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Who’s better placed to showcase how great the industry is, than hospitality people themselves?

Alongside other great industry initiatives to tackle the perception challenge across the hospitality sector, Caterer.com has launched a campaign that will provide school leavers with inspiring advice and information through a series of videos showcasing hospitality people telling their story, in partnership with Youth Employment UK and Choose Hospitality.

Images of the hospitality heroes videos and the Caterer.com, Youth Employment UK and Choose Hospitality logos

Caterer.com have launched the Hospitality Heroes video series which spotlights a vast range of roles within the sector by giving real world hospitality people a voice to share their stories. Furthermore, Caterer.com are the proud sponsors of the Choose Hospitality video series, which brings hospitality people together alongside the sector’s most influential ambassadors to promote the sector as a great place to work.

With hospitality businesses facing talent shortages alongside increased demand and higher customer expectation, employers are focused on attracting the next generation of skilled workers. However, our new research reveals that 95% of school leavers are not currently considering a career in the sector, so it’s never been more important than now to share with the next generation of hospitality workers just how great the industry is!

Parents and the curriculum discouraging school leavers

Our research also showed that parents have the biggest influence on career choices of school leavers, however just one in five (23%) would encourage their child to pursue a career in the hospitality sector as they believe it offers low pay, has anti-social working hours and there is a poor earning potential. Most parents would prefer their child to explore a career in industries such as engineering, law, management, or finance.

Furthermore, many young people feel that they have not been properly informed about hospitality jobs at school and 61% feel the removal of food technology from the national curriculum has undermined a career in the sector. Any presence of hospitality within the curriculum has historically focused solely on kitchen-based roles, which fails to inform students about the vast breadth of roles and opportunities within the sector.

Breaking the barriers to entry to the hospitality industry

By featuring real-world interviews with hospitality workers and leading chefs, in schools across the country, we hope for the videos to act as educational career guides and will provide both pupils and parents access to finding out more about the world-leading hospitality brands and progressive opportunities that the industry can offer from entry level up.

Carlito Carroll, Commis Chef Apprentice at Nobu Hotel London Portman Square, is one of the stars of the Hospitality Heroes series. Carlito commented: “I was studying a variety of courses in school and looking at jobs in engineering when one day I sat down and decided to do something I loved – cooking. It brings me so much joy so I decided to find an apprenticeship course because it would allow me to earn whilst I work and learn!! I really get excited about coming into Nobu Hotel London Portman Square – cooking, seeing people happy once they eat my food and sharing the same passion as my colleagues.”

How can the hospitality industry make young people more aware of the amazing opportunities?

James Wingerath, Director at Youth Employment UK said: “Young people have told us that they are not aware of the amazing opportunities available to them. The Hospitality Heroes videos and supporting guidance are a great resource to inform young people about the many job roles available in the sector and how to access them.”

Watch part one of Choose Hospitality

In this video series, we hear straight from the industry ambassadors themselves and showcase the benefits of working in the sector and highlight the opportunities available.

See more Choose Hospitality videos 

Claire Bosi, Editor at Choose Hospitality, added: “We created the Choose Hospitality initiative to inspire and educate people on the vast range of opportunities across the sector. We work with many industry ambassadors to share their experiences and demonstrate just how exciting and rewarding a career in hospitality can be. After all, who’s better placed to showcase how great the industry is, than people in the industry.”

More than 19,000 new entry level hospitality roles are currently available on Caterer.com, having increased by 71% over the last two years.

Entry level talent can try their hand at the industry with a variety of roles across the country, such as Commis chef roles, catering staff roles and waiter jobs.

Let our Hospitality Heroes tell you more about their amazing roles in the hospitality industry. 

More resources

Choose Hospitality Magazine Cover
Choose Hospitality – an initiative bringing the industry together to promote careers in hospitality

Launched to coincide with National Hospitality Day on 18th September 2021, Choose Hospitality is an initiative driven by the industry itself, to stimulate interest in the wide-ranging benefits of a career in hospitality.

Image of Laura-Jane Rawlings from Youth Employment UK, Dan Power from Umbrella Training and Lauren Mistry from Youth Employment UK
How can the industry combat the poor perception of working in the hospitality industry? – featuring: Youth Employment UK and Umbrella Training – Recruiting in Hospitality podcast

Caterer.com hosted a series of roundtable discussions around the UK to address the current skills crisis and to gauge the opinion of hospitality leaders on sourcing entry level talent for the hospitality industry.

 

Hospitality workers in a coffee shop behind the counter making drink
How to engage the next generation of hospitality workers

On average, the majority of people working in UK hospitality are aged between 20 and 24, according to research carried out by the CIPD in their 2019 Megatrends report. As an industry hospitality is powered by young talent at entry level, with many seeing hospitality as a stopgap job, looking for opportunities rather than a career. What can the sector do to engage and retain its young workforce?

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