Bouncing back: Springboard celebrates its hospitality jobs milestone

As Springboard smashes its target of finding 10,000 jobs, James Stagg meets the amateur mixologists on its Skill Up, Step Up course

A dozen youngsters sit around a subterranean bar eagerly watching as a bartender mixes a pornstar martini. But these aren’t thirsty students on a Friday night. It’s 10am on a Wednesday morning and the group are the latest individuals being supported into employment by Springboard.

They are taking part in the Springboard to 2022 initiative, which launched in 2020 and has since helped over 10,000 people into employment in hospitality. When it was launched in the midst of the pandemic the stated aim was to assist the industry in rebuilding and to help address the long-term staffing crisis by ensuring an engaged, skilled talent pipeline to fill vacancies. The charity has since surpassed its target and partnered a newly trained workforce with employers including IHG Hotels & Resorts, Compass, Hilton, Jury’s Inn, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Nando’s.

Those sitting at the bar in the Cocktail Club in London’s Clapham are taking part in a two-week Skill Up, Step Up course. “It’s an introduction to hospitality,” explains Springboard chief executive Chris Gamm. “There’s some soft skills, such as confidence, attitude, timekeeping and getting ready for work. Yesterday they did a CV workshop and today is what we call hard skills. They are learning bar skills today, but it could be customer service or food safety depending on the course.”

Part of the effort is to inspire them to consider hospitality as a potential career in which they can continue to learn and progress. Those attending are all seeking to get back into work, and typically need a little extra assistance to prepare them for it. Springboard has helped Ukrainian refugees, care leavers, those with mental and physical health conditions, and people with various other barriers to employment.

“All of our trainees will be supported with travel, we’ll feed them, and if they need help with clothes, we’ll help with that too,” Gamm adds.

After they’ve been trained in a range of hospitality settings in soft and hard skills, along with online education through Flow Learning, a network of Springboard ambassadors from the industry then give the trainees mock interviews, before Springboard finds them work experience that regularly leads to a job offer.

Gamm says: “We get 77% of all of our trainees into work in hospitality, and of those who find roles, 73% stay in their position for at least a year. We guarantee 12 months of support. Some go and fly, but others call us for support and, occasionally, the jobs don’t work out and they loop back round. We do need employers to be understanding and offer a little more support, but in return they’ll have an employee who is motivated, loyal and hard working.”

Mixing it up

Among those who have given up two weeks of their time unpaid to develop their skills on this course is Jay Kaur. She had been a nanny but couldn’t continue in the role and was keen to work as part of a team, so Barnet job centre suggested she enrol.

“I’m loving it so far. I’m genuinely grateful for the opportunity,” she says. “I just thought: hospitality is something I love – talking to people, meeting people and making them feel happy gives me a smile too.”

Clearly inspired by the morning making cocktails, Kaur says she’s keen to work behind a bar. “I have worked in a shisha bar before, but not doing drinks. I loved that because you stay so busy,” she adds. “My confidence has been knocked in the past but to be honest this gives me real passion and excitement. I can see it will be fulfilling and I really want to work in a team and learn from others.”

Kaur will come out with recognised City & Guilds qualifications, providing genuine proof of her ability along with the boost to confidence that the courses instil. She’ll be joined by fellow trainee Nikolay Tinev, who heard about the course after a friend enthused about their hospitality job having gone through the Springboard programme. “He had good things to say so I thought I’d give it a shot,” he explains.

He believes a role in a hotel is more suited to his skills. “This course is good because I’m looking to get some diverse experience,” he adds. “Yesterday was CV and job applications and really understanding what they can offer us. Tomorrow is interview practice. So far it’s all really fun and it gets me out and travelling. It’s early days but I am optimistic I’ll find a good role in hospitality.”

Neither Tinev or Kaur need to look far for evidence that the course will propel them into a career with great prospects, since on the bartending day they are joined by Jasmine Sillitoe, who completed the Skill Up, Step Up course a few months before. She tells them she has been working in conference and banqueting at the Park Lane Hilton since June.

“The course was really enjoyable,” she enthuses. “I was in the beauty industry prior to this, which is customer service too, so I had some skills already. During the lockdowns beauty obviously closed down and afterwards I thought I’d apply for this course.

“I didn’t realise there were so many types of jobs. When I got hands-on setting up tables for events I just thought, this is for me. A week after the course I went for an open day at Hilton and they offered me the job. I started off as a casual waiter and four months later was offered a permanent role as conference and banqueting team leader. I’m really excited.”

Springboard sets itself high targets, first seeking to raise £5m to fund the Springboard to 2022 initiative, then to deliver the 10,000 people into employment, so Gamm is rightfully proud to have delivered.

“We’re delighted to have reached and exceeded our goal, helping more than 10,000 people find employment,” he says. “Hearing how the programme has changed the lives of participants – many of whom faced challenges such as mental or physical health conditions and the war in Ukraine – makes this achievement even more meaningful.

“Knowing we’ve been able to support the hospitality businesses we work with is also incredibly positive and we look forward to furthering this in the coming year.”

Springboard to 2022 stats

Of the 10,000 people who have secured jobs in hospitality:

• 56% are male
• 46% are female
• 85% are aged under 30
• 40% went into front-of-house roles
• 25% went into the kitchen
• 15% went into reception jobs
• 8% went into cleaning jobs
• 12% went into support roles, including marketing, finance, or maintenance.