There is a huge demand for skilled hospitality and catering professionals, with lots of exciting opportunities available in the area.
We have decided to launch brand new Career Excellence Hubs, which gives a greater focus on preparing our learners for industry and we would be delighted to welcome you along to our new Hospitality and Catering Career Excellence Hub.
Whether it’s liaising with businesses in the industry to make sure we’re teaching you relevant and up-to-date skills, creating the best facilities and digital platforms in the region for you to study in, or selecting the top teachers with current industry experience – our Hospitality and Catering Career Excellence Hub is focused on providing you with the right learning environment to help you reach your potential.
We are about preparing you for a career - what we offer is far more than just a course. Weston College is a diverse and inclusive learning environment, and we reward our students when they go above and beyond their abilities and expectations.
This guide will introduce you to our Hospitality and Catering Career Excellence Hub.
There are over 2.4 million jobs in hospitality across the UK
Recruitment in hospitality industry has grown by 40%
Over 88,000 restaurants in the UK
The hospitality sector contributed 59.3 billions in Gross Value added to the UK economy
WHAT IS THE CAREER EXCELLENCE HUB?
As a Weston College student you will become part of our exciting new Career Excellence Hub in Hospitality and Catering.
This means you will take part in a study programme with lots of career boosting benefits, all with the aim of giving you the opportunity to become career ready!
Our mission statement is ‘creating brighter futures’ and we passionately believe in helping you reach your ultimate goal, focussing on your future employability and developing the skills you need to have a successful career.
So, whether you’re a school leaver or looking to study a full-time programme, our Career Excellence Hubs will help you stand out from the crowd and get ahead!
Career Ideas
Hospitality is an exciting and varied industry, so you might not know exactly which route you’d like to take yet. Here are a few different career options for you, with one of them potentially becoming your future career...
Butchers Fishmongers and Poultry Dressers Bakers and Flour Confectioners Chefs Cooks Bar Staff Waiters and Waitresses
OUR HOSPITALITY & CATERING CAREER EXCELLENCE HUB IS ENDORSED BY:
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WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?
You’ll get to study in state-of-the-art learning spaces at Knightstone Campus, using the latest industry standard equipment, with concepts and ideas delivered by lecturers who have a wealth of industry experience.
We will equip you with 21st Century employability skills to progress you onto your next career destination. This will include, working on ‘real world learning’ using employer briefs and real-life case studies and scenarios to encourage up to the minute workplace problem solving.
Upskilled with the latest digital tools and technologies as a Microsoft Showcase College.
In a rapidly changing world of work, your identity, professional networks, and digital capability will increasingly influence your future career opportunities. We’ll prepare you to stand out by showcasing your work and achievements.
If competitions are in your sights, you will also have the option to compete against the best in the UK through our links with WorldSkills UK.
You will be supported with outstanding wrap-around pastoral support via our Wellbeing@Weston model which provides all learners with access to highly qualified teams of welfare and mental health practitioners and resources all designed to support you achieve your career goals.
Inspired with personalised 1:1 Careers Education Information Advice and Guidance, helping you look at all the options available to you for progression to the next step on your career journey.
Regardless of what your career goal is or whether you simply need to know what your options are - our team of highly trained careers advisors (Level 6 and above) offer relaxed, impartial advice to get you where you want to be helping you figure out the best route to achieve your dream career.
Empowered to learn more about your own mental health and wellbeing as part of your journey with us. Our ethos of Body and Mind will help you learn to develop coping strategies, build resilience, and access the proven benefits of exercise for wellness.
As well as all of the above benefits of being part of one of our Career Excellence Hubs, Weston College also offers you a fun, social experience designed for you to meet likeminded people.
INDUSTRY SKILLS
Through our Career Excellence Hubs you will develop skills for life, which will help you gain employment once you have completed your study programme. We will help you to gain both hard skills, and soft skills, which employers have highlighted as keys skills in this sector, but what exactly are they?
Hard skills are the measurable ones that you list on your CV, and that you may hold certification in. Whereas soft skills are interpersonal, and help you to develop your character, which will benefit you in building relationships with co-workers and customers
Alongside input from our Career Excellence Hub employer partners and advisory boards, we as a college have invested in powerful Labour Market Intelligence tools to further guarantee that our curriculum meets employer need. Not only do we use all this information to inform our curriculum design, but it is also used to inform our skills and individual development programme called ID that’s purpose is to accelerate your progress towards your career goal and next steps by equipping you with the complete package of knowledge, experiences and skills.
We have built them into your study programme, meaning you will learn and develop these skills with us:
Hard Skills
- Qualifications recognised globally
- Safeguarding and health and safety skills
- Observation skills• Research skills
- Reflective practise
Soft Skills
- Teamwork
- Problem solving
- Time management
- Resilience
- Adaptability
English and maths are also a very important part of Hospitality & Catering, here are some of the key skills they provide:
English
- Speaking, listening and communication skills
- Writing food and restaurant reviews
- Promoting specific dishes on a menu
- Interpreting and following instructions/recipes accurately
- Advertising and promotional materials
- Adapting language for purpose and audience
Maths
- Calculating with time. Cooking times, ordering of jobs to meet service deadlines. Booking tables.
- Using weights such as g and kg. Portioning. Ordering ingredients
- Using ratios when making a mixture for a cake
- Percentages, e.g. mark up on goods to create a profit
- Using volumes for liquids such as ml, cl, L.
- Area and Length, e.g. when calculating the number of tables in a restaurant or safely spacing out the customers
- Money calculations – customers don’t like to be overcharged
- Wages. Tax.
- Estimating the cost of putting on an event. Food costs, drinks, venue hire and staffing.
PROGRESSION ROUTES
Once you’ve completed your course, there are several options for you to further develop your skills and knowledge...
If you completed a Level 1, or Level 2 course, you can continue to progress to the next level course. Click here to go back to our course page, and discover the relevant course route, for you.
An apprenticeship is a fantastic way of entering the engineering industry. Not only will you get the opportunity to get your foot in the door with a local or national company, you will also be able to earn while you learn.
Through apprenticeships you will work closely with an experienced engineer to develop and practice your skills, all whist receiving the benefits that being a student brings. See available apprenticeships here
Apply or find out more
One Message, Different Voices
Take a look at this powerful film made by the staff of Weston College to show how important it is for everyone from different backgrounds to be included. The film shares heartfelt stories and interviews with a diverse group of staff, showing how accepting different identities and backgrounds can make a big difference. Its purpose is to encourage viewers to think about their own biases and work towards making our community more welcoming to all. We invite everyone, regardless of their background, to join us and be a part of our journey toward a more inclusive future.
Our workplace champions the right of staff to embrace all Afro-hairstyles. We acknowledge that Afro-textured hair is an important part of our Black employees’ racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious identities, and requires specific styling for hair health and maintenance. We celebrate Afro-textured hair worn in all styles including, but not limited to, afros, locs, twists, braids, cornrows, fades, hair straightened through the application of heat or chemicals, weaves, wigs, headscarves, and wraps. In this workplace, we recognise and celebrate our colleagues’ identities. We are a community built on an ethos of equality and respect where hair texture and style have no bearing on an employee's ability to succeed.