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Campbell Culinary School Offers Returning Vets Job Placement Skills

CAMPBELL (KCBS) — The International Culinary Center's California campus in Campbell is doing its part in changing the alarming number of unemployed returning veterans between the ages of 18 and 24.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that rate stands at 29 percent, far above the national unemployment rate.

The culinary center is offering returning vets the chance to get into a new career in six months or less by offering scholarships to vets entering their career programs.

The president of the Culinary Center, Bruce McCann, said former members of the military make amazingly good fits for professional kitchens.

KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:

"What we need to do and what our founder Dorothy Hamilton was passionate about doing is putting these veterans into these opportunities in a way that they can afford," he said. According to McCann the actual organization of a modern restaurant kitchen was designed by Georges Escoffier, a French chef from the 19th century.

"It's based on the military scheme," he said, referring to the concept of a chef, sous chef and onwards down the line.

And according to him, the outlook for the culinary industry is bright.

"We're in an industry that is going to add 1.4 million jobs. Here in Campbell at the school we have five job postings for every graduate," McCann added optimistically.

For more information on the veteran scholarship program go to internationalculinarycenter.com and click the tab in the top right corner.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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