PizzaExpress provides career pathway for school and college leavers
Staff recruitment continues to be challenging in the hospitality industry, however we are increasingly spotting fantastic innovations by operators to attract and retain talent early in their careers. PizzaExpress is one such organisation, which has recently introduced a training programme for school and college leavers across England and Ireland.
Creating Career Pathways in Hospitality
Kate Hetherington, Chief People Officer at PizzaExpress, says, “This programme is about providing school and college leavers with a pathway in the hospitality industry with opportunities to build a rewarding career whilst gaining qualifications.” The initiative provides a fast-track training programme to become a general manager, as well as a Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship.
The first cohort of students was recruited last year for the inaugural programme. “We want to ensure that the format is working before we increase numbers – which we plan to do this year,” says Kate. “Those on the programme are offered a permanent role from the outset and we’re dedicated to their progression. This programme gives them the skills to be a general manager.”
A Three-Year Comprehensive Programme
The three-year PizzaExpress programme combines both practical training and university tuition through Arden University. Candidates have training in every role in a restaurant before learning management duties and how the business works. Kate says, “During the programme, we’re holding regular check-ins with team members to ensure they are armed with the best opportunities to succeed, while working collaboratively, with the opportunity to provide feedback. This will help to improve the programme and provide the best possible learning environment going forward,” she says. “We have incredible stories of progression at PizzaExpress. Some team members have gone on to have successful, long careers from leading our restaurant recruitment to managing our Manchester restaurants. One of our directors started in the pot wash.”
Innovative Recruitment with Vizzy
Vizzy, an innovative platform, was used to recruit candidates for the scheme. Kate says, “We are the first hospitality company to partner with Vizzy and we’re seeing some great applicants through the platform.”
Through Vizzy, candidates can bring their projects and personality to life with multimedia applications compared to traditional black and white Q&As and long application forms. Jess Woodward-Jones, co-founder of Vizzy, who used to work in hospitality and events, says, “We think the CV is outdated, limiting and boring. The Vizzy profile allows candidates to bring their answers to life by uploading videos, gifs, PDFs, audio files and images to accompany their answers.
Grades and experience are important, but we believe personality, passion, skills and interests are equally, if not more so. A psychometrics test within the Vizzy profile shows what the candidate’s strengths are. Vizzy reduces CV volume anywhere from 35% to 80%.”
Visit https://www.pizzaexpress.com/ and https://vizzy.com/ for more information.
PizzaExpress has 360 pizzerias in the UK.
It is aiming to reach 1,000 pizzerias globally by 2030.
It opened its first site under the new ‘grab and go’ concept PizzaExpress Pod, at Tesco Extra in Southampton last year.
Their new training programme for school and college leavers launched in 2023 and the team are keen to continue its roll-out across their portfolio.
