As representatives from over 100 hospitality businesses are attended the Big Hospitality Conversation at London’s City Hall on 24 September, the BHA said jobs would be available on the spot for young jobseekers.
Ufi Ibrahim, CEO of the BHA, said: “Hospitality is a successful industry with even greater growth prospects offering a vast range of job opportunities for all job seekers of any age. However, there are still widespread misconceptions amongst many outside the industry who don’t see the value in hospitality careers.
“We urge young people to look beyond outdated viewpoints and join our industry. The breadth of job roles and the training available means that bright and focused young people can succeed very quickly. We welcome young people to come along to the event to hear from insiders about how they started out in their careers.
“At the City Hall event businesses will be offering on the spot job opportunities, so a young job seeker could start the day unemployed and leave with a job. Where, in any other private sector industry, would that happen?”
2016 target
The new round of job creations forms part of an industry effort to make up to 60,000 new positions available for 16 to 24 year olds by 2016, in a bid to match some 900,000 UK youth not in education, employment or training with the 300,000 hospitality jobs that will need to be filled by 2020.
Tourism Minister Helen Grant said:“The hospitality sector is a thriving and dynamic one that can offer people a fulfilling, challenging career with great opportunities for progression. The Big Hospitality Conversation shows young people the exciting options available to them and will help unearth the sector’s leaders of tomorrow.”
Chef Brian Turner added: “Starting out as a young trainee and learning the ropes from people full of experience is a fantastic way to start your career and it’s a real gateway to the world. For anyone who likes working with people and has a strong work ethic, there is no limit to the opportunities available and what's more, it’s fun!”
Mismatch
A study conducted for think tank IPPR found that a mismatch between the types of jobs young people are training for and what jobs are actually available was one of the main obstacles to solving the youth unemployment problem.
Speaking to BigHospitality this week, the BHA’s Restaurant Association’s new chairman David Loewi said the Big Hospitality Conversation has so far helped with the creation of 34,000 jobs, through a joint initiative between the BHA, Springboard, Believe in Young People, Business in the Community, People First, and the DWP.