Job Summary
Job Title: Cooking Instructor – Student Service
Division: Student Life
Department: RecWell – Programs
Compensation Hours/Week
$10.25/hour Weekly average, approximately 3 hours per week
Required hours may include days, evenings, or weekends.
Employment Summary
The Division of Student Life is committed to making every experience at Purdue University a learning opportunity for students. Employment within our division provides you the opportunity to work with other great students and leaders. As part of your employment, we incorporate the Leadership and Professional Development Competencies and the Steps to Leaps Learning Pillars into your learning and performance management experience to ensure you are building the skills employers want.
Job Description
The primary role of the Cooking Instructor position is to lead a variety of Demonstration Kitchen programs, including cooking demonstrations, youth and family programs, and special events while providing food safety oversight and equipment assistance for Demonstration Kitchen rental groups. The goal of this position is to give students valuable real-world experience in a food and nutrition education environment. The Cooking Instructor position should work 3 hours per week during the current semester. Those hours may be worked in any combination, at the discretion of the direct supervisor. The Cooking Instructor position must be reliable, organized, responsible, and flexible. They must also be ambitious, detail-oriented, creative, and driven.
Prerequisite(s)
The ideal candidate will be knowledgeable in ServSafe Food Handler certification from the National Restaurant Association and prior knowledge or experience with cooking and/or nutrition.
Qualifications
- High school diploma or equivalent and active enrollment noted below
- Must be actively enrolled at Purdue University or Purdue Global
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written
- Flexible and dependable with a strong attention to detail
- Problem solving, logic and reasoning skills
- Customer service oriented
- Ability to multi-task and work within deadlines
- Ability to work independently and with a team
- Be timely and organized
Position Responsibilities
- Create a welcoming environment and impart culinary, nutrition, and food safety information in line with vision and direction of Nutrition Education Programs
- Maintain high standard of cleanliness throughout the Demonstration Kitchen
- Maintain safety and risk management standards of the department
- Perform shift-related upkeep of Demonstration Kitchen and corresponding supplies
- Exhibit friendliness, diplomacy, public speaking skills, and tact in responding to and entertaining customers
- Handle emergency situations and prioritize responsibilities while continuing to provide the highest level of customer service
Core Competencies
Transferable Skill Development:
Students employed in this role will develop and demonstrate a number of transferable skills essential for future employment success and be reviewed on these skills in their performance evaluation.
Communication (Verbal, Written, Non-Verbal, Listen & Observe, Summarize & Distill Information)
- Demonstrate professional verbal communication in all interactions
- Demonstrate enthusiasm; engage and connect with customers to promote excellent customer experience
- Verbally communicates to staff on situations that may arise due to problems
- Written communication to complete accurate food usage records and food temperatures according to established procedures
Ways of Thinking (Systems Thinking & Planning, Reflective & Analytical Reasoning, Idea Generation, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Ethics)
- Utilize policies and knowledge to proactively make decisions and solve problems for area assigned
- Develop new or novel ideas through critical thinking and creative processes that address issues and/or lead to change
- Understand standards and expectations for personal and professional ethical behavior
- Demonstrate knowledge of the position and operation
Interpersonal Skills & Intercultural Knowledge (Organization Behavior & Teamwork, Appropriate & Productive Relationships, Helping Other & Collaboration, Cultural Intelligence & Inclusion, Service & Social Responsibility)
- Collaborate with co-workers and demonstrate flexibility in a fast-paced, team atmosphere
- Establish productive relationships with customers and staff
- Acknowledge and support customers and staff with unique needs and differing backgrounds
- Work independently to complete responsibilities
- Proactively and willingly acquires new skills, tasks, procedures and projects
- Provide support to fellow team members
Intrapersonal Awareness & Development (Self-Understanding, Continuous Learning, Initiative & Follow-Through, Personal Responsibility, Resiliency
- Demonstrate time management skills and attention to detail
- Demonstrate initiative; Understand and respond to the various needs of customers and staff
- Maintain positive attitude and enthusiasm in times of ambiguity and peak time of demand
- Complete work independently in an efficient time manner
- Demonstrate dependability and responsibility within operation
- Demonstrate punctuality by always being on time to each shift