Hotel group encourages careers in hospitality

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Dolan Hotels is working with Highlands College by offering practical work experience to local students studying for qualifications in the hospitality industry.

Andrew Shrimpton, director of Dolan Hotels says it is important that students receive access to practical work experience in fields relevant to their qualifications. The Dolan educational outreach programme was launched in October 2013, initially offering tailored support and advise to students from Le Rocquier, Les Quennevais, Grainville and Haute Vallée schools.

“I am pleased that Highlands College have opted to join our educational outreach programme this year. The initial feedback that we received from the participating schools was really positive, with many hoping to take further advantage of the partnership in 2014. Practical exposure to the industry in an integral part of the school curriculum and we hope that training days such as this will assist with the students’ academic progress and future career development,” he said.

Throughout this year, students studying travel and tourism and business management will be offered work experience placements and training days.

The curriculum manager of business at Highlands, Lisa de Gruchy, said: “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for our students.  A partnership with such a successful, local business like the Dolan Group offers our students from both the business and travel and tourism subject areas the opportunity to place their theoretical learning into practice and observe and experience life in a real organisation.  The expertise of the business professionals at Dolan will be invaluable to the students and we are very grateful to their team for their generosity of time and commitment to developing our local learners.”

 Sofia Abreu recently spent a week shadowing the reception team at the Somerville Hotel. She was encouraged to get involved with the day-to-day tasks of running a hospitality business, including front-of-house duties such as taking restaurant bookings, checking guests in and out, and assisting with general enquiries.