YTN Korean News covered QTHC student Ted's journey from working as a Hotelier in Korea, to studying cookery with QTHC, to working as a Qualified Chef.
For those of our readers who don't understand Korean, Jeff Kim (QTHC Industry Engagement Officer) has helped us generate a basic transcript:
(minutes:seconds)
0:10
General discussion about Sydney Australia tourism.
0:20
[Introduction]
My name is Ted… and I want to become one of the best Chefs in Korea.
Ted used to be a Hotelier in Korea which was an extremely competitive position in Korea. YTN News asked - “why did you want to come and study cookery in Australia if you held such a respectable position in Korea?”
Ted responded: “Working in a hotel was mentally exhausting. I wanted to be happy and I asked myself - how can I be happy? I thought I should do something that I enjoy and like. I wanted to cook and was interested in cooking when I was young… so I decided to become a Qualified Chef. Of course, it depends on the individual’s experiences and skills - but Chefs in Australia are known to be paid higher salaries (about two times that than Korea)."
1:18
About Quality Training & Hospitality College (internationally recognised Cookery School)
1:57
After studying at QTHC, Ted is working at a restaurant to build his skills and experience. Korean Chefs in Sydney have told Ted that studying English whenever you can - will help in your real life.
2:30
Advice: Pre-study the English language as much as possible before coming to Australia. This will help with general life and be more advantageous in finding employment.
2:39
Don’t chase after materialism – ie. “becoming celebrity chef”. Behind the spotlight is labour intensive work (chef lifestyle).
2:55
I work in the dessert section, so I am the last one out of the kitchen, once I left at 12am. But before I went home, I had to portion a cake into 42 pieces. Once it was all cut, I said to myself, “well done today”.
3:16
Although the journey was not smooth (being employed as Hotelier and changing path to Commercial Cookery), Ted is enjoying his career and he will not stop and aim to become one of the best Chefs in Australia, Korea and the world.