A campaign to showcase the breadth of what a career in hospitality could offer has been launched by Sofitel London Gatwick. The ‘General Manager for a day’ scheme is open to current employees of the hotel, and so far, twelve people have shadowed the hotel’s General Manager, Globy Ouseph, with more planned for the new year.
Globy said: “Recruitment and retention in the hospitality sector in general can be a challenge, but we felt that letting current employees who are fairly new to the industry experience where the job could potentially take them would encourage more people to pursue a long-term career in this exciting and varied sector.”
Businesses in the hospitality sector are anticipating a recruitment gap of over a million jobs by 2029, according to a recent report by the British Hospitality Association and KPMG earlier this year.
Globy continued: “The young people who have taken part in our ‘GM for a day’ scheme have all been keen and eager to learn, and several of them have expressed an interest in hospitality as a long-term career. They do whatever I do for the day, go to the same meetings and help make decisions.”
Sofitel London Gatwick’s youngest ‘GM’ was Luke Holohan, an apprentice completing his Level 2 in Hospitality & Hotel Management at The Weald School.
Luke says: “Spending the day with Globy has been fantastic. I spent the day doing every task that Globy was scheduled to do that day, including attending a budget meeting with the revenue manager. At the end of the day I also had some time to give my ideas and suggestions for the hotel.”
Luke continues: “I’ve been given an invaluable insight into the career and it’s helped so much with my course. After completing my course, I plan to stay in the hotel and work my way up to become General Manager one day.”
Sofitel London Gatwick’s ‘GM for a day’ scheme is part of a wider apprenticeship scheme run by the Arora Group, where employees can work towards achieving nationally recognised diplomas in hospitality, alongside working and earning.
The 4-star Sofitel London Gatwick is located within Gatwick Airport, directly linked to the North Terminal and minutes away from the South Terminal by Monorail. Conveniently located for business meetings, there are 11 different meeting rooms and 518 bedrooms.