Parkhotel Gütersloh Awarded Training Certificate

A high proportion of trainees, innovative ideas such as an exchange program for apprentices, good chances of being taken on afterwards and a selection process that focuses mainly on the personal impression you make, not just on the grades in your application documents. These were the factors that prompted the Bielefeld Employment Agency to award the Parkhotel Gütersloh, a 100 percent subsidiary of Bertelsmann, this year's Training Certificate from the Federal Employment Agency. Last Monday the Parkhotel’s Managing Director Sönke Tuchel and head of administration Brigitte Steinmann accepted the certificate from Thomas Richter , head of the Bielefeld Employment Agency.

"We're always pleased when companies do as much for their own future, but also for those of their trainees, as this one," says Richter. "It is particularly commendable that even supposedly weaker candidates are given a chance." For instance, he says the Parkhotel has entirely realistic expectations and does not require top marks and fully mature characters for all of its training programs. On the contrary, it offers young people an opportunity to develop both professionally and personally during training, and thereby grow into valuable employees in the long run.

"My motivation is seeing how young people develop, in the process recognizing that work can also mean fulfillment and a sense of achievement," says Brigitte Steinmann, head of administration at the Parkhotel. She says the training of currently 25 aspiring chefs, as well as restaurant and hotel professionals and managers should not be understood just as a one-sided effort by the company, she says. "After all, the young people are also investing at least three years of their life into the training. If they do this, they are entitled to be well prepared for the time afterwards." Accordingly, the Parkhotel Gütersloh is keen to carefully teach everything that is required for entry into professional life, she adds, and to take time for its trainees. With success, as is demonstrated by numerous students who are now firmly rooted in professional life after an apprenticeship at the Parkhotel, either at the Parkhotel itself or at other prestigious hotels, including abroad.

The exchange program has contributed to this. Each year, the top trainee is given an opportunity to spend two to four weeks working at a hotel in the Parkhotel’s worldwide network. In this way they learn something about another hotel and can pick up valuable personal experiences.

"If all is company training was as hands-on as the Parkhotel’s, it would be a good answer to the growing demand for skilled workers in the region," comments Thomas Richter of the Bielefeld Employment Agency.