(And Why It Changed Everything)
Early in my career, chef mentorship changed everything for me.
It did not come with a bigger title.
It did not come with more money.
But it did come with clarity.
A chef mentor told me:
“Never take a job for the money. Take a job for the experience you’re going to get.”
At the time, I did not fully get it.
Today, after decades in kitchens, hotels, restaurants, and businesses, I get it.
Value is built through experience.
Money follows value.
This one lesson compressed my learning timeline.
It took me from $12-an-hour kitchen wages to a six-figure executive chef career in four years.
Not decades.
Not luck.
Four years of intentional decisions.
Here is how it works, and how you can use it.
What’s the Best Career Advice a Chef Mentor Can Give You Through Chef Mentorship?
The answer is simple: chase experience first, money later.
This isn’t motivational fluff. It’s a strategic principle that separates chefs who plateau from chefs who build careers.
Key takeaway: The best career advice from a chef mentor is to prioritize learning over earning. Skills compound over time. A high-paying job that teaches you nothing is a dead end. A lower-paying job that builds rare skills is an investment.
But what counts as “experience that matters”? Not all kitchen time is equal.
Experience that builds your career:
- Skills: Fabrication, sauces, pastry, garde manger—technical foundations
- Systems: How to run a station, manage prep, organize a walk-in
- Standards: Precision, consistency, plating at a high level
- Pace: Working a 300-cover service without breaking down
- Leadership exposure: Watching how great chefs run teams and handle pressure
These are the competencies that organizations like the American Culinary Federation use to certify professional chefs. They’re not arbitrary—they’re the foundation of every successful kitchen career.
Experience that wastes your time:
- Repetitive tasks with no skill progression
- Toxic environments where learning is punished
- Kitchens where you’re a body, not a cook being developed
I looked at every job through one filter: What skill will this teach me that I don’t have yet?
That mindset shaped everything I did for the next two decades.
But does that mean you should actually take a pay cut to learn? Let’s get specific.
Should You Take a Lower-Paying Kitchen Job for the Experience?
Yes, if it buys you rare reps and better teachers.
This is where most young cooks get stuck. They see a higher hourly rate and grab it. Then they spend two years learning nothing, building no leverage, and wondering why their career isn’t moving.
I made the opposite choice—repeatedly.
Key takeaway: A lower-paying kitchen job is worth it if it offers rare learning opportunities, exposure to elite mentors, or skills you can’t get elsewhere. The short-term pay cut becomes a long-term career multiplier.
I worked in a kosher butcher shop one summer—not glamorous, not easy. I worked a breakfast line cooking for 800 people at a resort. I worked fine dining kitchens where precision mattered more than ego.
I even helped a friend in a Thai restaurant—for free. No paycheck. No title. Just learning.
And that’s why, decades later, you’ll still see Thai flavors pop up naturally on my menus. Those experiences never leave you.
How to tell if a kitchen is “high ROI” vs. “dead end”:
| High-ROI Kitchen | Dead-End Kitchen |
|---|---|
| Chef actively teaches and corrects you | Chef ignores you or only criticizes |
| You rotate through stations | You’re stuck on one task forever |
| Standards are high and enforced | Nobody cares about quality |
| Cooks who left went on to good positions | Cooks who left went nowhere |
| The chef has a reputation in the industry | Nobody knows who the chef is |
Most people look at jobs like paychecks.
I looked at jobs like stocks.
Some pay dividends fast.
Others mature slowly, then explode later.
That butcher shop taught me fabrication, yield, and respect for the whole animal. That breakfast line taught me systems, organization, and volume cooking without panic. Those unpaid kitchens taught me humility, observation, discipline, and restraint.
You can’t Google that stuff.
You can’t shortcut it.
Chef mentorship is not a program.
Chef mentorship is earned in motion.
But what about moving between kitchens? When does job hopping help—and when does it hurt?
When Is Job Hopping Smart (and When Is It a Mistake)?
Job hopping works when it’s strategic and honest.
It fails when it’s reactive and secretive.
Here’s the lesson most young cooks get wrong today: job hopping isn’t bad—if you do it correctly.
Key takeaway: Strategic job hopping means telling your current chef your goals and asking them to help you get your next role. This builds relationships instead of burning bridges. The culinary world is small—your reputation follows you.
The right way to job hop:
- Tell your current boss your goals. Be direct: “I want to learn pastry” or “I want to run a station.”
- Ask them to help you get your next job. Good mentors will connect you to opportunities.
- Leave on good terms. Give proper notice. Finish strong. Don’t ghost.
- Stay in touch. The chef you leave today might hire you as sous chef in five years.
The wrong way to job hop:
- Leaving without notice because a slightly better offer came along
- Badmouthing your former kitchen to your new team
- Never telling anyone your goals, then acting surprised when you’re not promoted
- Burning bridges because you think you’ll never need those people again
This industry is small. The good ones all know each other.
I’ll tell you this with absolute confidence: there isn’t one former boss I couldn’t call today and ask for help, advice—or a job. That doesn’t happen by accident. That happens through honesty, respect, and long-term thinking.
I’ve written about this before—why I turned down an executive chef job at a NY Times-rated restaurant. It wasn’t about the money or the prestige. It was about knowing what I needed to learn next.
But finding mentors isn’t automatic. How do you actually earn that relationship?
How Do You Find a Real Mentor in a Kitchen Through Chef Mentorship?
You earn mentorship through performance, curiosity, and reliability.
I didn’t do this alone. No one does. I’ve had a lot of mentors—and I listened to them.
Key takeaway: Real mentors don’t appear because you asked nicely. They invest in cooks who show up early, stay late, ask smart questions, take feedback without ego, and execute consistently. Be someone worth mentoring.
What to do to attract a mentor:
- Show up early. Not on time—early. Ready to work.
- Stay late when needed. Without complaining. Without keeping score.
- Ask questions that show you’re thinking. “Why do we rest the meat this long?” beats “What do you want me to do next?”
- Take feedback without defensiveness. Say “Yes, Chef” and actually apply the correction.
- Be consistent. Excellence once is luck. Excellence every day is character.
What not to do:
- Don’t ask “Will you be my mentor?” like it’s a formal program. Cringe.
- Don’t only show effort when the chef is watching.
- Don’t argue when corrected. You can ask questions later—privately.
- Don’t gossip about the chef or the kitchen to other cooks.
The best mentors I had never used the word “mentor.” They just started teaching me more. Giving me harder tasks. Trusting me with more responsibility.
That’s how you know it’s working.
Now for the hard part—what happens when bills, obligations, and life make this advice harder to follow?
The Reality Check: Bills, Timing, and ‘Golden Handcuffs’
Invest hardest before obligations limit your options.
Let me be very clear—because this matters. You do have to pay bills. You do have to be financially responsible. You do need to survive.
But here’s the real lesson:
Key takeaway: The best time to prioritize learning over earning is before mortgages, kids, and lifestyle inflation lock you in. Front-load your investment in skills while you still have flexibility. Once your expenses get heavy, your options shrink.
The “golden handcuffs” trap:
- You take a comfortable job that pays well but teaches nothing
- Your lifestyle expands to match your income
- Now you need that paycheck to survive
- You can’t afford to take a learning opportunity because the pay cut would wreck you
- You’re stuck—earning decent money but going nowhere
This isn’t failure. It’s reality. And it happens to talented cooks every day.
The window for maximum investment:
- Before mortgages
- Before kids
- Before lifestyle inflation
- Before golden handcuffs
That’s when you can afford to take less money, harder jobs, and riskier opportunities.
I lived this. In the early 1990s, I worked $7 and $8 an hour jobs. By the time I was making around $12 an hour, I already had momentum. And even then—you couldn’t really live on that either.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for chefs and head cooks is around $56,000—but executive chefs at top establishments earn well into six figures. The gap between “cook” and “chef” isn’t just a title. It’s built through years of intentional skill development.
But here’s the part most people miss:
The jump from hourly kitchen wages to a six-figure executive chef career took me four years.
Every job during that period was chosen for what it would teach me, not what it would pay me. Every kitchen added leverage. Every mentor accelerated the timeline.
That leverage compounded into leadership roles, executive chef positions, and six-plus-figure income. It happened because I chased mastery. Once mastery showed up consistently, money didn’t just catch up—it passed what I ever thought was possible.
Final Thoughts: The Rule That Changed Everything
“Never take a job for the money. Take a job for the experience you’re going to get.”
That advice from my chef mentor wasn’t about being idealistic. It was about being strategic.
Key takeaway: Career advice from a chef mentor that actually works: treat every job as an investment in your future earning potential. Skills compound. Relationships compound. The money follows—if you build real value first.
If you’re young in this industry, hear this clearly:
- Chase experience, not money
- Learn before life limits your options
- Treat jobs like investments, not transactions
- Tell your boss your goals—and ask for help
- Let mentors open doors for you
Too many cooks are obsessed with titles, speed, Instagram validation, and “what’s next?” without asking “why?”
But real careers are built quietly. Skill by skill. Kitchen by kitchen. Mentor by mentor.
You don’t win this game in a year. You win it in decades.
Because when you do it right, one day you’ll look back and realize this.
Every job paid you exactly what it was supposed to.
Some paid in dollars.
Others paid in wisdom.
And the wisdom is what makes you unstoppable.
If you want the shortest version of my advice, it is this.
chef mentorship plus intentional job choices will beat chasing paychecks every time.
This approach is built on care, patience, and steady support.
It favors long-term growth over quick status.
- Chef Marcus Guiliano
Chef on a Mission