Why is it...

[Mikeb]

That when I hide my age, and take my credentials off my resume (I'm a registered apprentice in my province), I get better job offers? I tell people I'm a 20 year old apprentice, they want to pay me bottom wage and do b#tch work...

I go with my experience alone on my resume (no mention of apprenticeship), and suddenly the wages offered are 20-40% higher, and they want me in higher positions in their kitchen. Why? Are apprentices considered merely a source of cheap labour?

[Rivitman]

Guilt by association is part of it.
IMO, about 20% of culinary graduates are worthless in the kitchen. They may have a certain skillset, but they simply aren't strong enough, tough enough, or fast enough to do the work. Many of them do toughen up over time, some never do. That B1t<h work is part of the process for evaluating an unknown quantity.

Under the old school european system, apprentices or commis pay these kind of dues for several years.

A smart chef generally does not put a 20 year old on critical tasks right away. You may think of this as discrimination, and it is in a way. But of a useful sort.

Bottom line is, you are ready to do the job or you are not. Unless you are in some sort of formal apprenticship program that requires employer involvement, there is no utility at all to lableing yourself "apprentice".

Just be sure you can do the work, day in and day out, without complaint before you take the job.