Recently in Skills Category

Qualification awarding body City & Guilds has some new research out on careers, ahead of today's Queen's Speech.

The headline to the accompanying press release reads: Hospitality industry among most recommended careers in the UK.

Brilliant, it would appear the message that the hospitality industry is a great place to work pushed by the likes of Springboard is finally getting through to people.

But then we read the standfirst on the press release, which said: But study reveals widespread dissatisfaction with overall standard of careers advice.

Bugger.

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Hospitality skills news round-up>>

Although the skills shortage is the much spoken about thorn in the hospitality industry's side it seems for event caterers a shortage of beautiful people can be just as crippling.

There's no point after all in putting together a fabulous party with the cutest canapes and most darling design aesthetic, if Doris the 20-year employee with the weird eye from the staff restaurant is the one offering up the grub on the night.

A recent meeting with an event caterer confirmed Kitchen Rat's suspicions that at most fancy events there are a disproportionate amount of good looking girls and boys waiting on clients than is entirely plausible. Random chance it is not.

Suede's "Oh, hear they come, the beautiful ones, the beautiful ones", could have been playing in the background as the caterer in question conceded sourcing fine looking young things from recruiters was almost as important as sourcing great grub.

Although hospitality's sector skills council is called People 1st, we're not certain this was the thinking behind the name, but it seems for some in the events market the face really does have to fit. 

Being one of Caterer's Adopted Businesses is an honour not bestowed lightly.

It's better to be talked about than not at all, after all and there's a lot of associated credit to go with a regular feature in the hospitality magazine.

Although Caterer's reach is well established with a number of ex-pats. on the subscription list, one tale from current Adopted Business Vacherin still managed to surprise.

With all publicity being good publicity, it appears Caterer's coverage of City caterer Vacherin has permeated the world wide web and has been picked up as far away as Africa.

So Rat fans, the National Skills Strategy has been launched in a slick presentation in London headed by People 1st.

Fair play, it's a comprehensive document based on sound research, although I'm told due to the wonders of devolution each 'nation' is getting their own bespoke action plan - good thinking or an unnecessary complication?

Certainly Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, has his concerns about effectively communicating this bold and much needed plan to employers.

On the eve of the long-awaited unveiling of hospitality and tourism's National Skills Strategy by People 1st in Westminster tomorrow, the head of the British Hospitality Association (BHA) has urged caution.

On his blog Bob Cotton, chief executive of the BHA, says that while skills provision and training in the industry is indeed a terrible state, at least part of the blame lays at the door of a raft of ill thought-out education initiatives that have been launched thick and fast during the past 20 years.

Education, education, education, nice soundbite but the rat's school days weren't exactly the best. Let's put it down to a gnawing feeling I didn't fit in. People 1st, the sector skills council for hospitality and tourism, looks like it's having a turblent time in class as well.

At last week's PACE conference in Coventry word reaches my furry ears it received a very public dressing down infront of its peers.

Nigel Flood, lead inspector at the Adult Learning Inspectorate, a part of OFSTED that looks at the job catering colleges are actually doing, took time out from his talk to give People 1st the classroom equivalent of "must try harder".