Young People Get a Taste of Careers in Hospitality

Bringing together a collection of unique hotels on the North Coast 500 in Scotland is something of a burning ambition for the team at Highland Coast Hotels. One of their four hotels, Kylesku Hotel has recently committed their support to The Young Person’s Guarantee, and now they are looking to sign up their three other hotels this year. They believe they can offer different opportunities for partnership working with secondary schools and colleges.

Kylesku Hotel signed up to the Young Person’s Guarantee as the team are passionate about the Hospitality industry and the exciting career pathways it can offer. They believe in nurturing young local talent by encouraging them into their business and demonstrating those pathways to them. Their commitment to the Young Person’s Guarantee is being delivered through a range of career, training and work placement opportunities that will prepare young people for the world of work and support them into further education and employment.

“It’s important to us that we nurture and develop our people to be the very best they can be. Our people are everything!” Gergley Zbisko, Groups Operations Controller for Highland Coast Hotels Limited

The hotel offers work placement opportunities to students at Ullapool High School and during their time at the hotel, they gain insight into all aspects of hotel life. This includes front of house, kitchen, serving and housekeeping. For senior students, they also offer more bespoke arrangements tailored to the individual and offer part time or hourly work experience on a weekly ongoing basis for as long as required.

Gergley explains:
“The benefit of offering a young person the opportunity to take part in work experience is that they get to gain a deeper understanding of how they feel about being part of the career they are interested in, in a real-life setting. It gives them the confidence to know what to expect, and if they have interviews for college, they can talk about their experience at the hotel. 
 
“Young people are key to our future economic success so it is crucial we do as much as we can to prepare them for the world of work and open up job opportunities for all. Kylesku Hotel provides the opportunity for students to gain practical work experience while being supported by our experienced, diverse staff.
 
I would encourage other employers to offer local young people the opportunity to excel in businesses nearer to where they live, rather than always feeling they need to move away from the area.”

On 10th March this month, Kyleksu Hotel attended a Careers Fair at Ullapool High School where they talked to over 200 students from S1-S6. Students had the opportunity to ask any questions they had about the hospitality industry. While attending the Careers Fair, discussions took place with the DYW School Co-ordinator about inviting the twelve students studying Hospitality to visit the hotel. This allowed the opportunity for them to see the hotel and the workers in action, this gave the students real and relevant experience before applying to college to study hospitality full time.

Gergley continues:
“It was a very rewarding experience for all of us and it was lovely to see the students had serious interest in Hospitality. Having the support of the school’s DYW School Co-ordinator and  one point of contact has been fantastic. She informs us of planned employer activities and events and can introduce us to suitable students or work experience placements.”

In addition to supporting young people, Kylesku Hotel invests in a skilled workforce by offering regular staff training and accredited courses. Regular in-service training covers aspects of Health & Safety and food. Hotel employees and students on work experience placements gain the benefits of this training too.

Highland Coast Hotels will continue to offer work experience placements, jobs, and apprenticeships to local young people as they Expand their hotel chain. 

Find out how employers can support Ask 1 of the Young Person's Guarantee and help young people prepare for the world of work here.