Passport to Work

Key Resources

 

What is Passport to Work?

retail worker demonstrating to a student how the cash register works

Passport to Work gives you the opportunity to gain unpaid work experience and work shadowing in areas such as hospitality, customer service, housekeeping and catering. The scheme is aimed at current students of Newcastle University who are looking for paid work in the UK but are finding it difficult due to a lack of work experience on their CV.

Applications are now open! Passport to Work sessions are available from 29 October - 14 December 2012.

Please ensure you check the timing of your preferred session against your university timetable before submitting the application form.

Kitchen / Front of House Work Experience (McKenna's)

These sessions take place in McKennas at the Northern Stage which is located on Newcastle University Campus. Please note, you can only apply for one McKenna's session - either Kitchen or Front of House. (Unfortunately you cannot apply for both.)

The duties you will be shown how to perform may include the following:

Kitchen support:

  • Gaining an understanding of menu options;
  • Basic food preparation;
  • Use of the correct cleaning solutions to wash crockery and utensils;
  • Stock control: stock replenishment and rotation within the kitchen environments to ensure an efficient service and minimum wastage;
  • Exposure to health and safety training including the safe handling of products and kitchen utensils;
  • Safe disposal of waste items.

Apply for McKenna's Kitchen support work shadowing.

Front of House and Barista:

  • Taking orders and providing table service for customers;
  • Gaining an understanding of menu options;
  • Serving drinks and food orders to seated customers and cleaning tables;
  • Meeting and greeting customers and providing a high standard of customer service to all
    customers;
  • Stock control: stock replenishment and rotation to ensure an efficient service and minimum wastage;
  • Exposure to health and safety training: including the safe handling of products;
  • Understanding of an Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system;
  • Gaining an understanding of the drinks menu;
  • Gaining an understanding of basic Barista coffee training;
  • Learning the correct procedures of using coffee grinders and espresso machines;
  • Cleaning the coffee machine and keeping the work area clean and tidy.

Apply for McKenna's Front of House work shadowing.

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Front of House / Customer Service Work Experience (Civic Centre)

These sessions will take place at the Civic Centre which is located close to Newcastle University campus.

The duties you will be shown how to perform may include the following:

  • Meeting and greeting customers and providing a high standard of customer service to all customers;
  • Gaining an understanding of menu options;
  • Taking orders and providing table service for customers;
  • Serving drinks and food orders to seated customers, clearing and cleaning tables;
  • Gaining an understanding of health and safety procedures.

Apply for Civic Centre Front of House work shadowing.

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Housekeeping / Retail Work Experience (Castle Leazes)

These sessions will take place at Newcastle University Accommodation and Hospitality Services.

The duties you will be shown how to perform may include the following:

Housekeeping

  • Cleaning and reporting defects and damage;
  • Having some responsibility for security;
  • Working within teams to maintain quality cleaning standards;
  • Adhering to health and safety policies and procedures;
  • Carrying out some portering duties.

Apply for Castle Leazes Housekeeping work shadowing.

Retail

  • Customer service: helping with customer enquiries in a friendly and polite manner;
  • Stock maintenance: monitoring levels of stock on the shop floor, taking items from the stock room and replenishing the shelves quickly and accurately;
  • Gaining an understanding of an EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) system and using a till.

Apply for Castle Leazes Retail work shadowing.

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Housekeeping / Reception Work Experience (Richardson Road)

These sessions will take place at Newcastle University Accommodation and Hospitality Services.

The duties you will be shown how to perform may include the following:

Reception

  • Basic clerical and administration tasks;
  • Working with computer applications;
  • Dealing with front of house enquiries.

Apply for Richardson Road Reception work shadowing.

Housekeeping

  • Cleaning and reporting defects and damage;
  • Having some responsibility for security;
  • Working within teams to certain quality cleaning standards;
  • Adhering to health and safety policies and procedures;
  • Carrying out some Portering duties.

Apply for Richardson Road Housekeeping work shadowing.

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Bar / Reception Work Experience (NUSU)

These work shadowing sessions will take place on campus at Newcastle University Students' Union.

The duties you will be shown how to perform may include the following:

Reception

  • Working with the Welcome Desk Team to act as the first point of contact for all Newcastle University Students Union enquiries;
  • Dealing with room bookings using the online booking system;
  • An introduction to dealing with telephone enquiries;
  • General clerical and administrative duties.

Apply for Reception work shadowing sessions.

Bar

  • Taking orders and serving drinks to customers;
  • Customer service: helping with customer enquiries in a friendly and polite manner;
  • Stock maintenance: monitoring levels of stock behind the bar and replenishing the fridges/shelves quickly and accurately;
  • Gaining an understanding of cash transactions and using a till.

Apply for Bar work shadowing sessions.

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Catering Work Experience (Courtyard)

These work shadowing sessions will take place on campus at Newcastle University Accommodation and Hospitality Services.

The duties you will be shown how to perform may include the following:

Catering

  • Gaining an understanding of menu options and the workings of a busy servery;
  • Serving drinks and food orders to seated customers and cleaning tables;
  • Meeting and greeting customers and providing a high standard of customer service to all
    customers;
  • Stock control: stock replenishment and rotation to ensure an efficient service and minimum wastage;
  • Exposure to health and safety training: including the safe handling of products;
  • Understanding of an Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system;
  • Keeping the work area clean and tidy;
  • Working with Kitchen Porters in order to ensure the front of the restaurant is clean and the dishes on the servery are replenished.

Apply for Catering work shadowing sessions.

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What are the benefits of taking part in Passport to Work?

Passport to Work gives you the opportunity to observe staff undertaking key aspects of their job. You will gain transferable skills and experience in a real work situation to add to your CV. You will also get a certificate outlining the experience you’ve gained to show employers when you’re looking for work.

Skills you could develop through this scheme:

Student Feedback

"One of the best tickets to learn new skills in hospitality!"

"This is a great experience, especially for an international student - you will enjoy the experience of working in a very different work environment."

"A chance to work shadow, meet people from a specific profession at their work place and get introduced to the job routine."

Employer feedback

“The Newcastle University Passport to Work scheme is extremely beneficial to both students and employers.  It gives students valuable work experience and an opportunity to gain practical skills in a safe environment where they can learn from existing staff members.  The scheme also benefited the Civic Centre by giving us access to students who are keen to learn and eager to get involved – some of them were so good we will be taking them on as casual staff!  I would recommend this scheme to both employers and students and encourage people to get involved.” Helen Lambert, Hospitality Supervisor at Newcastle Civic Centre

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How to apply

After reviewing our terms and conditions (PDF: 17KB) and what is expected of you on the day (PDF: 59KB), you can apply for any of the above opportunities by submitting an application form from the relevant section(s) above.

Please note, there are only a limited number of placements available and spaces are filled on a first come, first served basis. The Careers Service reserve the right to close applications when we are in receipt of sufficient applications.

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Need to contact us?

For more information about Passport to Work, please contact joy.wilson2@ncl.ac.uk

 

This is an ncl+ opportunity