Student Work Experience Program

This program includes resources to help you work with local colleges and universities, high schools, and trade schools to bring in hospitality-focused students to learn and grow at your hotel.

The students gain real-world experience, learn about careers in our industry, and may even earn credits for their selected school program. You gain a dedicated team member who can augment your staff. It could even turn into a permanent arrangement!

A “student” can be anyone who has an interest in learning about your hotel. This includes local high schools, community colleges, or universities. But don’t limit yourself! You can find students in community education programs, vocational schools, and potential local workforce development agencies. These resources are to help you find and onboard students to augment your hotel staff.

To help you understand the Student Work Experience Program, take a moment and review these videos.

This video discusses the benefits of establishing a program at your hotel and how to do it.

How can a student assist your hotel?

  • Helps lessen your staffing challenges
  • Offer insights from a different generation for social media strategies
  • Offer a fresh perspective
  • Help your hotel increase its visibility in the community
  • Provide mentorship and leadership opportunities to current employees
  • Potentially be hired as a future employee

How to get started?

To assist you in setting up a Student Work Experience Program at your hotel, ChoiceU.com has the following resources:

The Student Work Experience: Establishing the Program and Recruiting

The Student Work Experience: Preparing For and Onboarding Participants

How to Enroll a “Student” into the Work Experience Program

To enroll a student into the Student Work Experience Program, sign in to your ChoiceU.com account and complete the following steps.

  • Log into your hotel’s User Group Administration Account on ChoiceU.com
  • Select ADD USER to create a new account for your student
  • Fill out the profile for the student
  • In the JOB FUNCTION field, select “Student/Intern”
  • Save the profile

Once a student has completed the program to your satisfaction, should you choose to hire the student as an employee, you can change the job function field in their student profile to reflect the updated position. This will change the content assigned to the student and provide them additional content. They will continue to receive credit for all content previously completed.

It will be important to determine if you will pay the student and/or offer a bonus at the end of the program. Keep in mind, you’ll likely have a bigger pool of candidates if the position is paid. To understand the rules of unpaid interns and students, take a moment and review this document: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act.

Resources Available to Students in the Work Experience Program

To assist students who are participating in a work experience program, the following tools on ChoiceU.com can help your student grow, develop, and progress.

These resources are instantly available when you enroll a student into the Work Experience Program. Guide your student to these resources and show them how to use ChoiceU.com to help them understand the program and their experience at your hotel.

How a Student Work Experience Program Can Help Your Hotel and Students

How to Find Resources for a Student Work Experience Program

How to Start a Student Work Experience Program