Careers in Food Industries That Do not Require a Degree

If you have been unable to study through or beyond high school, a career in the food industries might be just the thing you need. And having some sort of a degree or specialized diploma in line with your career of choice can provide you the job security and progress you always wanted. If you like food, which most of us do, there's nothing better than the food industries which has held steady even throughout the recession. Food being one of the basic necessities of humankind, a career in food preparation and allied fields has a measure of stability provided by few other industries.

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However, people trying to find employment in the food industries, especially those without a college degree, rarely take the employment as a serious career option, or feel the need to study and analyze options available to them. The reason, primarily, is lack of knowledge about options in the food industry, and jobseekers identifying only those roles that are readily visible. This article mentions the job roles in food industries where there are few college graduates, and which also show a consistent job growth prospect.

The top job roles we have identified in the food industry for non-graduates are as follow:

1. Chef: Obviously one of the most coveted positions in food industry, only 14% of Chefs have a college degree with 7% being successfully self-employed, and job growth through 2016 predicted at 8%. Currently, there are 115, 000 Chefs in U.S. and the number is expected to increase to 124, 000 by 2016. The median salary of a Chef is close to $35, 000.
2. Food Drying Machine Operator: A relatively overlooked job role in the food industries, there are more than 19, 000 Food Drying Machine Operators in the U.S. with a median salary close to $24, 000. This is an industry based job role with no opportunity of self-employment. However, job growth to 2016 is pegged at 11% and currently the number of college graduates in the job role is close to zero percent.
3. Food Preparation Supervisor: A typically hardcore leadership and management role, this job has a surprising low percentage of degree holders, the current being 14%. There are opportunities of self-employment with increasing experience and reputation and 4% of people in this occupation are self-employed. The job growth in the occupation is expected to remain at 11% through 2016 but the numbers in this job are large enough. Currently, there are more than 800, 000 workers in this role and the number is expected to increase by another 100, 000 by 2016. Median salary is close to $30, 000.
4. Food Batchmaker: This is another often-overlooked job role with a median salary close to $25, 000, but only 5% workers having college degrees. Job growth is expected to remain at 11% through 2016. There are opportunities of self-employment and 2% people are self-employed in the occupation. Current numbers of employed people is around 95, 000 and the number is expected to increase to 105, 000 by 2016.
5. Restaurant Cook: This is a job role, just a notch lower in status than that of a Chef, many Chefs start out as Restaurant Cooks with a median salary close to $20, 000. Only 5% people in the occupation have college degrees, and the expected job growth is 12% through 2016. Currently, there are about 850, 000 people in the occupation with the numbers expected to go up to 948, 000 by 2016. There are opportunities of self-employment in the field, and around 1% of people in the occupation are self-employed.
6. Cafeteria Cook: Cafeteria Cooks enjoy a median salary slightly higher than Restaurant cooks and have 5% degree holders in the occupation. Job growth is expected at 11% through 2016. There are more than 400, 000 people working in the occupation and the numbers are expected to increase to about 445, 000 by 2016. There are opportunities of self-employment in the sector, and roughly 1% of people are self-employed.
7. Fast Food Preparation: This is another specialized job role in the food industries with a median salary close to $15, 000, and only 5% degree holders in the occupation. Expected job growth in the sector is very high, pegged at 18%, and the current number of people in the field are around 2,503, 000, with the numbers expected to increase to 2,955, 000 by 2016.
8. Fast Food Cook: A slightly different job-role than that of fast food preparation, fast food cooks draw a median salary close to $ 15, 000 and have 5% degree holders in the field. Job growth is not as robust as in fast food preparation and predicted only at 8% through 2016, which is lower than in most other job-roles in the field. Current numbers employed are around 629, 000, with the numbers expected to increase to 681, 000 by 2016. There is opportunity of self employment in the sector and around 1% people in the occupation are self-employed.

These are the best opportunities we have found in the food sector for people without college degrees, and almost all of them show a higher job growth than found in most other industries. However, point to not e is that even in these fields, a certain amount of specialization is required that differentiates the candidate as something more than a simple Cook, or Private Cook. We have not listed the occupations of a simple Cook, or Private Cook here, because the growth opportunities in both the sectors are at zero percent.



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