?This year only, four big hotel projects will open in the country. We are bound to do more than the hotel school to make more people employable in the sector,? declares Daren Moodely from the Association of Hotel and Restaurant Owners of Mauritius (Ahrim). So, over the next two weekends, the association in collaboration with Sir Gaetan Duval hotel school and the Empowerment programme (EP) will bring together a number of hotels to help them find potential recruits. After the west and the east regions last year, it is the turn of hotels in the north and south to accommodate trainees. The five main services where a scarcity is noted are restaurant and bar, housekeeping, kitchen, pastry and bakery as well as the front office.

The four brand new institutions that should emerge this year are Sheraton in Ebène, Luxury Collection and Intercontinental in Balaclava, and Four Seasons in Beau-Champ ? as part of the Anahita Integrated Resorts Scheme project.

Next Saturday, seven hotels in the south are expected to welcome and advise those interested between 10 am and 1 pm at France Boyer de la Giroday SSS in Plaine-Magnien. On Saturday 23rd, Lady Sushil Ramgoolam SSS (for the Triolet region) Sharma Jugdambi SSS (for the Goodlands region) will host job seekers and some fifteen hotels will be there.

?We want to offer a new opportunity to all the unemployed who haven?t had the chance of a formal education. For those with a School Certificate or a Higher School Certificate, there are other avenues which they can take advantage of. We are targeting those who have no diploma for these training sessions,? Daren Moodely explains.

The sessions will extend over six months ? including five months? training and one month theory at the hotel school. ?But nothing prevents employers to sign a contract before the end of the training period if they are satisfied with the person?s skill and attitude at work,? the Ahrim representative made it clear. In fact, hotels should be keen on employing these trainees in the end because they will be investing a lot in those people who will be treated exactly like their employees.

As in similar previous training courses, the trainees are encouraged to stay until the end of the training period with a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 for the first three months. It is upgraded to Rs 4,000 after that period. ?The aim is clearly to retain the highest possible number of people.?

As the certificate that the trainees will obtain is based on specific standards, trainees can pursue their studies afterwards without starting right from the beginning. What they learn during these six months will be considered as an equivalence to basic training offered in the hotel industry.

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