Buccament Bay Resort work experience: making a difference in SVG

As part of the company’s ever-growing support for St Vincent & the Grenadines, Buccament Bay Resort provides work experience training placements to a number of educational institutions in the country. This work with the local community is particularly important because many colleges struggle to find companies willing to take their students. In the Hospitality and Tourism department of the country’s largest college, there are many students who complete their studies without a single day of work experience.

 

Last year, in spite of the resort having just opened, eight students attended the programme and two were employed as a result! In this, the resort’s second year of working with the educational institutions, there are 20 students on placement from SVG Community College, Campden Park Technical Institute and The Adult Continuing Education (ACE) Programme.

 

Some of the current work experience students

 

The programme works like so:

• Students attend the resort for four weeks
• The group is split, according to preference, into two specialisms: Rooms (front office, guest services, housekeeping, etc.) and Food & Beverages (restaurants, room service, HQ, conference services, culinary, pool & beach waiting service, etc.)
• For the first day, students are trained with the same company orientation and guest service programmes as employees, before spending a week’s training in four separate departments within their chosen division
• A trainer is assigned in each department, who completes a weekly review with the students
• When ready, they are allowed to serve guests under supervision
• Buccament Bay Resort keeps a file on each student with full application form and evaluations should they be considered for employment at a later date
• At the end of the four weeks, students are given a full review with the resort’s Training Manager and the department trainer

 

Such is the strength of the company’s relationship with the SVG Community College that they have invited the resort’s Training Manager to help create the syllabus and content for a Spa Course due to be launched in 2013.

 

Buccament Bay Resort already employs over 300 staff; with programmes like the above in place and the resort’s continuing success, that number will only continue to grow!