5000 Jobs in 50 Days campaign: More youngsters needed in hospitality and retail

THE two jobs employing the greatest numbers of young people need more to get on board, whether they end up in careers in the industries or not.

THE two jobs employing the greatest numbers of young people — sales and waiting — need more to get on board, whether they end up in careers in the industries or not.

Hospitality already is short 10,000 staff, and this is expected to rise to 30,000 by 2020, while continued jobs growth in sales means it will need an extra 89,000 staff by next decade.

Both roles can be regarded as ‘dead end’ jobs with many workers using the fact they can get work without a qualification, and part time while at school or uni, before ditching the industry to do their ‘real career’.

NEWS CORP’S 5000 JOBS IN 50 DAYS CAMPAIGN

THE JOBS THAT ARE ‘FUTURE-PROOF’

Industry associations say there are careers for those who want to stay but also want to lure those who have yet to consider the jobs with the all-round employability skills they can gain before moving somewhere else.

Sales assistants is the top job for people aged 15 to 24 with 277,600 employed.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said workers should not see jobs behind the counter as the end of it, but a starting point.

“For many people retail is a stepping stone for other careers,” he said.

“The problem with retail is it often is seen as a job of last resort and it shouldn’t be seen in that way.

“The retail industry has been responsible for a lot of those in jobs that are outside the retail industry.

“It’s very important to remember that retail itself has some very interesting and wonderful careers.”

He said sales assistants could take skills learned such as communication, working as a team and dealing with a variety of people as a basic grounding for what they do later on in life.

“People who have worked in retail and are now doctors — what retail has taught them is both the people skills to talk to people with patients and eventually become doctors,” he said.

“We often find an accountant who has some retail experience in the first instance who has got the skills to be able to talk to people.”

Waiting employs the second largest number of young people (78,000).

Restaurant and Catering Industry Association chief executive John Hart urged jobseekers to consider what they could gain through the job.

“We acknowledge that there's a lot of people doing it because they want to do other things and that’s fine and we need to have these people,” he said.

“There's some really big numbers (of staff) that we need.”

Waiters learn multi-tasking, customer service and teamwork in ways that were being recognised by major companies overseas, Mr Hart said.

“A lot of the major industries are drawing on hospitality staff because they have those sorts of skills,” he said.

“(In the US) financial institutions are recruiting out of hospitality jobs because they have skills that make them really valuable.”

He said employers were such in need of staff they would employ people who did not hold skills and allow them to build them on the job.

Waiter Emilia Montague is about to compete in the restaurant service category at WorkSkills national trades competition. Picture: Darren England.

Emilia Montague believes the skills she is learning as a waiter will provide fantastic hospitality career opportunities for her.

Already they have led her to being named one of Australia’s best young waiters, as she will compete in the restaurant service category at the WorldSkills national trades competition in Melbourne next month for workers aged 24 and under.

“TAFE has very strong partnerships with the top employers and hotels in Queensland, which has allowed me to work at places like The Star Entertainment group, in their top restaurant The Lab, among other places,” she said.

“I hope to take the skills I’ve learned at TAFE and apply them to a rewarding career in hospitality, wherever it takes me.

“There are so many opportunities to work around the world in this career.”

TAFE Queensland Brisbane general manager Aaron Devine said there were more jobs on the cards thanks to new entertainment precincts being built, such as Queen’s Wharf.

“This project will lead to an unprecedented expansion of employment in this sector, meaning thousands of exciting career opportunities for young Queenslanders in the years ahead,” he said.

“Emilia will do well at WorldSkills because she loves what she does, sets high standards of herself and has had great experience with leading hotel and restaurant brands across Brisbane.”

Skills learned in sales

Communication/how to talk to people

Teamwork

Handling money

Work with people with different backgrounds

Skills learned in waiting

Multitasking

Customer service

Teamwork

Work under pressure

Do you have a job for a first-time jobseeker? Email [e-mail] and join News Copr Australia’s 5000 Jobs in 50 Days campaign which so far has led to 7619 jobs being pledged

THE DEGREES THAT WILL MAKE YOU RICH

TOP 20 JOBS OF THE NEXT DECADE

Originally published as 5000 Jobs in 50 Days campaign: More youngsters needed in hospitality and retail