2008 Employer of the Year Medium business (50 – 249 employees) - Arden Hotel
Kelly Hawkins
Employer of the Year Medium business
Employer – Arden Hotel
Learning Provider – Solihull College
Tony is standing at the reception desk of the hotel
Tony says “We started forty years ago, a small transport café and built it up to what we have today, 216 bedrooms. We have 120 full-time and part-time staff, of which 14 are all working towards an apprenticeship, working along side our full time –team.” Tony is talking to a member of bar staff “Any apprentice old or young can actually look and go through a process, and have a start, a middle and an end. And we can show their dedication by offering them full-time employment after.”
Kelly is plating up cold meat for a buffet, when the plate is completed with green leaves the chef teaches her and a colleague how to slice tomatoes quickly and professionally
Kelly says “I’ve been doing the apprenticeship for a few months now. I’m doing level two apprenticeship in food to become a chef. When I was offered to do it I was a bit unsure, but then as soon as I started it I was ‘I really want to carry on with it now’. At the end of it I can get a nationally recognizable qualification. I now know that I want to become a chef. And by doing the course I can get higher and higher in my education. With the hotels help and support I will be able to do that”
We see a customer paying at the bar
Tony says “We can pass on a lot of our skills and passion to younger people that want to get into the business, want to get into the industry. The ultimate complement is when a client checks out and they’ve had a great experience. And that’s what we’re trying to achieve in the apprenticeship program.”
Arden Hotel, finalist for the Medium Employer of the Year Award at the Apprenticeship Awards 2008.