Marston’s & LiketoBe

At Marston’s we understand the pressure that parents, teachers, influencers and students are facing when gathering information to help them, to help young people, make decisions about their future education and career  choice. Partnering with LiketoBe provides us with the opportunity to help to clear some of the uncertainties, which many may have, around the careers available in hospitality. The LiketoBe online networking platform provides a place where questions can be asked and answered in real time, helping to remove the myths that can surround apprenticeships and careers.

Engaging with students, at a time when they are thinking about their next steps, is really important to us; for many, hospitality is still seen as a low skilled, low pay work environment which means young people perceive working in hospitality as just a stop gap or a way to earn cash whilst studying towards a ‘real’ profession or career. Our aim is to dispel this perception and highlight the fantastic careers available to those wishing to pursue employment in a world with so many uncertainties. The currency for a successful professional career in the past was largely based on knowledge acquisition and being able to process information. The currency now, and in the near future, is creative expression and the ability to connect and create experience for others, which is what our industry is all about. Hospitality is one of the best career destinations for young people to be themselves, find themselves and create themselves and offers unrivalled opportunities for development, flexibility and social mobility.

Complementing our on-line presence, Marston’s have also been ‘out on the road’, teaming up with two other major hospitality employers, Greene King and Mitchells & Butler. We have been showcasing the benefits apprenticeships bring, and the careers available in hospitality, at three National Apprenticeship Shows – Harrogate, Cheltenham and Bolton, where students can ‘have a go’ at a number of skills activities. We also took our inflatable pub, complete with skills activities, to UK World Skills 2018 at the NEC, Birmingham, in November.

The advantages of students and schools becoming involved with LiketoBe include access to industry professionals, through the on-line networking platform, tutorials, company information, career pathways and an abundance of current opportunities; having access to all this resource in one place is truly innovative and inspiring.