Crown Institute of Studies is known to produce excellent, work-ready graduates and the December 2011 graduates are certainly examples of this.

Paige Olliver and Danielle Metcalf, graduates from the Crown Certificate in International Hospitality – Hotel Services and Reception Operations course, have already secured great jobs at top-notch hotels.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing staff at Crown Institute of Studies and the skilful lessons provided to us,” says Paige.

Paige is now a receptionist at the Sky City Grand Hotel and Danielle is a receptionist at the Copthorne Hotel.

Their enthusiasm in their studies, strong work ethic and help from our careers advisor, all helped them in securing such fantastic roles within the hospitality industry.

Natalie Tolhopf, Crown’s Careers Advisor, says “I’m so proud of Paige and Danielle for taking action and jumping at opportunities. Their proactive approach and willingness to learn has really helped them in securing these positions”.

Both Paige and Danielle were also part of the Crown Student Representatives Team and helped with organising events and activities for the Crown Community.

The Crown Certificate in International Hospitality – Hotel Services and Reception Operations is a great course for students who are interested in both hospitality and tourism and would like to gain qualifications in both disciplines.

If you would like more information about the Crown Certificate in International Hospitality – Hotel Services and Reception Operations then click HERE. Next classes start 7 February 2012.

Congratulations to all our Crown Institute 2011 graduates! Crown students’ family and friends celebrated their successes at the AMI Netball Centre in Northcote on the 16^th of December 2011.

Terry Swanson, Academic Director at Crown, opened the afternoon and welcomed guests to the special occasion.  He spoke about what an achievement it was to be graduating and imparted some words of wisdom to the graduating students,“I believe there are three things that can make you a Triple A graduate… application, attitude and aspiration”.

The guest speaker for the occasion was a recent Crown graduate Samantha Morris. Samantha spoke about her nervousness as a new student and how Crown helped her grow from a young student into a mature working professional.

Samantha is now working for GO Holidays as an Asia Consultant and was awarded the Top Travel Student Award for 2011.

With beaming smiles students went up on stage to receive their Certificates and Diplomas. Some students will go on to further studies while others will be venturing out to find jobs in the industry.

Even though these students have graduated from Crown, our Career Advisor Natalie Tolhopf is here to guide them. “It is important to us at Crown to support and guide our graduates in finding a job. We offer online support as well as one on one career counselling”.

We would like to wish all our graduates all the best for the future. We are sure they will all be very successful in their careers.

Thank you to North Harbour Netball for providing a great venue and to Function Staff for your great hospitality.  Crown Institute is a proud community sponsor of North Harbour Netball.

We are enrolling now for Travel and Tourism, Hospitality and Business courses starting in 2012.  Fill in our pre-enrolment form by clicking here.

 

 

 

Industry Day

Crown Institutes Industry Day on the 17th of November was a great success.

Click here to view

 

 

Skills and experience are now essential for even entry-level employment in the contemporary hospitality industry. This can be a huge obstacle to young people who have just completed a qualification and are looking for work.

Crown Institute’s management and tutors believe it’s important to offer work experience to students who are willing to put in the effort required.

Crown works closely with Function Staff. Function Staff is recognised as New Zealand’s most outgoing and dynamic staffing source for event and promotional requirements.

Function Staff was chosen to work with rugby event organisers to ensure a true New Zealand hospitality experience for customers throughout the tournament.

Function Staff teamed up with Crown Institute of Studies to enhance service delivery and customer comfort and to ensure that customer expectations were exceeded at every event.

Students from Crown worked at the rugby tournament from the pool games to the finals. From liquor managers to waiters, they were given a once in a lifetime opportunity to work at an international event. Students gained fantastic work experience and skills to add to their CVs.

Here are some of the experiences our students had.

I worked for Function Staff at all the tournament’s Eden Park matches. At first I was a little afraid of working there because I thought I wasn’t skilled or experienced enough. But the staff were really friendly and they helped me a lot. On the first day I worked as a kitchen hand but with my liquor controller qualification that I gained from studying at Crown Institute of Studies, I was promoted to work as a Liquor Monitor/General Manager.

Sara Hong – National Diploma in Hospitality Management graduate

During the rugby tournament I was absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to work for Function Staff as a Corporate Box Host at Eden Park! It was an amazing opportunity to be a part of history and I was always proud to put on my neatly ironed shirt, tie, pants, apron and polished black leather shoes for each game at Eden Park, and host a box.

Every game was different and I enjoyed them all. I learnt so much from working in the corporate boxes; like the importance of appearance and delivering good customer service to keep the clients manahau (happy). My hospitality skills have definitely improved through this experience.

Serving drinks and canapés and being able to look over my shoulder towards the booming roars of the crowd and look down at the stadium scattered with rugby players was pretty awesome I must say! Meeting some former All Blacks like John Kirwan was another highlight.

I met lots of people during my work at the tournament, from celebrity clients in my box (Martin Henderson, to name just one) to the fantastic people I worked with. Though sometimes it felt like the nights were long and for sure it got tiring, looking back I had so much fun and I enjoyed my work experience. It was all worth it; every second.

Thank you Function staff and Crown for an experience like no other.

Leilani Steffany – Crown Certificate in International Travel, Tourism & Airline Studies graduate

During the recent rugby tournament, I had the important role of looking after clients in a corporate box. Throughout all the games that were played at Eden Park I was the Head Steward.

During the opening game I looked after the Maori King, Tuheitia Paki, and his wife, along with politicians and people from some of New Zealand’s biggest companies. One of my favourite memories would have to be how well our Maori culture was showcased. The reo (language), karanga (welcome call), haka and the performance as a whole was breath taking.

My favourite game was Ireland versus Australia. The atmosphere that the Irish fans brought was just spectacular. They were loud and the chants that went off echoed throughout the stadium.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the tournament and everything I experienced. All the staff that I worked with were outstanding, making work as easy and fun as possible.

Paula Low – Crown Certificate in International Hospitality (Food & Beverage Service) student

Crown Institute of Studies is enrolling now for hospitality, travel and tourism, and business courses starting in 2012. Contact the institute on 0800 357 316 or info@crown.ac.nz for more information.

At Crown Institute of Studies we believe in giving our students a helping hand in getting them ahead.  In today’s working world work experience is essential in any job! Therefore we offer a diverse range of internships to students, to help them get much needed work experience. Work experience partnered up with the right qualifications will help students  get into their chosen industry.

Here are our internships currently on offer

Business

Crown Institute of studies offers an exciting opportunity for a Business student to gain some work experience in the Accounting Arena!

The lucky student works 3 to 4 hours a week in Crown’s Accounts department!

The student will be using MYOB knowledge to learn practical dada entry and develop filing skills, an essential to any office job.

Travel

Travel Desk

At Crown we have our own Travel and Activities Desk where students can book and find out more information about a range of activities and adventures around New Zealand.

We offer a 3-month internship to a graduating Travel student to run our travel desk. The student will gain experience in customer service, sales and networking.

This is an ideal stepping-stone for a graduating student to gain entry into the Travel industry!  To apply click  here!

 

New Caledonia Tourism

Crown has many strong relationships with the Tourism Industry in particular with New Caledonia Tourism.

In 2006 Crown Institute and New Caledonia Tourism in New Zealand founded the New Caledonia internship/scholarship. Every year one lucky travel student from Crown is awarded the scholarship.

 Part of the internship/scholarship package is work experience at the New Caledonia Tourism office and $1000 towards the students course costs at the completion of their studies.

 

Simon Duffy (New Caldedonia Tourism) with Samantha Morris (2011 scholarship winner)

 

GO Holidays

GO Holidays is the largest wholesaler in New Zealand.  We have a great partnership with this company and a number of our graduates are now working there.

We offer a travel student an exciting opportunity to work at this fantastic and well-known organisation.

This internship is a golden opportunity for a student to gain some excellent work experience at well reputable company and get a taste of what it will be like working in the Travel industry.

 

 

 Kharn Murphy (Crown graduate working at GO Holidays) 

 Intercity

 Intercity is New Zealand’s largest coach transportation network under the country’s premier coach networks of Intercity Coachlines and Newmans Coachlines.

Crown and Intercity have had a longstanding relationship. We have been fortunate enough to secure an internship with this fantastic company.

Students get to experience first hand what it is like to work in a travel call centre, listening in to calls, going on famils, working at Skycity depot and selling tickets.

 

Marketing

Marketing is a big part of the Travel and Tourism industry.  We offer a finishing Travel and Tourism student an opportunity to gain some skills in this discipline. From customer service to liaising with prospective students.

This internship is for a student who does not have any work experience and would like to gain some extra skills to ad to their CV.

This is a 6-week summer internship where the lucky student will be working with Crown’s fun marketing team.

 

Hospitality

Function Staff

Crown and Function staff has teamed up to offer students the opportunity to gain work experience in the hospitality arena.

Through this internship students learn to deal with customers confidently and prove to employers they have up to date and relevant work experience.

Function Staff is recognised as New Zealandʼs most Outgoing & Dynamic staffing source for client event & promotional requirements.

 A lot of our students have gained exceptional experience from working with Function staff.

 

 

Crown Plaza & City Life Hotels

Crown Plaza and City Life are a couple of top notch hotels in Auckland. This is an excellent opportunity for a student who is studying our Hotel course.

Students are places in the house keeping or the food and beverage department. They work alongside supervisors and team leaders.

From this internship students get a real taste of the working environment with in the hotel industry.

This is a fantastic way for students to learn and make some excellent contacts.