Wow I can't believe that I haven't post anything on this blog for this long. I just came back on here to say I'm still alive haha! And I have a story to tell.
For those of you who are trying to become an actual professional chef in Canada, there is something called the ITA (Industry Training Authority) which is a bureau where you can get your liscence for certain trades of an industry. Currently I am doing the culinary arts industry. There is three levels for getting your liscence and being certified. Unlike other industries, trade industry requires you to go to school for a year and then go into the industry and actually work and do a lot of paper work to show that you are actually working.
So while working and doing exams for the first two levels, the last step is to gain 3,000 hours to be able to write your Red seal. What is the red seal anyways? Red seal is a nationally recongized trade certification throughout Canada which allows you to work anywhere in Canada, in any province.
Working towards that is the ultimate goal for anyone in their trade. I know for a fact that a lot of cooks out there doesn't have their red seals or any culinary certification. Those that actually take the time to go to school and get certification stand out the most and are the first to be promoted too. In my kitchen with around 30 cooks, only maybe 7 cooks actually have their red seals and 3 that is still working on getting theirs. So just keep that in mind the next time you go to a restaurant. Not everyone has their certification and a lot are quite brainless too I must say.
Anyways, enough of the boring part. Story time! After going back to school back in the summer of 2012 and finishing it on November 2012, I wrote my test but I failed since I didn't exactly study enough since I was working full time :/. Not very smart for me to think that I could just wing it but that is the truth and I learned from that.
This time around, I gave myself enough time to actually study and took time off work so I could just focus and not be like last time. Second time around I was actually a lot more confident since I knew what was going to be on the test and I knew what to expect. I did all of the Ita self guide self test and found out a lot of the questions in the study guide was actually on the test too so that made me a happy camper.
Yesterday was the day for me to write the exam. Sadly they didn't have anywhere for me to write the test in my city so I had to pick the closest one to me which was Burnaby (British columbia). Let me just say that I was nervous enough about write the test. It is another thing for me to be driving in a foreign city with me looking back and forth at my GPS.
My test was scheduled at 1:00 pm but we had to get there before 12:30 pm. I actually got there super early since I was scared I couldn't find the place. I actually almost most the entrance HAHA. The place look super sketch though >_<.
This doesn't look like a place where you write your test but yea, it actually was. Thank god I drove too because I would never be able to get to this place by bus >_<. Oddly enough, people that came to write the test wasn't just writing the culinary test. Everyone was actually writing a medly of other trades too. It wasn't that uncomfortable because, well I'm only there to write a test but all the other people that came through the door were all men. They all looked so clueless and a little mean too HAHA.
The test itself wasn't that bad. 100 multiple choice questions. We had three hours to write your test but I finished in the first 50 minutes and was the first to leave the building feeling super confident with my answers. Test results take 2 weeks to be emailed by the ITA so I can't wait to see my results and I am praying long and hard that I pass :).
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