Organizational example:

Organization/Program

Hospitality Training (HTP)
International Institute of Boston (IIB)
Boston, MA

Program Purpose

To help immigrants and refugees begin a career in the hotel and hospitality industry.

Program Description

IIB helps immigrants to the United States achieve self-sufficiency and adjustment to a new country, in the form of English and literacy classes, resettlement for refugees, citizenship education, economic development assistance, job counseling, training and placement, legal aid, and social services.

HTP targets immigrants and refugees who have limited English skills and/or lack transferable skills to enter employment and works with them to heighten their awareness to their reactions that might be triggered by their own cultural backgrounds. For example, direct eye contact and constant smiling is often perceived to be rude in many cultures and might even be seen as a sign of anger, while in the United States this is how we show friendliness and honesty. Another example can be taken from the Vietnamese community where hotels in the recent past were often synonymous with brothels. The HTP program has successfully worked with an agency that directly supports the Vietnamese community to change this perception. The Hotel Career Center also works to help educate the employers about employee cultural perceptions and orientation.

HTP works with clients not necessarily to change behaviors but to blend their own sense of politeness to fit with the hospitality culture. This often results in a uniquely old fashioned type of customer service that is very formal and suits many of Boston’s hotels. Participants receive skills training which includes four weeks of classroom instruction combined with two weeks of hands-on job shadowing as well as job placement upon graduation and post-placement services including case management, referral services, counseling and individualized support for job retention and future job upgrade. The classroom instruction orients the students to the hospitality industry and focuses on customer service skills, workplace communication, and job seeking skills.

Progress

The goal of the program is for clients to obtain jobs that provide a sustainable living wage with benefits to attain job retention and then to work towards promotion.

Contact Information

IIB
Martha Goldberg
Hotel Career Center Manager
One Milk Street
Boston, MA 02109
T: (617)695-9990
http://www.iiboston.org