How many times have you heard people moan about the calibre and lack of number of recruits into the hospitality industry? Yet often companies aren't proactive about enticing youngsters into the fold, even though there's a very easy way to show the next generation of prospective employees the opportunities that are there for the taking for anyone making a career in hospitality.

Just repeat after me: "Work experience". Obvious, isn't it? Offering work experience to school pupils provides a wonderful opportunity for the industry to promote itself to a wide audience.

Although it's not compulsory, 95% (some 550,000) of key stage four pupils (years 10 and 11) in England go on unpaid work placements each year, either before or just after completion of their GCSE examinations. Moreover, the Government has recently voiced its commitment to work-related learning, and is keen to increase this figure to 100%, with more pupils extending placements from one to two weeks. Work experience is also a key feature in the sixth form (years 12 and 13), when pupils are making key decisions concerning their future careers.

Bad quality placements, though, can scare students away from pursuing a career in a specific industry. In Scotland, work experience has been criticised as sometimes being irrelevant and boring. "Some pupils are left with nothing to do besides making the tea," says Judith Gillespie, general manager of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council. "There's a lot of pressure on schools to find placements, without any serious consideration given as to whether the experience will be useful for each pupil."

Gillespie has many examples of poorly organised work placements, including one at a hotel in Edinburgh where a pupil was left to her own devices for three days because the training manager didn't turn up. The pupil - a girl - was also not allowed to eat lunch at the hotel and was instead directed to a cafeteria down the road. "Work experience should be meaningful," Gillespie says. "We'd like to see employers putting more effort into offering pupils a true taste of their industry. Employers should take the impetus as they will benefit in the long run."

The sentiment is echoed by Martin Couchman, deputy chief executive at the British Hospitality Association. "If a business is going to take on a young person for a week then it needs to put in enough effort and resources to provide a valuable opportunity with things to learn and do," he says. "Work experience can often lead to regular part-time work alongside studies and then eventually into full-time work."

Sam Coulstock, activities manager at Springboard UK, who organises work placements throughout London, is a prime example of someone who came into the industry in this way. He was inspired to make hospitality his career after two weeks' work experience in the catering department at the Society of the Middle Temple when he was 15. "Students must come with the correct attitude and be briefed by their schools that the world of work is nothing like school," he says, "but employers must also do their bit by treating them as one of the team."

Interestingly, while some schools in England make their own work experience arrangements for their students directly with local employers, many are increasingly turning to specialist training bodies for support. In the hospitality industry, Springboard UK and the Hotel and Catering Training Council (HCTC) are both involved in organising work placements, while the Trident Trust is a national charity working with about 90,000 employers across all industries.

Last year the Trident Trust put 130,000 students into work placements via its 55 offices around the country. Students are put into the most appropriate work experience environment possible, according to general and career interests. And this is only after all employers have been assessed to ensure all health and safety and child protection checks are in place.

"It's not always practical for an employer to provide hands-on experience for the entirety of the placement and certainly no student should expect to receive intensive training as a chef in one week," concedes Nicky Godding, spokesman for the trust. "The aim of a placement is to develop employability skills by teaching something about the commitment of an eight-hour working day, the tolerance and diplomacy required in the workplace, and an element of the work ethic required. Getting pupils to engage and communicate with fellow employees is more important at this stage than learning specific skills."

Employers who are proactive in offering beneficial periods of work experience are likely to reap rewards in the long term. At two hotels in Liverpool - the 164-bedroom Liverpool Marriott Hotel South at Speke Airport and the 146-bedroom Liverpool Marriott City Centre Hotel - what initially started out as one week of work experience has been formalised into something more - the Marriott Academy - in an attempt to secure ambitious and dedicated staff.

The academy has links with several local schools, enabling A level and GNVQ students to spend two days a week gaining work experience and training while also working towards their NVQ level 2 with the HCTC.

Following the first year of training 10 students left school and were immediately offered jobs at the two hotels across a variety of departments, including food and beverage, housekeeping and reception. If Marriott can do it, why not you?


Case Study - Baxter & Platts
Geoff Edwards, general manager of the catering contract at Goodenough College, a conference centre and accommodation for overseas postgraduate students in Bloomsbury, London, is keen to take on work experience pupils because of the resulting opportunities to recruit full-time staff.

In July last year, two 16-year-old students were selected for a two-week placement as a result of interviews held during a work experience fair organised by Springboard UK at Charlton Football Club. Both students completed a one-day induction programme on Baxter & Platts and its role within the Compass Group. One then went on to spend the rest of the fortnight training in front of house and was given comprehensive instruction on making cappuccinos, experience of the cashless till system, marketing and promotions, and customer care.

The second student, Stacey Wiggs, worked in the kitchen, learning knife skills and food hygiene, making pizzas, salads and sandwiches, as well as overseeing the preparation of meals for between 25 and 300 covers. "By the end of the two weeks I knew I wanted to be a chef," she says. A week after the placement she was appointed as a trainee chef at Goodenough College, where she is now undertaking work-based NVQ level 2 training.


Contacts

British Hospitality Association
020 7404 7744
www.bha-online.org.uk

Springboard UK
020 7395 9497
www.springboarduk.org.uk

Hotel & Catering Training Council
020 8735 9700
www.hctc.co.uk

The Trident Trust
020 7014 1400
www.thetridenttrust.org.uk


Making work experience successful
- Arrange an interview with the student before they start the placement.
- Discuss and agree targets for the placement.
- Plan a programme of work that will contribute to achieving the targets.
- Identify a suitable person who will be responsible for the student during the placement.
- Provide an induction programme which tells the student about the hotel, restaurant or catering company, and makes them aware of safe working practices and the risks involved.
- Identify expected standards of behaviour and relevant rules and regulations.
- Allow the students to record and collect evidence of their achievements.
- Review targets and progress at regular intervals with the student and the teacher who visits.
- Contact the school immediately in case of any problem, query or non-attendance.
- Complete any employer's report form or write reference.
- Contribute towards follow-up school work, wherever possible.

Source: The Trident Trust


Benefits of work experience students
- Opportunity to promote your business to teachers, parents and students.
- Working with young people presents opportunities of development for existing staff.
- Prepares young people for the job market.
- Students may provide you with a new perspective on your business.