Six students have celebrated their graduation from Diageo’s Learning for Life programme after completing the six-week bartending and hospitality course. The course offers young people entry level training in bartending and hospitality, including work experience in local pubs, bars and restaurants and all the participants of this cohort have been offered the opportunity to interview for Cru Holdings with two already securing full time roles with the company.
Ross Sharratt, Business and Employee Development Manager Cru Holdings said,”Cru Hospitality is proud to have actively supported Diageo Learning for Life this year, and it has been a truly rewarding experience. Witnessing the candidates’ remarkable growth and progress throughout their training has been inspiring. They have not only gained confidence but also embraced a wider range of positions within the hospitality sector, some of which they had not previously considered.
“We offered all the candidates’ placements across our diverse sites, and their enthusiastic and professional approach to their roles was truly commendable. In fact, we are thrilled to share that some of them have accepted permanent positions within Cru Hospitality. We eagerly look forward to the next course to support and empower a new set of candidates, providing them with valuable opportunities to excel within the hospitality sector.”
Kseniia Hranovska, a refugee from Ukraine, is celebrating her graduation from the course which has recently completed in Inverness. Kseniia, said, “My work coach from the Job Centre told me about this course. This is my first experience working in Hospitality, so I didn’t even know what to expect from this course. When I first joined Learning for Life, my mental health wasn’t very good. During the course, I met a lot of good people and I had a lot of fun and now I feel much better. I would really like to thank Gillian and Gail. I’ll never forget how we went to The Singleton for a cocktail master class together. I am very glad that I have joined Learning for Life and recommend it to others.”
Gillian Dalziel, Learning for Life Programme Manager in the UK said,“Congratulations to all the students that have graduated today. It has been great to see all their hard work come to fruition. At Diageo we aim to promote sustainable growth through inclusive programmes and Learning for Life plays an important role in giving people the opportunity to kickstart a career in such a vibrant industry.“
The Learning for Life course in Inverness was delivered by Diageo partner The Springboard Charity, who works closely with Diageo to ensure the highest quality training and experience is delivered to Learning for Life students.
Diageo invests £1m a year through Learning for Life which offers opportunities to young unemployed people in the UK to get into hospitality careers. To date, 5500 young unemployed people have been trained and, last year, 70% of those immediately achieved a positive destination (full-time employed or further education), growing to 92% after 12 months.