be replaced with genuine warmth, emotional intelligence and crucially, the ability to innovate.

Innovation in this area refers to your ability to set yourself, and the company you work for, ahead of the rest in relation to culture. Madeleine Geach, who joined Hawksmoor in 2016, pioneered a culture first approach, setting a high bar for others to follow. Now, more and more businesses want to have their people teams led by a culture heroine (or hero) who will truly take care of their teams. Not all HR professionals are excellent at creating great culture.

I am sharing below an image which I have found so insightful when it comes to differentiating the typical HR function from the more culture led approach. Most businesses find that they can cover off the employment law aspects (which are extremely important) by outsourcing to a consultancy with qualifications coming out of their eyeballs.

Culture aside, L&D and training also require zero qualifications, but instead, a high level of skill. And mad skills in those areas hard to find. In my experience, almost everyone thinks they are a good trainer, but it’s worth being quite critical of yourself if this department tickles your fancy. Get to understand your training style and learn how you can improve first.

Lots of junior management level people want to know how to get into a people team, in any area. The word on this, to anyone who can afford to, is to get into a Head Office at the ground level. This could be an administrator, PA, payroll assistant, HR assistant etc.

As with any job, as I previously mentioned, it is right place, right time, and so the right place has to be within the office, in close proximity to those recruiting for their depts.

For those in senior management roles looking for a step into this, I cannot recommend enough just reaching out to businesses you love (even your current employer) and pitching yourself as a great people solution as you’ll be best placed to understand what is lacking. Whatever people area, make your plans and ambitions known, as they may not even know they have a cultural innovator amongst them, or that they need one.