Hospitality - What's on offer?

Work experience comes in many shapes and sizes. There's a lot you can find out about hospitality by working in the industry. Here are a few ideas.

Part-time work
Many people start work in the hospitality industry at an early age, although there are certain kinds of work that you cannot do until you are 18 (such as selling alcohol). The great thing is that unlike jobs such as banking, which is centred in London or New York, hospitality's all around you. There are many casual or part-time jobs that you can try out, such as waitressing in a café, Reception work, bar work or kitchen work.

While this might not be quite what you want to do for the rest of your life, it will give you a good opportunity to experience the industry in action and to witness many of the roles available first hand. You'll be able to see what it's like to run a hotel or a restaurant and it will give you a flavour of other areas in which you might want to work.

Work Placements
These often take the form of a year out during your studies, where you will be working for an employer, experiencing as many aspects of the business as possible. Many colleges and universities encourage you to take such experience and will assist in setting up placements wherever possible. A successful work placement may result in an offer of sponsorship. This means that your employers will support, assistance with further work experience or information for use in coursework or your dissertation. It may even result in the offer of a job when you graduate.

Training restaurants
Many colleges and universities have set up their own training restaurants, which invite paying customers to appreciate your skills while you practice them. Not only will you be able to put culinary accomplishments to the test, but you will also be able to try out your management and organisational skills when dealing with customers as well as fellow students. You will learn to work as a team leader - essential skills in the hospitality industry.

Work shadowing
This is a short period of time, usually unpaid time, usually spent watching people at work. You will literally shadow someone, often a senior figure, as they go through their working day so that you can gain an overview of how an organisation operates and the responsibilities that individuals have at different levels.

Vacation work
Even if you just get some work experience during the school or college holidays you cannot fail to learn something. Holidays are traditionally very busy times in the hospitality industry and you'll stand a really good chance of finding suitable work experience.

Help yourself
Work experience is often the factor that decides between two candidates with similar skills and qualifications. Do try to find work experience but be careful how you go about asking for it. It's easy to concentrate on how useful the experience will be for you. That's not likely to help you get a placement. Most employers will want to know what's in it for them. Try to think about how you can help them out. When you apply to companies for work shadowing or work-experience placements, persuade them that you're genuinely interested in a career in the industry. You should be willing to work hard and try your hand at anything. Let them know you have skills that would be useful to their company.

Finally, when you're doing your work experience, take time each day to think about what you've done and what you've learned. The ability to recite examples of the experience you've had will come in very handy at job interviews.

Contributed by ILAM - The Institute of Leisure and Amenities Management, UK

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