We believe in the importance of attracting and investing in the young people of today. Our strapline, ‘developing talent for the future’, is attained by offering two first-class, development programmes for those interested in a long-term career in the hospitality industry - a management programme and a chef programme. These combine to provide an effective manpower solution to hotels that are members of the Concord Hotels organisation and build the skills necessary for the future of the industry as a whole.

	“The Concord scheme is an opportunity to train up young, talented people with the potential to achieve at a senior management level... We would certainly recommend it to other hotels that are looking for management talent via a cost-effective route.”
Vida Daval, Human Resources Manager, The Woodlands Park Hotel (a Concord member since 1995, taking six trainees each year)

"The Concord Chef Development Programme encourages young people with the right aptitude and attitude to join Concord in order to develop and fine-tune their skills in the kitchens of some of the finest hotels in the country. Their culinary talents will be highly prized wherever they may end up after their training programme, but we hope we can persuade them to remain with our group for as long as possible. We are confident that all of our members would recommend membership to any hotel considering how best to secure cost-effective solution to staff training and development, as well as manpower and succession planning.” 

Glen Harrison, Group Training Officer, Concord Hotels 

We devote our time to selecting, training and developing dedicated and enthusiastic young people who have the determination to succeed as hotel supervisors, managers and chefs and we continuously strive to achieve a level of excellence in these fields. We encourage the young people we train to be the industry advocates of the future.

We recruit students annually from catering colleges across the UK, looking for those who have completed either a BTEC Level 3 in Hospitality Supervision, Travel and Tourism or a relevant NVQ/VRQ hospitality craft course.

	“I had planned on going to university, but the Concord scheme turned out to be a better option, specifically because it is a work-based scheme, leading to a supervisory/managerial position in a relatively short period of time.”
Carl Waters, a former graduate of the scheme, currently Food & Beverage Manager at FJB Hotels

The structured Concord Management Development Programme, endorsed by the Institute of Hospitality, consists of four six-month placements, one at each of four of our member hotels, covering all aspects of operation – beverage service, food service, event management and front office – the different environments enhancing each trainee's knowledge and giving them the widest possible range of operational experience during their training. The Chef Development Programme consists of three eight-month placements, in three different member hotels, again offering a range of environments in which to sharpen their culinary skills. Both comprehensive programmes are completed in conjunction with the trainee’s line manager and supported fully throughout by Concord’s Group Training Officer. Graduate trainees are then assisted in securing permanent employment, with over 70% finding a position in one of the member hotels they’ve trained in.

	“For me personally, the main benefits of the Concord training scheme were the experience it offered and the way in which it is run, but there were many other positive aspects of it. It encouraged good personal development and best practice sharing.”
Katherine King, a former graduate of the scheme, earning the prestigious title of Trainee of the Year in 2013