In a career spanning more than 19 years, Mr. Hemant Jaiswal has spent over 11 years in key positions in the Hospitality sector. Currently, as Director of Human Resources, he manages HR and IR functions at the Flagship hotel, Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai.
The Taj Mahal Palace in South Mumbai is an iconic hotel with an illustrious history in refined hospitality going back over a century. Our human resource forms the backbone of how and what we do and are renowned for their world-class hospitality skills.
The Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai has a strong history of supporting apprenticeships and on the job training programs by ensuring that our trainees receive a holistic on-site experience in various functions such as Food & Beverage, Food Production, Housekeeping, Laundry and Engineering. During the course of the program, the apprentices are exposed to in-depth training in every aspect of each functional area. Moreover, to motivate and support our young apprentices, we ensure that the stipend paid to them is above what is prescribed under the Apprenticeship Act.
I feel immense pride when at the end of the training program our apprentices turn out to be confident and able youth equipped with highly sought after skills who can be easily hired by any of the top-notch hotels in the city. In fact, we not only make them adept and employable for the industry at large but also ensure that we go on to hire most of them in our hotel. We have had many success stories with apprentices who have gone on to become star performers in our hotel rising up to be Restaurant Managers and Supervisors. This is a win-win situation for both the apprentices and the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. By investing in apprenticeship programs, we have reaped the dual benefit of turning out future ready highly skilled youth whilst giving us access to a constant pool of fresh talent molded to our specific ethos and business needs.
I hope our experience in apprenticeship programs will encourage other employers in different industries to see the value of a well-rounded skills-based training program and make an impactful difference in skilling the youth of the country.
Footnote:
The India Apprenticeship Forum is extremely pleased to lend wholehearted support to these views of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. We have explored similar sentiments in our blogs Apprenticeship as a career – linked to or delinked from higher education? and Making apprenticeships more inclusive through TVET where we have looked at how an apprenticeship can be a substitute for higher education for youth to become a skilled tradesperson. We have further explored how government and industry can add more sheen to apprenticeships as a valuable career path.
