MasterChef inspires viewers to seek chef careers

MEDIA RELEASE
27 April 2010

MasterChef inspires viewers to seek chef career info online

‘Chef’ now fifth most popular career in NZ, according to web site

Career Services has seen a massive surge in users of its website www.careers.govt.nz, searching for information on becoming a professional chef – and they are crediting this rise to TVNZ’s hit show, MasterChef New Zealand.

Susan Kosmala, Career Services’ General Manager Service Development, says that web traffic statistics had alerted the organisation to a pattern forming on the site over the last two months, following MasterChef’s debut on 3 February.

“It was quite remarkable the first time we realised what was happening,” says Ms Kosmala.

“Every Wednesday, immediately after MasterChef screened there was a significant jump in people searching out the Chef job profile on our web site, along with information on how to become a chef.”

Ms Kosmala says that the Chef job profile barely scraped into their monthly ‘top ten’ list of most popular jobs in February, having not even featured in the January statistics. By March, a few weeks into the hit show, the Chef profile was the fifth most searched-for role on the site.

““It’s really important for people to check out particular jobs before they get into them. There’s no doubt in my mind that MasterChef has been the inspiration for budding chefs out there to seek out more information on this career,” says Ms Kosmala.

This graph of visits to www.careers.govt.nz searching for Chef information shows the trend. The dip in early April corresponds to the school and Easter holidays.

Career Services website indicates the demand for chefs in New Zealand is high, with employers finding it difficult to recruit people. Immigration NZ has chef on its Essential Skills in Demand list.

Ms Kosmala says Career Services provides more than 650 job profiles on its website with a wide range of information about particular careers, including how to get into the job, personal requirements, future outlook, what pay to expect, working conditions, and related jobs in the industry.

She says that anyone considering a new career can visit the web site and access a wide variety of online tools to help their career development, including job matching tools, CV and cover letter templates, job seeking links, interview tips, and much more.

According to Career Services’ website, the ten most popular jobs in March, in order, were early childhood teacher, flight attendant, secondary school teacher, primary school teacher, chef, pilot, police officer, architect, financial accountant and hospital nurse.

Visit Career Services’ web site www.careers.govt.nz or phone their advice line on 0800 222 733 to find out more.

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