Gray's energy

Mike Engler looks down through the vertigo-inducing windows of Rhodes Twenty Four restaurant at the City of London below. It's a very different landscape from what he's used to at home in Old, a small village near Northampton. There, coming towards the end of his NVQ level 3 chef's diploma at Northampton College, he spends evenings and weekends cooking in a local pub, the Stag's Head.

But the floor-to-ceiling view from Rhodes Twenty Four's kitchen is about to become much more familiar to the 20-year-old. Engler is the first trainee to accept a job at Gary Rhodes's new restaurant after completing a two-week work placement arranged through college. He starts next month.

Engler can thank head chef Adam Gray for this great start to his career. Gray is a former Northampton student who has kept in touch with the college. He started going back to Northampton to give demonstrations, and last year decided to offer work placements, conscious of the need to nurture home-grown talent. "We need more British chefs. Sadly, in this day and age it's an easier option to do something else for a living," he explains.

The rolling series of placements is commendable in its long-term scope. Even if trainees don't opt to take a position immediately, Gray wants to maintain contact, so in two or three years' time he'll have a pool of potential staff familiar with the restaurant.

"The whole point of doing this is to see if they want a job. We see if we like them, they like us, and if they want to start their career with us," Gray says. As soon as two students finish, another two start. About 12 trainees are expected this year.

This is because, as well as new recruits at Rhodes Twenty Four, the Rhodes team needs more chefs for a second London restaurant, which it's due to take over later this year. Up to eight new chefs are required at the Admiralty restaurant at Somerset House. Like Rhodes Twenty Four, this is a joint venture between Rhodes and Restaurant Associates, the fine-dining arm of Compass Group. It's expected to be operational in June or July.

Gray chooses trainees while giving demonstrations at Northampton. Engler and Paul Sturgess, 22, were first to catch his attention. With a £200 grant each for travel expenses from sponsor 3663, the pair found accommodation in Edgware and got their initial taste of commuter life and 18-hour days.

What first struck them about working at Rhodes Twenty Four? "The size of this building," Engler says of the 42-storey tower. "The food is of such a high standard that preparation takes a lot of time."

Have there been any tough moments during their first taste of a high-pressure commercial environment? They admit making a hash of a tomato concasse, but you learn from your mistakes. "Our knife skills have definitely got better, and our knives have got sharper," Engler says.

Throughout the two weeks Engler and Sturgess have been on different sections helping chefs prepare the food. The restaurant trains its entire staff in arts such as butchery and fish-filleting because it doesn't use pre-prepared ingredients.

At the end of their two weeks, the guys sum up how they feel. "I've realised how much work is actually involved and how long the days are going to be," Engler says.

Sturgess says it has shown how easy life is at college by comparison. It's made his ambition stronger and given him some decisions to make about his future. He has another work placement lined up at Paul Rankin's restaurant, Cayenne, in Belfast.

Moving to London is a big and expensive step to make, and Gray understands that it's not for everyone. But Engler is about to take the plunge. "It's too good an opportunity to turn down," he says.