Sandals recruits new batch of trainee managers
TWENTY-SEVEN YOUNG people are to benefit from hands-on training and regional travel as part of the company’s signature Management Trainee Programme
Committed to investing in the development of young people across the Caribbean and continuing to strengthen its succession-planning strategy, Sandals Resorts International (SRI) has, since 2012, recruited over 100 trainee managers to participate in its Management Trainee Programme.
Most recently, 27 new trainees were selected from among 138 applicants across the region to join the competitive and robust programme. Some will be trained for two years, others three.
The MTP prepares both new hires and existing team members for exciting management and leadership roles throughout the company. Management trainees are exposed to strategic hands-on training through rotations in various departments at a number of the company’s resorts throughout the region. This year’s trainees, the fifth cohort to benefit from the programme since its reintroduction in 2012, include nationals of Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados, and St Lucia.
They will be trained in the divisions such as butler, Club Sandals, engineering, entertainment, watersports, food and beverage, housekeeping, sales, resort shop, Red Lane Spa, and weddings.
Intern Lennox Speid, a recent university graduate, speaking of the programme, said that he was enjoying learning the ropes of an industry he was desirous of making his mark on and had big dreams of one day holding a permanent position within the Sandals chain.
A Jamaican national, Speid is among three trainees who will be immersed in the operations of the company’s Butler Division. He hopes to become a butler manager and to one day move into the operations division. Excited about the journey, he said, “I think this programme will help me to achieve my goals through the rigorous training that will allow me hands-on experience and prepare me for my career path. I have already been impacted and changed in many ways over the course of the orientation.”
IMPRESSIVE TALENT
Adam Stewart, SRI’s deputy chairman, said the programme was illustrative of the company’s commitment to investing in and providing opportunities for young people across the region. “The talent that exists in our resorts and our communities is impressive. We are committed to identifying these talented young people, providing them with opportunities for growth and development, and helping them to find and pursue their passions. The Management Trainee Programme is one of the initiatives I am most proud of because I have seen how it has changed the lives of countless young people across the region,” he said.
He continued, “This programme is an investment in our team members, an investment in the young people of the Caribbean, and, ultimately, an investment in the region’s hospitality sector. We are resolute in our commitment to developing our human resources, and I am excited for the new trainee managers who have embarked on this lifechanging journey.”
Life-changing is exactly the word that best describes what the experience means for Sheudy Henry, a St Lucian national who started with the company as a hospitality trainee. Henry hopes to become a food and beverage manager, and eventually, the company’s chief operations officer.
Devron McFarlane, who has worked as an AC and refrigeration technician at Sandals Montego Bay for 11 years, took a leap of faith in his quest to better himself.
“Personal development and growth have always been important to me. I have a love for air conditioning and refrigeration, but I am also multifaceted. I like chemistry, plumbing, and electrical work, and I just want to create things.” McFarlane hopes to become a chief engineer within the chain and also harbours dreams of being the first Jamaican to create his own brand of refrigerator for the market.