Queenstown Chef Interviews, How Much Do You Get Paid? (Crown Plaza, Hilton, Skycity)
I dreamed of a new career in Queenstown, but I had to go back to my old job as a Chef. Then I landed three interviews for Chef in Queenstown. Here's what the interview process was like and what you can expect to be paid.
Queenstown Start a new career
To tell you a little bit about myself, I started out as a chef in Auckland, and I've been in the industry for about six years. When I was in Korea, I didn't know anything about cooking, and when I moved to New Zealand, I graduated from a two-year culinary school and entered the restaurant world.
One of the reasons I moved from Auckland to Queenstown was actually a new career. Of course, I knew it would be difficult to find jobs in other industries in Queenstown with its strong hospitality industry, but I thought there would be a demand for jobs other than chef.
Other careers I've thought of include
- Finance Assistant
- Retail Assistant
- Customer service job
- F&B attendant
- Worker in the Airport
- Barista & FOH staff
Since moving down to Queenstown, I've applied for all of the above jobs on the SEEK site, and for some reason I've never heard back from them because I don't have any relevant experience.
I didn't hear back from them, so I thought it was a sign to start looking for a Chef job again. While I was waiting to hear back, I applied for a Chef job as well.
I didn't apply a lot, but I was lucky enough to be contacted for three interviews, and here's what I had to say about the Queenstown Chef interview.
Queenstown Chef Interview
1) Crown Plaza Hotel
A friend of mine who was having trouble finding a job recommended me, so I went to meet with them. Of course, I didn't have any information about the position or salary, and I hadn't interviewed in a long time, so I didn't know what to expect.
The location is in the center of Queenstown, which is great because it's the most busiest street in Queenstown, which doesn't have much public transportation.
Even better, there's a lake right in front of this hotel, and the view was so good, it felt like we were bringing the outside in with us because it was a barrel window.
Anyway, I got there a little bit earlier than the appointment time, and it was morning, so he asked me if I had breakfast, and I said no, and he said, "Let's have breakfast and talk about it," and it's a breakfast buffet here, so you just bring your own food.
I really liked the Head Chef. When I was in Auckland, my position was Demi, and I actually stayed in that position to start a new career when I came to Queenstown. Here, I was offered a CDP, which is a step up from that.
[Interview with Chef, Crown plaza hotel, Queenstown].
- How much you cooked
- What specifically did you do at your previous restaurant?
- The section I worked in and what my position was responsible for.
- Whether the desired shift is present
- Desired Wage expectation Range
We conducted the interviews over a meal, so it was more of a conversation than a question and answer.
I was told that the total number of chefs in the hotel is about 7, and that they currently only serve breakfast and dinner. They told me that if I got the job, I would be in charge of dinner.
The interview lasted about an hour and a half and was one of the most relaxed interviews I've ever done. I think it was the most natural interview I've ever had for Queenstown Chef.
With a smaller than expected number of chefs for a hotel, we realized that we needed to be able to do multiple things at once.
And the nice thing is that they don't serve lunch, they serve dinner at 6 o'clock, so I thought, "Well, I can prep the whole time, so if I can prep, it won't be too busy.
2) Queenstown Hilton Hotel
So I clicked on the link in the email, and it took me to a website called Hirevue, where I did a digtal interview, which was the next step in the process.
The method is simple. A question is asked, and I talk to myself for two to three minutes about it, and of course it's all recorded. PCs, tablets, and mobiles are all accepted. You'll need to use a device with a working camera and microphone because you'll be filmed.
Before the actual recording, there is a menu where you can practice, so you can practice beforehand. However, in the actual practice, they asked me different questions, which was very embarrassing.
[Digital interview question content].
- The toughest thing you've ever had to deal with in a restaurant and how you overcame it.
- Your culinary background and experience
- Why apply to Hilton Hotels
- What are your strengths and weaknesses
- Favorite moment working in the kitchen
Anyway, if you do a good job recording the interview, it gets sent back to Hilton Hotels. I'm wondering if they're probably watching it and weeding out applicants.
The day after my interview at Crown Plaza, I was contacted by Hilton Hotel who wanted to interview me in person. My heart was pretty much leaning towards Crown Plaza, but I agreed to the interview just for the experience.
The Hilton Hotel is not very well served by transportation. There is only the #3 bus (Kelvin Heights). The bus is every hour, and when I asked, I was told that there is no parking for employees, so you have to park nearby.
There are five bus lines in Queenstown, and if you're wondering where they go and where they go toI thought you might find it helpful to read my original post.
Anyway, you get off the bus, and the Hilton Hotel is quite a ways down the road, and as you go down the road, you'll see the Hilton Hotel Resort & Spa title, and as you go in, you'll see the reception.
I was just there for an interview, and all I can say is that the Hilton Hotel had a crazy view, and you could see it from the dining room, and it was just beautiful.
You mentioned that the Queenstown Hilton Hotel has 20 to 25 chefs, and they have a lot of different sections, and they have a Chinese Wok section. I went there at lunchtime, so I didn't see a lot of customers.
[Interview with Chef, Hilton Hotel, Queenstown].
- My recommended entree, main, and dissertation menus for Chef
- My main job in the kitchen before
- Which section I want to be in (Asian vs westurn)
- My strengths and weaknesses
- What motivates us to support Hilton Hotels
- Planning your future as a Chef
- Desired shifts and weekend availability
- Desired Wage expectation Range
I'm sure there were a lot of interviews like this, but I was really impressed that he actually wrote down every single thing I said. The interview lasted about 30 to 40 minutes, and then we were done.
I liked what I saw and was told that I could send my passport, visa, and references to their email and they would work on the contract right away.
The Hilton Hotel is so big that I felt like I could learn to specialize in one section, and I knew that I would have the opportunity to move between different sections, so I could experience food from different countries.
3) Queenstown Skycity
I actually worked at Skycity when I was in Auckland. There's a branch of Skycity in Queenstown, but I didn't have high hopes of getting a job there because it's so small, but they were hiring chefs, so I applied.
Queenstown Skycity is also located in the center of Queenstown. It's almost a 5 minute walk from the Crown plaza hotel. The center of Queenstown is really small. You can walk everywhere in almost 10 minutes. Being in the center, the bus service is just as good as the Crown plaza hotel.
In fact, the size was very small compared to the above 2 hotels. We didn't accept many customers. We received the menu in Westurn style as a base menu. The total number of chefs was 4. We were not open on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The manager was very nice and told me that a lot of chefs come in thinking they're going to be here for a long time, but as soon as they get their Work VISA, they move on to another restaurant.
The most common question I heard during my Queenstown Chef interviews was whether or not I was a resident. It sounded like they wanted someone who could be here for the long haul. FYI. How to apply for New Zealand Permanent Residency onlineIf you are curious about this, please refer to my original post.
[[Interview with Queenstown Chef, Queenstown Skycity]]
- Whether you prefer Shift
- What restaurants you've worked at before
- Are you familiar with Westurn-style menus
- Desired Position & wage range
During the Skycity Queenstown Chef interview, it seemed like the manager already knew about me because I had worked at Skycity Auckland before, so he didn't ask me too many questions.
The manager showed me the kitchen after the interview, and it was really small - it reminded me of the kitchen I used to work in when I was in charge of the bar menu by myself.
4) Queenstown Chef hourly wage
During my Queenstown Chef interview, one of the essential questions I was asked was the hourly rate and salary. Actually, being a Chef is a job where your position determines your hourly wage or salary. The positions I applied for were CDP, Demi, CDP, in the order of Crown plaza, Hilton, Skycity.
Just above Demi Chef is the CDP position. You can see above that the hourly wage is $28 to $32 We usually get applicants like this, and depending on their experience, they end up in that range, but the salary that we pay is closer to the lower end of the range.
Crown Plaza's CPD and Hilton hotel Demi positions had similar hourly rates, ranging from less than $29 to $30. Queenstown Skycity was higher at over $30.
I did a few more searches on Seek and found that the CDP positions were often less than $30, and in the case of Auckland SkyCity, the CDP was $31 or higher, which is a big difference.
Finalize
I came to Queenstown to challenge myself with a new career, but finding a new job wasn't easy.
It's definitely easier in Queenstown to get a job with experience, and I think it's also because Queenstown is such a tourist town that there's a shortage of chefs.
However, I was a little surprised when I realized that the hourly wage was higher because of the shortage of Chefs.
In any case, please note that the hourly rates above are as of April 2024 and are based on my personal experience, so it's hard to generalize. I hope you can use it as a guide.
We hope you found this helpful as you prepare for your Queenstown Chef interview. Thank you for reading this article.
English 
한국어