Reception Academy reveals the secret to career success

While the hospitality Industry continues to grow, Reception Academy agreed to unveil all the important first step towards an exciting new career in this field.

Accredited by the highly regarded Institute of Hospitality (IOH) and works in affiliation with over 800 hotels; their certificates are recognised by over 1,400 hotels and almost 100% of its graduates find employment right after completing one of their courses.

Reception Academy explains to Emagister its successful vision of its own hands-on training.

1. When was your centre founded? How did the idea of creating a training centre come up?

Reception Academy was originally founded in 2008 but our doors to the public only opened two years later in 2010. It took us two years to research the program, create the course content and test-run the training before we decided that it was good enough to be made available to individuals wanting to start a new career.

The idea for Reception Academy came to us when we discussed how difficult it was to hire well-trained receptionists for our hotels. The vast majority of applicants had no experience and thought it was easy to be a receptionist. The “on the job” training was stressful for the new starter and trainer alike. On top of that, it was a long process and took up to three months before a new receptionist was ready. Guests who paid £200 to £400 per night often did not appreciate to be “experimented” on by a new team member.

So we looked high and low but could not find anything that matched our vision of a hands-on-training that really gets individuals ready for the job in a short period of time. We talked to hotels we knew and ultimately ended up creating a program that was very specific to the real-life requirements of hotels. The program was so successful that we applied our hands-on, real-life training approach to other areas in hotels but also expanded into other, reception-specific industries such as Corporate Reception and Medical Reception.

2. Where is it located? Why did you choose that location?

We are located in one of the trendiest parts of London, Spitalfields. Surrounded by buzzing markets, lovely cafes, restaurants and only a short walk away from Liverpool Street Station; a major transport hub.

We chose this location for two reasons a.) with Liverpool Street Station so close by it is easy to get to from pretty much any point in London and b.) the area offers students a place where they can not only study in comfort but also enjoy some quality time after class, go for a coffee, have a Pizza or just enjoy a stroll through world-famous Brick Lane.

3. What kind of courses do you offer? What is your ideal student profile?

Our focus is on Career Starter Courses for front office-based jobs such as Hotel Reception, Corporate Reception and Medical Reception. These courses are ideal for anyone wishing to start a career without ever having worked in these positions before. Having said that, we also offer Career Development courses like Supervision & Leadership as well as Management courses.

The ideal student is passionate about the hospitality industry and has the drive to do better in life. Let’s face it; we have all been there, working away in a dead-end job like waiter/waitress, barista or similar roles with no or very limited career progression. Students with a real desire to change their lives and do something meaningful are ideal for a course at Reception Academy.

4. What teaching methodologies do you use? Why did you choose them?

Our courses are classroom-based, hands-on and focus on real workplace requirements. We will always include extensive training on the relevant software used in the workplace.

We understand that online courses are more convenient for people but our focus is not to just sell courses, our aim is to ensure we help passionate individuals to start a new career and often a new life altogether. An online course can never achieve that.

Learning a new skill is not always simple and you need support and practice if you want to be able to successfully start a new career from scratch.

Ask yourself: “Could you really learn to drive a car by reading a book or completing a simple online course?” Most certainly not! You have to physically sit in the car, feel what it is like to steer and drive on the roads and learn what challenges you may face; the instructor safely by your side to give you a helping hand and guidance when needed. The same can be said about wanting to train for a new career. Our training methodology is ideal for anyone serious about their career and those that enjoy hands-on training.

5. Are your courses more theoretical or practical?

Our courses are to over 80% practical and less than 20% is theory.

6. What type of qualification do your students receive once they complete their training?

Our students receive a Reception Academy Diploma accredited by the BAC (British Accreditation Council) and the IOH (Institute of Hospitality). The IOH accreditation gives our diplomas an international recognition.

7. What kind of jobs can your students choose at the end of the course?

Depending on their chosen course, students can either start a career as a Hotel Receptionist, Hotel Reservation Agent, Corporate Receptionist or Medical Receptionist. This gives them a great variety of workplaces to pick from. We work with hundreds of partner companies to ensure our students do get the career start that they were hoping for. Our work does not end when the course is complete; our work is done once a student is in employment.

8. Which advantages do students have studying in your centre?

There are many advantages of studying at Reception Academy but the main benefits are:

• courses are hands-on and based on real workplace requirements
• extensive training on the relevant software used in the workplace always included
• our dedication to putting graduates into work on course completion
• instructors have years of experience in the relevant field
• our connections to hundreds of partner companies recruiting our students
• we constantly collaborate with our partner companies to ensure our training is always up to date
• courses are short yet effective and affordable
• open to anyone with a passion for genuine hospitality

9. Is there any aspect of your centre (or course) that you would like to highlight?

I think it is clear that a big part of our focus is on getting students into work and readers may ask how we actually do that. Besides having hundreds of partner companies we work with, we also train all our students on the interview process and interview questions. In addition, we create a brand-new CV together with our students and take professional and attractive profile pictures. This is then made public to our partner companies and students can expect to be called on course completion even before they applied. The best thing, however, has to be our Graduation ceremony. At the end of each course, we take all our students to a 4*/5* hotel and present them with their certificate in an official setting. We also invite partner companies to join and on average we have around 20 business representatives present, all looking to hire our graduates.

10. What do you think about education nowadays? How has it changed since last century?

Education has changed dramatically. It has become much more commercial and it certainly feels like a lot of training providers are only in it for the money. Many offering one-day courses at £200 to £300 with the unrealistic promise of a job at the end. The education sector is not very well regulated and the student is left alone to take a risk. Course content is often out of date, trainers are not qualified and misleading promises weren’t kept. This is something we passionately and fundamentally would like to see changed so that students can make a decision based on facts that they can trust.

On a plus side, education has become much more accessible and there is something out for anyone. Our advice to students would always be, regardless if you are looking to gain a College qualification, University Degrees or a Reception Academy Diploma, do your research first and chose the option that will give you the best return on your investment. Go and see the place and talk to people, even contact former students if you can.