Since you were born you have learnt about the world similar to those undertaking hospitality and catering apprenticeships. Imagine, during your first couple of years you learnt to walk and talk by observing, copying and perfecting. Then as you learnt how to play football, you watched the premier league, practiced with your mates and eventually you were able to do however many keepy-uppies in a row. Then you learnt how to apply nail varnish, you watched YouTube videos, practiced on your own nails, and now have a salon ready look every time you leave the house. This is the same principle as an apprenticeship: observe, practice, perfect.
In this blog post we will go through each stage of a hospitality and catering apprenticeship, determining how you might do each of these stages and what might become of you if you get to the perfection stage.
The three Apprenticeship Stages
Observe – Learning on the job
The central part to an apprenticeship is that you go to work. Through hospitality and catering apprenticeships, you are required to shadow someone in a job similar to the one you are aiming for. For example, if you were looking to be front of house you might follow waitress or if you were considering the culinary aspect, you would shadow a chef.
During this shadowing, you should try to understand how their process works and how you can apply this to your everyday work. Here you will learn the basics.
Practice – Improve on the Job
At this point you’re ready to get stuck in. Start kneading the dough with your mentor watching or maybe start taking orders and welcoming people to the restaurant. All these observing and the practising patterns will come together and you will notice yourself improving. The main thing to note is do not be disheartened if at first you are not as good as you first expected to be. The whole point of a hospitality and c atering apprenticeship is to learn and improve on the job.
Perfect – Get the Job
Once you have completed your hospitality and catering apprenticeship, you will look to secure a job in the chosen sector. Slowly but surely, you will start to see an improvement in your day to day work and things that you once found difficult, you will no longer have to think about. This is when you know that you have reached perfection in your apprenticeship.