Discuss About The Employability Hospitality Graduates Student.
Back in February, when I started to look for restaurant internships, I had no specific idea of what to expect from the overall program. It is true that I have worked for five months at Mezz kitchen and bar, however; I was quite nervous as internship is different than a full time job. During my internship, I was promoted to the position of Chef de Partie as I had some general idea of managing kitchen. The restaurant offers some pleasant Australian cuisine, with a total capacity of 172 seats. I believed that interning with this company would prove to be beneficial for me, as I have already worked there for around five months.
The report will outline my internship period, my work experiences, overview of the organization, organizational background as well as roles and achievements during the internship period. Moreover, I am going to discuss about my learning experiences of the internship placement. In addition to this, the report will highlight the management skills as well as qualities required in the hospitality industry. These points will help me in giving a brief description regarding the importance of internships in shaping my career. Lastly, I am going to discuss about the issues, which I faced inside the organization and provide with some recommendations.
I did my internship from Mezz kitchen and bar at Chadstone, which commenced from 19th February and ended on 29th April. Before interning there, I have been working at the same restaurant for five months, which gave me some idea regarding the organizational culture and workplace settings. The restaurant at Chadstone offers some relaxed experiences to its customers. Based inside the most chaotic Chadstone shopping centre, the restaurant offers pleasant as well as modern Australian cuisine to its customers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Customers enjoy good food, good music and good services for seven days a week. Moreover, the restaurant has an open kitchen along with the capacity of 172 seats (Mezzkitchenandbar.com.au 2018). Working there before was beneficial for me and thus, I believed that the place was perfect for me to carry out the journey of internship.
In the heart of the busy retail centre, the botanical oasis rises in order to beckon the customers into the restaurant’s leafy and restful interior. The Fashion Capital has extended their fashion and food culture inside the retail space to offer the shoppers an amazing experience that is normally expected from the best restaurants. Mezz kitchen and bar is a great place where people come to relax, enjoy and unwind a grand meal partnered with great ambience and services. The fully licensed restaurant serves great breakfast, lunch and dinner and the menu is loved by everyone (Zopiatis and Theocharous 2013). Bookings are happily accepted and moreover, they welcome walk-ins as well. The restaurant has some amazing interior, which grabs the attention of the customers. The entire internship journey was great and I have learned a lot from those experiences.
Mezz kitchen and bar appears like a mirage for the tired shoppers, along with its elegant designs, chalky timbers, garden motifs and lush planting. The restaurant attracts both young and old age groups, with its unique settings (Wang and Tsai 2014). The space is designed to be calming and botanical, humble yet high-end, along with the reflection of healthy and light cuisine, best for the health conscious customers. The pavilion is coated with stunning and magnificent jingles and inspired printed tiles in order to cater to the eyes of the customers. Furthermore, the place is enhanced by a lighting that is placed in a very cunning way just like fragments of light peeking through a slatted ceiling, resembling a tree canopy (Mezzkitchenandbar.com.au 2018).
The Work Integrated Learning (WIL) has always created huge platforms for both the international students as well as local students. They provide the students with a chance to explore and blend with the external world. The WIL programs help the newly graduates to develop and gain necessary employability skills through transforming their academic experiences and knowledge into the real life environment (Jackson 2013). The academic lecturer, design structure and institution of placement in the Work Integrated Learning play an immensely important role in what the students actually experience during their internships. Being a student of hospitality, I understand what the job demands from its employees.
The overall job demands are mostly based on skills and experiences and only theoretical knowledge is not sufficient. Therefore, the Work Integrated Learning has provided me with a big platform to showcase my talents and skills to a huge extent (Chen and Shen 2012). I got promoted to the position of Chef de Partie right after my internship commenced. WIL has helped me in acquiring a better position at the restaurant and moreover, it has built my skills, knowledge and I have become more confident than before.
In addition to this, my coordinator supported me a lot, all throughout the program. He was always available, whenever I needed his support and also, he answered all my queries. As the Chef de Partie, my job responsibilities were to oversee the section of the kitchen. I used to prepare, cook and present the dishes as per my specialty. Moreover, during my internship period I was asked to manage as well as train my subordinates, who were working with me. From the entire internship program, I have learned various things which are required for working in a hospitality sector and overall, I would rate the program 9 out of 10.
The hospitality industry offers a wide variety of career options, starting from cooking, to hosting or running a resort. In order to be successful in the industry of hospitality, one needs to have certain skills as well as qualities, to meet the expectations of the customers. The industry is a billion dollar industry, which is totally dependent on the disposable income and availability of the leisure time. In this sector, the main task of the individuals is to be committed into their job in order to ensure the satisfaction of the customers (Chinomona and Surujlal 2012). This also requires the employees to do whatever it takes to make the customers happy and satisfied with their services.
In addition to this, the employees must have top notch communication skills as well as networking skills in order to provide the customers with high quality services. Moreover, the employees of the hospitality sector are required to provide the customers with spectacular services by interacting with them on a regular basis. In simpler terms, the employees need to have excellent interpersonal skills in order to take the hospitality business at a different level (Yiu and Law 2012). These abilities also involve the employees to communicate effectively with their customers both verbally and in writing. Furthermore, the employees are required to make positive connections with the guests, clients, vendors and other employees as well.
The hospitality sector also demands for employees who can solve problems easily and take quick decisions. Thinking about the problems of the clients, customers and vendors and contributing to the productive outcomes is considered to be a crucial skill of the employees. This also involves developing practical, innovative and creative solutions that can be developed by showing some initiative and independence in solving and identifying problems. In addition to this, some additional duties of the employees also include planning for deadlines, personal daily activities and resolving routines. Moreover, the successful members of hospitality sector need to work well with other members in order to yield better outcomes. This can help in building a productive team along with efficient members (Wang and Tsai 2014).
The team members should value the contributions of each member as well as make significant contributions for the overall success of the organization. The key abilities and skills required by the employees include being able to work efficiently as a team and take instructions from other members (Phelan, Mejia and Hertzman 2013). In addition to this, the employees should understand their own roles in servicing the demands of the hospitality customers and industry (Zopiatis and Constanti 2012). Supporting the team members for coordinating the activities would help the industry in achieving quality service delivery. Moreover, respecting the cultural diversity of the team members as well as seeking their assistance will help the organizations to cater to the consumers, with high quality services (Wang, Chiang and Lee 2014).
Furthermore, in a hospitality sector, the employees are required to stay organized along with some disciplinary skills. The employees need to be organized so that they can multitask, without any difficulties. In the hospitality industry, the employees are required to be able to multitask, in all levels and handle several responsibilities, simultaneously (Fong, Luk and Law 2014). A hotel manager may be asked to negotiate with the clients single-handedly, serve the dis-satisfied guests, fill out paper works for a chef who got injured in kitchen fire and keep a smile on his/her face while greeting the new guests (Marinakou and Giousmpasoglou 2013). Therefore, these are the specific skills required by the employees of the hospitality sector.
Mezz kitchen and bar is a very reputed restaurant, which has managed to win the hearts of many customers. However, as an ex-employee and intern of the company, I am going to present some of the issues, which I faced while working at the restaurant. The issues are mainly related to the kitchen of the restaurant. The restaurant lacks the culture of kitchen safety to some extent. The rules and regulations are not good enough and the tricky part here is the employees did not follow those guidelines (Abdullah et al. 2015). Even the basic rule of hand washing was not followed adequately. At the time, when I was the employee of the restaurant, I kept on reminding others to wash their hands, but none of them followed.
Moreover, the restaurant lacked pest control, which was the worst practice I have seen during my internship days. Fostering the culture of food safety is considered to be of immense importance in a restaurant. Therefore, the staffs need to have a bigger picture of food safety. In addition to this, the restaurant needs to have proper food storage as well as waste disposal unit. The food waste is the natural bi-product for running the consumer facing food business. Thus, a clear strategy for disposing the food products is immensely important and essential. Disposing the food products outside the restaurant premises contravenes the food safety laws and in turn, attracts the pests (Cortelyou-Ward, Sumner and Rotarius 2012).
The storage of the food stuffs is also another important thing to be taken into consideration. The employees of the restaurant do not check or monitor the temperatures of the fridges as well as freezers. Therefore, it is necessary for the restaurant owners to build up a clear strategy for disposing the wastes and monitor the regulations within safe limits (Francis and Elangkovan 2017). The customers of the restaurant, at times, complained regarding the quality of foods and poor management. The food safety was also a major issue of the restaurant as it offered stale foods to the customers, at times (Datta, Biswakarma and Nayak 2013).
Moreover, the restaurant’s marketing activities are also poor, due to which its productivity and profitability is getting hampered. It is important for the marketers to take necessary steps and actions on these factors. The restaurant needs to take proper care of these factors and pay special attention towards financial investments as well. In addition to proper kitchen safety plans, the restaurant should also take certain marketing activities into consideration (Ko 2015). Proper promotional and marketing activities will help the restaurant to develop their employee as well as customer satisfaction. It is important to keep in mind that there is no success without good and effective promotional activities (Cullen 2012).
During my internship period, I have taken some customer feedbacks as well. Few of them were dis-satisfied with the management. Some of them mentioned that the food they received was of bad quality and the restaurant was worth the investment. Some of the customers were angry due to the time they had to wait for the food. They also mentioned that the waiters were disrespectful and thus, they had a terrible experience. Some even stated that they are not going back to the restaurant again, until the restaurant improves its services and food quality (Kim 2017). Therefore, it is important for the management to take care of these factors in order to succeed.
The restaurant needs to take certain factors into consideration. Firstly, the management needs to incorporate certain rules and regulations regarding food handling and kitchen safety. Moreover, it is important for the managers of the restaurant to train and mentor the employees regarding cleanliness and hygiene. Secondly, the employees should be trained to monitor the food quality and check the temperature of the freezer on a daily basis, so that it does not hamper the quality of the food and beverages. Thirdly, the employees must be well trained and asked to give their best services, without offending the consumers.
Thirdly, the management of the restaurant should take care of their customers’ demands and desires, without offending them. During my internship period, I have seen many customers getting angry due to poor management system. Therefore, these are the factors which need adequate as well as appropriate actions. The restaurant managers should train the waiters on how to behave with the customers and give adequate attention to this, in order to cater to the most number of customers. Moreover, it is important for the employees of the restaurant to keep a track of the customers’ experiences. This can be done by managing the official websites and pages of the restaurant as well as conducting customer survey.
Conclusion
To conclude, the internship program has assisted me a lot in gaining a huge variety of experiences as well as skills in the hospitality sector. I am grateful to my professional guide coordinator, for assisting me all throughout the internship period. In addition to this, he has provided me with all sorts of help and guidance, throughout the program. This particular internship has helped me in exploring my field of career. Hence, I got to develop my leadership as well as communication skills. As per my opinion, the overall internship experience has the power to enhance the career of the students to a huge extent.
The internship program has helped me in developing my personality as well as academics. I have learned various skills and gained knowledge as well as experiences. In addition to this, I have become confident enough, than before, learnt coordination among the team members and moreover, I have gained practical and hospitality industry knowledge, which is going to help me in future. However, it is important to mention that there were several challenges as well, which I managed to overcome to a huge extent. I have accomplished my tasks and in addition, I got to enhance my networking skills by meeting new people. The entire journey was great and I would certainly recommend all my friends to participate in this amazing journey.
References
Abdullah, R., Zahari, H., Mat, N.A.N., Zain, R.A. and Derani, N., 2015. Hospitality internships: an employment advantage or perilous experience. Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, 5(8), pp.34-38.
Chen, T.L. and Shen, C.C., 2012. Today’s intern, tomorrow’s practitioner?—The influence of internship programmes on students’ career development in the Hospitality Industry. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 11(1), pp.29-40.
Chinomona, R. and Surujlal, J., 2012. The influence of student internship work experience on their self-improvement and professionalism in Sport Management: sport management. African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 18(Issue-4_2), pp.885-899.
Cortelyou-Ward, K., Sumner, J. and Rotarius, T., 2012. Expanding the definition of an internship: Embracing non-conventional graduate students. The Journal of Health Administration Education, 29(4).
Cullen, F., 2012. An Investigation in Culinary Life and Professional Identity in Practice during Internship.
Datta, A., Biswakarma, K.S. and Nayak, B., 2013. Effect of internship on career perception of hotel management students. Zenith International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 3(10), pp.50-63.
Fong, L.H.N., Luk, C. and Law, R., 2014. How do hotel and tourism students select internship employers? A segmentation approach. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 15, pp.68-79.
Francis, R.S. and Elangkovan, N.A., 2017. Satisfaction towards internship programme and future career development for students in private higher education institutions: a research note. Asia-Pacific Journal of Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism, 6(2), pp.69-74.
Jackson, D., 2013. The contribution of work-integrated learning to undergraduate employability skill outcomes.
Kim, E.E.K., 2017. The Impact of Restaurant Service Experience Valence and Purchase Involvement on Consumer Motivation and Intention to Engage in eWOM. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 18(3), pp.259-281.
Ko, W.H., 2015. Is It Competent Enough for Handling Foodservice Quality? From the Students’ Viewpoint of Self-perceived Competence and the Contribution of Hospitality Course. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, 3(1-2), pp.1-14.
Marinakou, E. and Giousmpasoglou, C., 2013. An investigation of student satisfaction from hospitality internship programs in Greece. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, 1(3), pp.103-112.
Mezzkitchenandbar.com.au (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.mezzkitchenandbar.com.au/about-mezz-restaurant-chadstone-shopping-centre/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2018].
Phelan, K.V., Mejia, C. and Hertzman, J., 2013. The industry experience gap: Hospitality faculty perceptions of the importance of faculty industry experience. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 25(3), pp.123-130.
Wang, Y.F. and Tsai, C.T., 2014. Employability of hospitality graduates: Student and industry perspectives. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 26(3), pp.125-135.
Wang, Y.F. and Tsai, C.T., 2014. Employability of hospitality graduates: Student and industry perspectives. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 26(3), pp.125-135.
Wang, Y.F., Chiang, M.H. and Lee, Y.J., 2014. The relationships amongst the intern anxiety, internship outcomes, and career commitment of hospitality college students. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 15, pp.86-93.
Yiu, M. and Law, R., 2012. A review of hospitality internship: Different perspectives of students, employers, and educators. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 12(4), pp.377-402.
Zopiatis, A. and Constanti, P., 2012. Managing hospitality internship practices: a conceptual framework. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 24(1), pp.44-51.
Zopiatis, A. and Theocharous, A.L., 2013. Revisiting hospitality internship practices: A holistic investigation. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 13, pp.33-46.
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