Food and hospitality
Chefs, cooks, and the service world.
15 careers
Kitchen
3ChefRun a kitchen: the menu, the orders, the crew and the food. You get there by cooking for years, not by graduating.Typical pay$62kTo qualify4 to 10 yrsDemandVery highCookRun a station in a working kitchen. Hired on attitude, trained on the line, paid from day one.Typical pay$37kTo qualifyup to 2 yrsDemandVery highPastry ChefBread, cakes, plated desserts and chocolate. Early mornings, low starting pay, and a craft you can practice anywhere.Typical pay$37kTo qualifyup to 4 yrsDemandGood
Front of house
5BaristaThe most common first job in the country, and a real craft if you decide to take it seriously.Typical pay$31kTo qualifyup to 1 yrDemandGoodBartenderFast hands, a good memory, and legal responsibility for everyone you serve.Typical pay$34kTo qualifyup to 1 yrDemandGoodRestaurant ManagerRun the floor, the schedule, the money and the people. You can get here with no degree, and most managers started as servers.Typical pay$69kTo qualifyup to 4 yrsDemandVery highRestaurant ServerTake orders, run food, get paid in tips the same night. The most common first job in America.Typical pay$35kTo qualify0 yrsDemandVery highSommelierYou own the wine list in a restaurant, buy the bottles and sell them at the table. The exams are famously hard and the pay is mostly tips.Typical pay$35kTo qualify1 to 5 yrsDemandVery high
Hotels and travel
5Hotel Front Desk AgentCheck guests in, fix what goes wrong, run the desk overnight. You can start the week after high school.Typical pay$35kTo qualifyup to 1 yrDemandModerateHotel ManagerRun the building, the staff and the money, and answer for everything that goes wrong in it.Typical pay$69kTo qualify4 to 8 yrsDemandModerateOutdoor Adventure GuideTake people down rivers and up mountains for a living. Low pay, seasonal work, and an office nobody else gets.Typical pay$38kTo qualifyup to 3 yrsDemandVery highTour GuideWalk groups through a city, a park or a museum and make them care about it. Fun work, uneven money.Typical pay$38kTo qualifyup to 2 yrsDemandGoodTravel AgentPlan and sell other people's trips. The job the internet was supposed to kill, and did not quite.Typical pay$50kTo qualifyup to 2 yrsDemandLimited
Events
2Casino DealerRun a table game for eight hours. Weeks of training, a state background check, and most of your pay comes from tips.Typical pay$34kTo qualifyup to 1 yrDemandLimitedEvent PlannerMonths of spreadsheets and contracts, then three days where everything happens at once.Typical pay$61kTo qualify2 to 4 yrsDemandVery high