Careers Roadshow
As usual Fáilte
Ireland; in conjunction with the Irish Hotels Federation and the Restaurants
Associations of Ireland organised a series of career roadshows in October
and November. These were held in 20 venues nationwide with the events
being held in hotels, Fáilte Ireland centres and Institutes of
Technology.
The aim of the roadshows is to provide an insight for second level students into the hospitality industry and hopefully to attract many of them into careers within the industry.
Each roadshow comprises an information section on the various career paths into the industry. Also various hotel personnel, for example chefs gave talks on their daily workload and their route through the industry. In addition there was the highly popular cookery demonstration where students got to sample some of our top chefs’ culinary delights.
Overall, about 10,000 school leavers attended these roadshows. From an analysis of the completed evaluation forms from teachers it emerged that most felt that the roadshows were of great benefit to students in terms of career information as well as being a highly enjoyable day out.
Career/Recruitment Events
| Date | Event | Outcome |
| January | Kerry Career
Guidance Counsellors Career Day |
This annual event attracted over 1,500 second level students from the the Kerry, West Limerick and South West Cork region. |
| February | FAS Opportunities 2003 | Europe’s largest career, educational and skills showcase was again held in the RDS. Over 130,000 job seekers & students attended the event with over 10,000 visiting the joint IHF/CERT stand. |
| September | Irish Times Higher Options Conference 24th – 26th September | The 17th Higher Options and Institute of Guidance Counselors was, as usual held in the RDS Exhibition Centre. The event attracted almost 25,000 students and it offered employers the opportunity to attract young Irish students to careers in the hotel industry and possibly the opportunity to offer some students work experience or part-time work. |
| October / November | National Careers Roadshow | Our annual industry based careers event – see separate section. |
Inaugural
meeting on-line masters programme
On-Line
Masters
This degree is developed to specifically centre on all aspects of the
hospitality industry. It is a flexible programme designed for today’s
professionals. The course is taught by means of Internet technology and
video conferencing; thus allowing students from all parts of Ireland to
participate. This new venture, a radical departure from traditional methods
has proved popular among professional from all sectors of industry.
Quality
Employer Programme
Last year saw the review
of the Quality Employer Programme. The programme has been in operation
since 1997 and although updated in line with changing legislation it has
never been totally revamped. Therefore the review took place with the
main aim of analysing and evaluating the QEP since its inception in 1997
and identifying future developments for the programme.
The Tourism Research Centre of Dublin Institute of Technology was commissioned to conduct the review and carried out their research by interviewing a representative sample of QEP members and non-QEP members using face-to-face interviews. The results of the survey were presented to the Employment Committee and Council and some of the general recommendations were that a legislation hotline should be set up and that the programme be restructured to include a software package for self-assessment.
Anne
O’Carroll Employment Services Manager Irish Hotels Federation
and pupils from Manor House School at the launch of Get a Life in Tourism
Placement
Division
As a part of the QEP
review we also reviewed the operations of the Placement Division. We are
currently looking at how best we can serve the needs of our members in
light of the changes that have taken place in their requirements over
the past two years.
Throughout 2003 the Placement Division continued to recruit staff for member properties. This year, we mainly recruited staff from EU member states, with the help of the network of EURES (European Employment Service) Advisors. We also set up links with Tourism Colleges in the Netherlands and in France, which resulted in many foreign students taking up their work placement period in Ireland.