Rhys Davies

After 7 months working as a duty manager at one hostel, I moved to another hostel to take up my role as catering manager where I was responsible for:

• Day-to-day cafe operations, managing all aspects of kitchen operations to ensure smooth workflow
• Placing food and beverage orders
• Preparing meals in a professional catering environment while upholding hygiene and safety standards.

Through this role, I enhanced my skills in team collaboration by regularly encouraging my colleagues to share their opinions on various aspects of our work, creating the most productive and efficient working environment.

Being tasked with ordering stock provided me with the opportunity to expand my skill set in optimising inventory management processes. This has provided me with strong skills in forecasting and planning.

After finishing 6 months of travelling in SE Asia, I returned to the same hostel and was promoted to duty manager. Within this role, I:

• Took part in daily operations by checking in guests and doing basic food preparation.
• Managed end-of-night cashing up, which has provided me with a strong understanding of POS systems, both front and back office.
• Handled complaints professionally, whether this was face-to-face or through responding to online reviews. Always looking to find a solution that benefits both the customer and the business.
• Sustained operational excellence with adherence to company policies and procedures, regularly catching up with team members to enforce this.
• Handled end-of-month duties, which involved counting stock, finalising transactions and comparing this against forecasts and reports.
• Achieved smooth daily operations by overseeing staff and delegating tasks efficiently. Whilst working closely with my managers to uphold their wishes and desires.

At 16, I was employed by the YHA as a team member for my first job. Within this role, I:

• Checked in guests to the hostel and carried out food preparation.
• Took part in housekeeping duties, which heightened my eye for detail when performing in a cleaning role.
• Managed cash register transactions for accurate record-keeping.
• Facilitated customer relations, always taking an extra step to start conversations with guests for increased brand loyalty.
• Ensured workplace cleanliness with regular maintenance tasks, following business policies as well as instructions from managers
• Conveyed product information effectively to customers, promoting sales.
• Maintained high standards of food hygiene, securing customer trust.