Student work placements are vital link to good staff

Work placement is more than a chance to practise skills, it's a vital element in career and personal development, says Alistair Telfer.

College work placements have been highlighted by students, educators and employers alike as needing urgent attention, since too many placements are currently not achieving their objectives, according to a recent report entitled Bridging The Gap, compiled by the Hospitality Training Foundation (HtF).

The objective of the report was to determine what hospitality employers needed from educators, and vice versa.

It showed that 65.6% of the students surveyed had had a work placement while at college, and of that figure only 57.8% said that it had met their expectations. It said that valuable opportunities were being missed in attracting entrants into the industry, as many students were deterred from a career in the hospitality profession because of a bad work placement.

This was certainly true of my own experience. I got off to a very bad start, suffering at the hands of a bullying chef who almost made me leave the industry.

However, I found an alternative placement, which involved a very productive six months at Pinewood Studios, which had an extremely large and complex catering operation. I worked in every department and even took on supervisory responsibilities when some of the heads of department went on holiday.

I understood the importance of being organised and making sure that everything was ready for service. If you were not ready when "the curtain went up", you were doomed - an important lesson for anyone.

I very much enjoyed my time in the kitchen, but decided that the environment was not for me. I knew that I would focus on front of house. I was able to practise and hone all the various skills I had been taught at college, and discovered that I enjoyed working with numbers, particularly food and beverage and other control systems.

College work placement is an essential part of students' development, giving them an opportunity to identify which sector of the industry might suit them - or which sector they should not enter.

However, a placement only gives students as much as they are prepared to put in. Sadly, some students today think that the industry owes them a living because they have chosen to join it. They are often unprepared for what awaits them, and believe that they should enter at supervisory or management level.

A good college placement - chosen with the needs, interests and abilities of the individual in mind - allows students to start at the bottom and work their way up in a relatively safe environment. They can then develop their skills as they go. Much of the success of a work placement also relies on effective communication between the college and employers.

The wide range of sectors and career possibilities in hospitality is one of the industry's unique selling propositions. It is, therefore, vital that tutors in charge of work placements keep abreast of all the opportunities available to students, and take the time to match students to the most appropriate experiences for their needs, character and interests.

Our industry is based on craft skills, and we must not forget this. Students who are not prepared to learn these skills should look elsewhere for their careers. The encouraging news for the industry in this respect is that the HtF report revealed that, during college industrial placements, the restaurant (66.7%) and the kitchen (64.1%) proved to be the most popular destinations.

In addition, 71.1% of employers surveyed believed that students were either "competent" or "quite competent" to perform their roles during their work placements. Many employers recognised that, when focusing on skills on which to build, enthusiasm, personal skills and realism about work prospects were more important at this stage for students than perfecting technical skills.

The report also showed, contrary to much anecdotal evidence, that students were well prepared for entry into the workforce on leaving college. In all, 82.9% of employers surveyed thought that graduates were either "quite" or "very competent" to enter the industry.

However, they found that students generally lacked traditional social skills. Many employers cited communication, timekeeping, personal appearance and general attitude as lacking.

Given that ours is a "people industry", this is a particularly worrying factor, and serves to emphasise the importance of a good work placement in trying to iron out such difficulties.

Unless we can provide really effective industrial placements that meet the needs of the students - in terms of character, ability and interest - we are going to deter high-calibre students from entering our profession.

That is something we can ill afford to do.

Further details about the Bridging The Gap report can be found on the HtF's Web site: www.htf.org.uk

Alistair Telfer is secretary of the Carlton Club in London and president of the HCIMA. In 1992, he won a Caterer Acorn award, and he is currently treasurer of the Acorn Club.