‘Real world’ hospitality training targets jobseekers

Parents returning to work, mature age people, long termed unemployed & Indigenous Australians sought.

Hospitality Magazine reports a new employment and training program ‘Best Way Inn’ to be launched by the Hotel Motel and Accommodation Association (HMAA) in the Hunter and Central Coast region of New South Wales later this month.

HMAA’s national affairs manager, Peter Olah, says there is a ‘looming’ shortage of qualified staff, and in this key NSW tourism area the new program aims to ‘open the door to the accommodation industry’ for jobseekers, encouraging them to train for work in local hotels, resorts, motels, and bed and breakfasts.

“The national shortage of skills and labour is starting to hit tourism and accommodation businesses, which of course rely heavily on their staff to deliver the highest standards of service to their customers……It is a very big problem and we have to find ways to alleviate it or it is going to become a disaster,” he says.

The program will involve jobseekers being matched to businesses looking for the right employees through targeted pre-employment training. This training will be:

• aimed squarely at shortages within the housekeeping departments of local accommodation businesses;
• conducted on site at hotels and resorts so candidates receive ‘real world’ experience;
• rolled out initially in the Hunter and Central Coast region;
• then ‘grown’ state-wide;
• and then nationally across a variety of different skill areas.

Sounds realistic and practical – cutting out some of the ‘peripherals’ in longer courses to address the crisis??