Yesterday was the perfect day to visit Whistler, sunny and beautiful. Although I had to carry my bottle of water with me because the heat was intense. As we can see in the picture, I am holding our company’s brochures after visiting hotels there. The hotels’ staff were very friendly and they had the time to talk with me. I spent 3 hours and a bit walking around Whistler Village, some hotels are easy to find and with others I spent a lot of time trying to find the entrances.
I remember the first hotel that I visited, the front desk manager was so friendly that he told me that his sister “the manager” will be interested in us because they are hiring staff at the moment. They always sort out the accommodation for the staff at this hotel, it is one of the few places that has this additional service.
There were more hotels quite excited to hear from us, but they only have job openings in November and December. So we have to wait a little bit to send our students there.
These pictures below, show some hotel exteriors, beautiful landscapes, and also we can see how the people are enjoying the weather and nature. Click on the pictures to see them full size.
After MUCH resistance, I’ve finally got round to printing a brochure. This one is for host company recruitment – promoting our programs to restaurants, shops and cafes, and asking them to host a student.
For the last couple years of business, we’ve been working with emails and nicely typed letters. I always thought brochures were kind of pointless for B2B stuff like host company recruitment. Actually, no – I still do think they’re kind of unnecessary.
But I do have to admit they look cool, and the format does force you to be concise and to the point – so that’s positive. Here’s the first of our brochures – it’s for casual work experience. We’ll be doing 2 more for our other programs at the end of next week. If you click on the picture you can sort of read it:
The CWE is our smallest program and it’s not something we focus on too often on the blog. But there are a decent number of students in that program – all coming from the language schools. The schools sometimes call it a co-op or working holiday program, basically – it’s a practical work term placement in the hospitality industry. We have students placed all over the city right now in lots of different positions.
The last few weeks we’ve been asking some of our students on placement to tell us about their jobs and what they do. Here’s some of what they wrote in their reports back to us:
Mitsuo from Japan – Ricky’s Restaurant [ Kitchen helper]
Please describe your daily work duties: I clear and clean the tables. I prepare the knives and forks. I pass the menu. I sweep up the floor and mop the floor.
What is the most interesting part of your work: I can talk with many people in English.
Nika from Taiwan – Starbucks [food prep]
Please describe your daily work duties: Filled up cream and milk, cleaned counter, dumped garbage, kept store clean, helped colleagues whenever they need a help, sampled and displayed products
What kind of training did you receive at your work: watched a video which showed everything we should know about before start working.(like what’s a safe work environment and what’s a good customer service and so on.)
What’s the most interesting part of your work: To see lot’s of people from different country and some special events or performances come with festivals.
Ricardo from Spain – Cafe Crepe [food prep]
Please describe your daily work duties: Prepare the coffes and beverages, help in the cash machine, make pizzas, paninis, salads and other foods that my company sells, at the end of my shift when closing, clean up the store.
What kind of training did you receive at your work: they are teaching me and training me on how to make a good crepe, i have been memorizing the recipies to make them good, people in there is very friendly and kind.
What is the most difficult part of your work: the schedule that i have to follow at work, it changes every week and you never know what to expect, sometimes opening shifts, sometimes closing shifts or even middle day shifts. every week it changes but it is not an inconvinient i just deal with it.
What is the most interesting part of your work: practice my English, improve it everyday at work, and feel the commitment of working in an important company in a foreign country.
Alejandra from Mexico – Starbucks [barista]
Please describe your daily work duties: I have to be a cashier and a barista (make coffees), as well as I have to check everything in the store for example: the products, the milks and clean.
Did you meet your goals for your work term in Canada: I got goals because first when I started work there I didn’t know anything about the job but little by little I learn and know I’m really happy because I know everything and I have a really with experience.
What was the most interesting part of your work: The experience I learned many thing in that job, also the relation with people and communication with them and my partners in the job.
What was your relationship like with your co-workers: Is very good they are so friendly with me always we are talking about something I never had a problem with them, and they helped when I had some problem or doubt.
