Job Placement
Finding the right career opportunities for our students is as important to us as it is to you. Here are all the steps we take you through in helping you find the right position:
- Assistance starts with your submitted application. One of the requirements of the application is your résumé, so that we can help you tailor it to the food industry.
- On the first day of class, students receive a list of stage opportunities – where you can volunteer or observe for a day (or longer) to find out what type of business is ideal for you.
- We help you understand the importance of staging, how well it opens doors to future employment.
- You are provided with a full list of contacts in the Chicago area to use as starting points. If you know of a business or chef in the area that is not on our list, or that we have not formed a relationship with, we help you establish that relationship.
- We assist you with résumé and cover letter development.
- Three months into your student experience, you receive personal career counseling with your chef instructor. Your chef helps you determine in what area of pastry you would thrive, develop an action plan, and put it into place.
- Students receive continuous support from staff as well as the teaching faculty.
- Alumni always have access to our online job database. Potential employers from all over the United States as well as elsewhere in the world contact us every day wanting to hire our alumni.
We will work with you to contact potential employers or advise you on new business ideas. A well-placed call to a colleague in the industry, or advice on where to buy secondhand equipment, is an important part of the relationship you develop with the chefs and staff at The French Pastry School.
There are many career directions that our graduates have taken: restaurants, catering, hotels, bakeries, food styling, food writing, food sales, wedding and celebration cakes, teaching, research and development, country clubs, cruise ships, new business ventures, chocolate candy businesses, and artistic edible creations, among others.
The French Pastry School has ongoing relationships with premier hotels, resorts, restaurants, bakeries, and other establishments all over the world. Some examples include The Ritz-Carlton Group Worldwide, The Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, and the Fairmont Hotels for placing students in pastry positions. Other graduates have opened their own businesses in the Chicago area and elsewhere around the United States.
Graduates of The French Pastry School have been placed at the following:
| Bellagio Hotel | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Bin 36 | Chicago, Illinois |
| Bittersweet | Chicago, Illinois |
| Blackbird | Chicago, Illinois |
| Bobo | New York, New York |
| Charlie Trotter’s | Chicago, Illinois |
| Everest | Chicago, Illinois |
| Grand Hotel | Mackinac Island, Michigan |
| Inn at Little Washington | Washington, Virginia |
| InterContinental Hotel | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| James Hotel - Primehouse | Chicago, Illinois |
| Joel Robuchon | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Julius Meinl Caf | Chicago, Illinois |
| La Sardine | Chicago, Illinois |
| NoMI, Park Hyatt | Chicago, Illinois |
| Norman Love Confections | Ft. Myers, Florida |
| Norwegian Cruise Line – Pride of America | Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii |
| Per Se | New York, New York |
| Pluton | Chicago, Illinois |
| Rimini Gelato | Beaver Creek, Colorado |
| The Fairmont Hotel | Chicago, Illinois |
| The Four Seasons | Chicago, Illinois |
| The Langham | Boston, Massachusetts |
| The Peninsula | Chicago, Illinois |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Atlanta, Georgia |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Half Moon Bay, California |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Chicago, Illinois |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Moscow, Russia |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Naples, Florida |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Seoul, Korea |
| The Ritz-Carlton | Washington, D.C. |
| Sofitel | Chicago, Illinois |
| Sofitel | San Francisco, California |
| Spago Catering | Chicago, Illinois |
| St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort | Dana Point, California |
| Sucré | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| TRU | Chicago, Illinois |
| Vanille Patisserie | Chicago, Illinois |
| Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel | Orlando, Florida |
| Wolfgang Puck Catering | Chicago, Illinois |
| Wynn Hotel | Las Vegas, Nevada |
Our Alumni have also opened, own, and operate their own establishments. Click here to view some of the locations.
