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The Hospitality sector is a huge and thriving sector, with many potential roles and career paths, covering roles in various venues, such as hotels, bars and restaurants. It is an industry where your skills in one role will prepare you for another - your skills becoming easily transferable. Also, the Hospitality industry can offer you lots of flexibility, comparative to many other sectors, with a wide
variety of roles available, and shift work that can fit around your schedule.
Here are some of the typical job opportunities within Hospitality, and how you can make your first steps within the sector.
As a Bartender your role will be to produce and deliver drinks that meet with the company standards and ensure that the service you provide meets with service standards expected. You will need to have a welcoming and professional approach at the bar and have good attention to detail to produce drinks to the set specifications. In your role you will gain extensive wine, spirits and cocktail knowledge to lead the bar service and deliver outstanding results.
As a Kitchen Assistant, you’ll play a main part in keeping the kitchen running efficiently and spotlessly clean during and after service. You’ll be responsible for cleaning utensils and dishes along with general kitchen duties and on occasion, basic food and ingredients preparation. Sparkling surfaces and pride in what you do are a must if you want to be a successful Kitchen Assistant within a busy Kitchen Team. Starting as Back of House presents a great career progression. Your future roles to progress into include Commis (Junior) Chef, Chef de Partie, Sous Chef, Head Chef.
As the Receptionist, you are the face of the hotel and the organisation as well as being a key person who can shape the overall guest experience. It is your role to ensure exceptional experiences are delivered to all your guests, not only at check-in and check-out times, but also during their entire stay. Being an excellent communicator is essential to the role as it helps with building a lasting rapport with the guests each time they visit. Reporting to the Front of House Manager, you will be responsible for the successful management of all the front desk operations and creating a unique guest journey experience from beginning to end.
Every day is different. You will be responsible for ensuring the whole team is consistently providing the best service that is both informative and friendly. You shall be the main point of contact for all guests. As the Restaurant Manager you will be responsible for controlling the resources, managing the process and cultivating the development of the Food and Beverage team and shall have full responsibility of the department. This role usually involves working shifts that include evenings and weekends.
There are a wide range of Hospitality qualifications available to the residents of Greater Manchester. Read on to learn more about what options are open to you.
An apprenticeship allows you to “learn while you earn” and can work best for people wanting to try a new career or who feel they are practical learners. A common misconception about apprenticeships is that they are mainly for school leavers- apprenticeships are for people of all ages and are a great way to restart your career, change your career, or progress in your current career.
There are a wide range of adult courses available across Greater Manchester. Many of these courses are fully funded, which means there is no cost to you, or your employer if you are currently employed. These courses have a range of levels, meaning you can boost your skill set, or go for a full qualification in an area that interests you.
If you would like to study for a university-level degree but don’t have the traditional qualifications, Access to Higher Education courses could help you to achieve your goal. There are a variety of resources available to you to help you achieve.
Considering university, or a degree-level course? Higher education is the route you’d be going down- whether you’d be looking to study full-time, or if a more flexible approach would work for you, there are plenty of options available. If you’re looking to increase your skill set, there are a wide variety of options open to you- to learn more about how you can achieve in Greater Manchester.
Whether you are looking to develop in your current role, or looking to take the next steps in your career there is a variety of training and pathways you can consider.
Skills Bootcamps are flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to a guaranteed interview with a local employer.
Developed by the Government as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, Skills Bootcamps are being delivered in partnership with employers, providers and local authorities, to help people gain skills for life, help support skills demands in their local area, and ultimately – to help people get a better job.
There are a wide range of adult courses available across Greater Manchester. Many of these
courses are fully funded, which means there is no cost to you, or your employer if you are
currently employed. These courses have a range of levels, meaning you can boost your skill set,
or go for a full qualification in an area that interests you.
There are a variety of pathways available if you are looking to progress within the Hospitality Sector.
Getting started
Enhancing your skills
Managing others
Want to work in Hospitality but the traditional avenues aren’t for you? There are also a wide range of roles that utilise different skill sets to support you into the industry.
There are many exciting options in the accounting profession as you can work in a variety of industries. Accounting pays well, offers prospects for advancement, and allows you to assist organisations such as hotels, bars or restaurants to thrive into the next decade and beyond.
Business administration is a fast-paced job with opportunities to advance and work in a range of sectors and businesses. It’s also a professional route with many transferable skills that may lead to lots of options if you decide to move into another business sector later in life.
HR professionals’ day-to-day responsibilities are to ensure employee wellbeing and happiness. A well-trained and organised HR department is at the heart of any hospitality establishment hiring many employees and is essential for maintaining a motivated and productive workforce.
As technology advances, so too do the possibilities for more effective marketing. There’s a variety of professional options to select from, whether you want to get into management, analytics, product design, or brand management to name but a few.
As an IT professional, you will develop the skills to support internal and external customers, helping them to be productive by problem-solving and troubleshooting non-routine issues.
Wondering how best to progress within the Hospitality sector? In this section, we’ll make it clear how you can move forward within the sector, whether you’re already experienced, or someone making their first steps into a new career.
In order to gain your first role in the Hospitality sector, depending on if the role you're going for is front of house, employers often look for evidence of good people skills- previous roles in Retail or Customer Service will have several transferable skills here.
When advancing into more senior roles, employers will look for the following qualifications:
• Level 2 or 3 Diploma in Hospitality and Catering
Often you will need core qualifications in English and Maths to start these courses.
There are lots of entry-level care roles you could apply for, such as Bartender, Wait Staff or Kitchen Assistant. These can lead on to other opportunities as you advance in your skill set, to Shift Supervisor, Team Leader, or Head Waiter.
For more information about gaining these qualifications and get your career started in the sector, visit the National Careers Service website at: nationalcareers.service.gov.uk or call 0800 100 900
