Posted Sep 25, 2011, 8:46 PM UTC
If the place is "rad," then you may consider management is doing a pretty good job hiring people and you should leave it to them. You can always suggest your friends that they should stage, and the chef may like them enough to bring them on in the future.
My experience has been to not get your friends a job. Everything they do will be reflected upon you, which can be good, but usually is bad. Maybe you've got great, hard working friends who will never call in sick, will always be on time, and will just be classy good employees. And maybe I just have shitbag friends who don't do this stuff. I've learned to keep my work and social life separate.
All of this.
If you're a cook, especially a new one, it's pretty risky to vouch for other cooks. Even if they've never done you wrong before, you never know when it could fall apart for them. Especially in a new setting, new people, etc. It's tricky in the best cases.
But... if your restaurant needs some staff and you're comfortable with the chef- and you're comfortable with your friends as professionals and people... You can help make an introduction for an interview or a stage. Just getting a few minutes of the chef's time can be a massive help. From there, let the chef figure it out. I love getting personal introductions. They're so helpful. But in the end, I hire based on how they work and fit.
Experienced management would see this potentially as a risk on several aspects the main one being, if you hire a "group" of people, there is always the chance that they might leave together for whatever reason. Imagine, 3 months after hiring you and your former colleagues, someone in manager says the wrong words, and the 3 of you decide to quit together. Being short 2 line cooks isn't the end of the world, but loss time in training, costs of hiring/recruiting, etc.
The other risk is alienating the kitchen - the people that have been there longer than you might see you and your friends (if they were hired) as a threat...
Thank you kitchen! I've taken everyone's advice into consideration and I know what I will do. As an aside, I feel this is one of the best subreddits.
How new? You might want to prove yourself first before you start bringing people in. If they like you, they will be more likely to think your suggestions are worth it.
Yeah, I am new and that's what I was thinking too...
When I get into a new place, I don't like to make suggestions unless it's obvious to them that the suggestion would be beneficial, in sort of a "Oh, I didn't think of that" sort of manner. Not something that they have to really wait for results for.
The problem with suggesting a new hire is that they have to go through the whole process of hiring them, and firing can be a whole other process if your suggestions don't meet their standards. cool_hand_luke suggesting they stage is right on point. Once the chef sees that you can work, then this suggestion would be taken a lot better.