when cooking is involved in the recruitment of employees in the field of electricity or construction

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“Our idea for France is to replace classic job interviews with a culinary workshop. Here, recruiters and candidates come together to cook a meal and reveal talents“, suggests Soraya Perrin, recruitment manager for Agence Partenaire in Nîmes in the Gard. A job dating in the middle of the pots. A job interview like you’ve never seen before.

At 7:30 a.m., in Nîmes, Fayère and his girlfriend Katia are looking for work in logistics. They are very motivated. “The goal of this day is to see if it is possible to be taken into a company“, explains the young man. To achieve this, they will transform themselves into kitchen assistants. Behind the stoves, around twenty candidates like them and five business leaders. The particularity is that they will have to team up without knowing each other.

“The goal is to have a good time and there are no traps. We don’t get a grade, we don’t have a cooking competition. We are not a Top Chef“, begins to reassure Sébastien Rath, starred chef. He will guide them in preparing a lunch.

All are novices on the same footing. “What we’re trying to do here is to bring together men, women, people who don’t know how to cook and who will all be in the same difficulty this morning to show that we don’t have to know how to do it. Everything can be learned“, defends Soraya Perrin.

These tasks have nothing to do with the jobs for which they are applying. This is precisely what interests employers. “I know that when I show him a gesture, he will know how to do it too. It is not necessarily the skills he has at the start that we will look for, but perhaps where we will take him for a little training“says Fred Brogliolo, manager of the Créa-Nîmes training centers. Under the eye of recruiters, personalities are revealed.”This allows us to see a little bit who is taking initiatives or, on the contrary, who is staying a little further behind. It actually really allows you to detect people’s personalities a little bit.“, remarks Stéphanie Ducrot, manager of the Locli-Nîmes company. For Célia Bastide, QSE manager Citéo-Nîmes, “The first impression, sometimes, is not often the best because the person is stressed and ultimately we don’t dig any deeper. And we certainly miss things“.

These candidates, sometimes far from employment, will go into the kitchen then into a coaching workshop. Preparation for more formal interviews which will take place later. Last asset to convince, the dessert. One candidate made a vanilla jelly of which she is very proud. “Honestly, it’s really easy. It doesn’t seem like it, but honestly, it’s okay. I’m getting through it. It’s simpler and more natural than in the office, face to face, chatting. It’s our true side that comes out“, she assures.

A great success for Sébastien Rath, happy to be able to help his candidates: “We give a little of ourselves through our know-how to people who are on the sidelines, to image, who only ask one thing, and that is to find their way. What is more beautiful?“

At the table, it’s the moment when the recruiters reveal themselves. An electricity company, another construction company. “We were able to speak to recruiters without knowing that they were recruiters. We got along well with them“, notes a candidate. After a shared meal, warm exchanges which will perhaps lead to hiring.