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 for Passport to Work are now open! We have lots of work experience sessions available this semester, including new ones in the Students’ Union shop, bar and reception. Book quickly to avoid disappointment and remember, although you can’t repeat a session, you can complete one of each.

Semester 2 sessions will be available from week commencing Monday 30th January 2012.

You can apply for Passport to Work session(s) below. Before you start your work experience, familiarise yourself with the documents in the Key Resources section.


Bar / Restaurant / Kitchen Work Experience

These work shadowing sessions will take place in McKennas at the Northern Stage which is located on Newcastle University Campus.

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

Kitchen support work shadowing:

  • 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 Kitchen support work shadowing.

Front of House (Bar/Restaurant) and Barista work shadowing:

  • 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 Customer Service and Barista work shadowing.

 

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Front of House / Customer Service Work Experience

These work shadowing 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 Front of House/Customer Service work shadowing.

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Catering / Customer Service Work Experience

These work shadowing sessions will take place at Newcastle University Accommodation and Hospitality Services (Henderson Halls).

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

  • Basic food preparation
  • Taking orders and providing table service for customers
  • Use of the correct cleaning chemicals to ensure work areas are clean
  • 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
  • Health and safety training including the safe handling of products

Apply for Catering/Customer Service work shadowing.

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Housekeeping / Retail Work Experience

These work shadowing sessions will take place at Newcastle University Accommodation and Hospitality Services (Castle Leazes).

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 certain quality cleaning standards and
  • Adhering to health and safety policies and procedures
  • Carrying out some Portering duties

Apply for 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 Retail work shadowing.

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Housekeeping / Reception Work Experience

These work shadowing sessions will take place at Newcastle University Accommodation and Hospitality Services (Richardson Road).

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 Reception work shadowing.

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Bar / Retail / Reception Work Experience

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.

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 cash transactions and using a till.

Apply for Retail work shadowing.

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.

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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 can gain transferable skills and experience in a real work situation which you can add to your CV. You’ll get a certificate for outlining the experience you’ve gained which you can show to employers when you’re looking for work.

Skills you could develop through this scheme:

Student Feedback

"It is an amazing opportunity."

"Really useful and developed me a lot as this is my first working experience."

"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 benefitted 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. Please also note that we 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 liz.johnson@ncl.ac.uk.

 

This is an ncl+ opportunity