We trained employment seekers to find jobs in the hospitality industry

A project for Santa Susana City Council economic promotion department, in Girona province (Spain)

The aim was to create a program to promote the sustainable development of the hotel industry in the area and, specifically, to prepare and professionalize possible employment seekers for summer season opportunities in local hotels. Mycelium was tasked to create the training program according to the needs of employers and employment seekers.

To ensure applicability, the project was structured in two phases:

  • Semi-structure interviews with employers to understand in depth the needs, interests, and challenges identified in their working environment to properly design and execute a gastronomic hotel offer, mainly focused on the buffet format.

  • Course content design with an active learning approach and inspired in real cases.

The Challenge

How can we design a culinary course with a multidisciplinary approach to promote the sustainable development of the hotel industry in Santa Susanna?

How we tackled it

Qualitative research and co-creation of the course

The team interviewed different profiles to make a diagnostic of the needs of the hotel industry as a baseline for designing the course content. Based on those interviews, we co-created a 2-week ad-hoc program that included training in:

  • Food safety

  • Culinary techniques and basic preparations

  • Kitchen organization and process optimization.

  • Menu development for hotels

  • Costings and menu engineering

  • Marketing and online presence.

  • Emotional management in the workplace

  • Sustainability.

Lastly, we measure the short-term impact of the course focusing on their self-efficacy, related to individuals’ beliefs and ability to carry out behaviors to produce specific outcomes and their satisfaction with the course.

Results

  • 10 graduates from the program.

  • An opportunity to develop gastronomic entrepreneurship programs has been spotted, thanks to the holistic approach of the program

Deliverables

For the qualitative research phase:

  • +2 hours of interviews

  • A complete portfolio with the synthesized results from the interviews and identified challenges

For the 2-week ad-hoc program:

  • 40 hours module with a multidisciplinary approach.

  • +50 activities to put into practice the theoretical content.

  • +10 resources as templates, presentations, and notes

Scope

Meet the Team Involved

  • Estefania Simon-Sasyk

  • Soraya Martínez

  • Linda Silva

  • Patricia Jurado

  • Albert Ortiz

  • Julen Urtasun

“The course has been a complete success! We are very happy with this course and we hope to keep this collaboration ongoing.”

Maria del Mar Saboya Prat — Economic promotion executive in Santa Susanna City Council (Catalonia, Spain)

And the Institutions

“The approach is very interesting and fresh. It breaks with our common narratives of what Navarra’s gastronomy is or should be, and helps us to look differently at the opportunities ahead.”

Maitena Ezkutari Artieda — General Director of Tourism, Commerce, and Consumption office

Read more about what our projects kindled