Mentoring Matters

Are you preparing to wrap up coursework and enter the world of work? Or perhaps you are advancing in your current workplace or moving job? Here's a tip: be on the lookout for a mentor because it could be the making of you! 

The insights and guidance of a more senior hospitality professional can be invaluable. Mentors can help you avoid mistakes - like deadend career moves - and point you to beneficial job roles, career development activities and networking opportunities at Institute of Hospitality events!

Bacchus Mentoring Programme

Oxford Brookes University recognises the value of mentors; it offers a special programme, the Bacchus Mentoring Programme, to provide structured support for all final-year undergraduate hospitality students. The programme links the students with a dedicated mentor who is a senior figure from the international hospitality and tourism industry.

At Women 1st  there is a new programme of government-funded mentoring and personalised training which supports the hospitality sector's brightest female junior managers by helping them to fulfil their potential. If you are still on the fence about the value of a mentor, check out the following case studies to learn how to benefit from a mentor: mentoring case studies.

The Institute even offers ebooks on mentoring and coaching for mentors and mentees, employers and their employees. The titles can be found in the Institute's e-Resources Collection. Try the following two titles:

• Mentoring in Action: A Practical Guide
• Coaching for Emotional Intelligence: The Secret to Developing the Star Potential in Your Employees

 

New to Teaching the Social Sciences? FREE Conference...

If you are new to teaching in the social sciences, including Hospitality & Tourism, then this quality free conference is for you! 

Sponsored by the Higher Education Academy, the conference is entitled "New to Teaching Workshop: Business & Management, Finance & Accounting, Hospitality & Tourism, Marketing." There are two dates scheduled in two regional locations and one is sure to suit!

•     24 May 2012, Newcastle, Life Conference and Banqueting, Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4EP. 10 a.m start. 

•     14 June 2012, Bristol, Holiday Inn Bristol City Centre Bristol, BS1 3LE. 10 a.m. start.

The aim of the conference is to bring together new and aspiring academics in the social sciences and associated disciplines to discuss common challenges and consider opportunities for the future. Activities on the day include:

• network and share career pathway experiences to date;
• outcomes of recent ‘New Lecturers’ projects including ‘Insiders Guide’ Open Education Resource;
• what ‘Academic Practice’ and ‘Being Academic’ means;
• teaching/research/support/service balancing acts and the changing nature of UK HE;
• development needs and career opportunities including UK PSF and HEA Fellowships;
• finding and using open access resources;
• discuss discipline-specific contexts where numbers allow.

The workshops are FREE to attend, but spaces are limited so book now by clicking on: 

HEA Conference

NB: Attendees may be eligible for help with travel costs via the UK Travel Fund.

Put Your Thinking Cap on to Make a Difference

A recent article in Caterer & Hotelkeeper featured the funky, 'green' boutique hotel, Strattons, in Norfolk. Already known for its innovative green measures, the hotel staff got to thinking about its spent coffee grounds and filters and how they added to the hotel's waste stream.  (See: Caterer & Hotelkeeper article)

With a little bit of ingenuity, the hotel found an unusual way to recycle the coffee grounds - and the packaging - by drying the spent grounds to create a nitrogen-rich compost. The coffee filters are also dried and used to bag the spent grounds, which are then shared with guests who can take the grounds home and use them as garden fertiliser - outside the hotel's waste stream. How's that for 'thinking outside the box'?!

In your new career in hospitality, be ready to champion new or unusual ideas like coffee grounds fertiliser. Management and owners appreciate innovative thinkers - particularly when the efforts benefit the environment - and the hotel's brand image!

Pick & Mix for Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The Institute of Hospitality represents the interests of all sorts - from students and budding hospitality managers just starting out to the captains of the hospitality industry. And each one of our members is interested in developing the right skills to help them advance and attain roles that are fulfilling. This is called 'Continuing Professional Development' (CPD) and if you don't know about it, you need to because people don't succeed in careers without a little planning. Career development requires regular thought and work on your part, but don't worry because if you love working in hospitality then CPD activities can be exciting and stimulating, particularly when they bring you closer to that dream job or top employer.

The Institute provides a variety of resources to support hospitality CPD. These include freely available web pages on career development, a CPD Tool just for members (located on the Member Benefits page, it helps you plan and track your CPD activities), and lots of great hospitality publications and networking events.

It is never to soon to start thinking about where you want to be in your career. Visit the Institute's career development pages today to learn more about CPD. Better still, try the Institute's FREE, fun eLearning Modules on career development: Introduction to Professional Development and Managing Your Professional Portfolio. The modules can kick start career development plans.

Leave your career to chance? Not on your life! Pick the Institute and its resources to help you develop the career of your dreams.

The Institute: Here, There, Everywhere!

The newest EMS members from Wavecrest College of Hospitality in Nigeria and the Edge Hotel School in the UK are a perfect example of the Institute's commitment to global hospitality professionals. Although the Institute is located in the UK its members can be found in over 100 countries. What many members - particularly students - don't know is that the Institute is the only global professional body for individual hospitality managers and aspiring managers. Yes, there are other organisations, like trade associations, but don't confuse them with us. We are a professional body and exist to support, educate and inform our members throughout their hospitality careers. 

Just in case you weren't aware, the Institute is also a registered charity that focuses on educating professionals through our recognised management qualifications and resources, as well as promoting continuing professional development for members. Equally important, the Institute has been around since the 1930s and isn't some flash-in-the-pan organisation! The Institute has always been about quality: in education, career development and support. We promote quality standards for the industry through our support of Hospitality Assured, as well as management standards for individual hospitality managers.

Basically, we are here for you, the student, now during your studies and as you progress in your hospitality career.

So, welcome Wavecrest and Edge Hotel School students! We look forward to a long and happy relationship with you.

An Exemplary Programme: Hilton and NHTV Academy of Hotel Management

There something exciting happening at NHTV Academy of Hotel Management and it involves the renowned Hilton chain of hotels. A partnership has been agreed between NHTV and Hilton Worldwide where the best performing second-year students are selected by Hilton and the Hotel Breda NHTV to participate in a comprehensive training programme that will prepare them for a successful career in the global hospitality industry.

The NHTV students have access to guest lectures, Hilton's e-learning programs and the support of top management.  Opportunties for a full-time 12 month internship with Hilton Worldwide are also available. Better still, outstanding students are eligible for a career with Hilton Worldwide after completing their training and it doesn't get much better than that!

One Woman's Experience of Hotelympia

Jessica Friend, a recent graduate of East Anglia University and employee of Bright Hygiene (www.brighthygiene.co.uk) attended last week's Hotelympia event and enjoyed every minute! Read what Jessica has to say about this BIG industry event:

"Chocolate Philadelphia: Networking at Hotelympia (4 March 2012) - As a Hotelympia virgin, last week’s show provided some engaging talking points. How do I feel about Chocolate Philadelphia [the American cream cheese] and how will the Olympics impact the hospitality sector?

Jessica loves chocolate Philly!

Hotelympia excels at providing the all-important networking space, where hospitality members from all echelons have the opportunity to mingle. The Kraft Philadelphia team worked these factors to their advantage. Chocolate Philadelphia provided the talking bridge between all delegates; students, perhaps intimidated by seniority had a window to discuss with their mentors and likewise.  Like Marmite, Chocolate Philadelphia is either loved or hated; I was won over by a tempting macaroon.

The fringe events, organically spawned by Hotelympia, are just as important.  The Institute of Hospitality’s college debate had the winning fresh faces of the University of Brighton confronted by hard-nosed questions from the floor. All six student teams were able to grapple with the Olympic legacy, the topic for debate, and conversation spilled over into the evening’s dinner; tables were filled with a healthy balance of newcomers and experts.

In an age where networking is dominated by online activities, Hotelympia provides a vital platform for human interaction between all members of the industry. Where the ability to succeed in the sector, as in many other industries, is becoming more about ‘who you know’ and the art of networking, Chocolate Philadelphia can provide that first introduction."