Students get hands-on work in Waiheke
An apprenticeship as a chef, plus summer jobs doing housekeeping and a call back for more work experience are some of the results of an impromptu nine-day work experience opportunity for some HLC hospitality students at a posh resort on Waiheke Island.
One of the students’ mother had worked at the resort and made the connection for them.
“It was amazing. They worked 17-hour days in split shifts. This gave them a unique insight into what life in hospitality is really like,” said HLC’s Angela Torr.
On top of that they got to meet the Wallabies, who were staying at the resort.
Nine days of sheer hard graft hasn’t put any of them off hospitality work. On the contrary they are eager to go back for more.
Nine HLC NZ Food and Beverage Level 4 students launched their career with a bang when HLC was offered the opportunity of a lifetime with work experience placement at the four star Waiheke Island Resort. This resort is Waiheke Island’s largest accommodation provider with facilities including a 60 seater restaurant, bar, outdoor swimming pool and spa.
Waiheke Island Resort needed extra hands for an upcoming large conference.
That conference turned out to be the Wallabies Rugby team who had chosen Waiheke Island Resort as their training base for four days before their final Bledisloe Cup clash with the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland.
Hayley Smith, programme manager for HLC said, “This has been a hugely successful initiative, the students have been able to experience first-hand how demanding hospitality is, they have worked seven days of split shifts in a variety of roles including front of house, kitchen hand duties, housekeeping and functions. The team has come away with a realistic idea of the physical and mental demands of Hospitality, which is a great thing, it means we are well on our way to producing work ready graduates required for industry at the end of their programme in November,” she said.
The students’ work ethic was so good that Waiheke Island Resort general manager Parke Mackay wrote an individual letter of recommendation to each student which said, “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you and you should be extremely proud of the exemplary manner in which you conducted yourselves.
“As a management team with over 60 years combined experience, we can confirm that your performance level while here was both professional and fastidious.”