Natalie Duo
This month I had the amazing opportunity to
interview
An interview is a meeting where you talk to someone or a group of people about something. When you have an interview for a job, you have to answer questions and say why you would be good at the job. The person who gives the best answers is offered the job.
Xavie, a learner on our supported internship programme who recently got a job with Hilton Hotels. I spoke to him about his journey on the programme, how it went for him, what he enjoyed about the programme, and how he is feeling about his next career steps. It was so interesting listening to his
employment
Employment means having a job.
journey and comparing it with mine too, and it was lovely to meet in person as well!
Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what are your hobbies?
My name is Xavie and I am 22 and I work at the Hilton Hotel in Kensington as a lobby ambassador. That means I greet the customers and I tell them which rooms to go to.
I have lots of hobbies like going on buses, going to tag, going to dancing and yoga. I also do parkour which is a very fun activity when you get to jump over lots of things. I’m in lots of clubs and go to one every day apart from Sunday! But my favourite hobby is cooking. I live in my own flat now so I get to do lots of cooking. I love making chocolate cake and my other favourite things to make are lasagne and guacamole!
How did you find out about the Mencap Training Academy and our supported internship programme? And why did you want to join the programme?
I’ve been with Mencap for two years now because before I did the supported internship, I did the pre-internship. My mum helped me to find the programme at first. I really wanted to join the programme because I wanted Mencap to help me find a job and gain some
work experience
Work experience is when you try out a job to help you learn new skills.
.
What have you been learning about in the classroom as part of your supported internship?
I've been learning maths and English and I've been learning how to find things like news articles online and I've been learning useful skills like budgeting and how to follow recipes. We did our own food shop last week and then cooked ourselves a meal, I made a pizza!
We've also created a
CV
A CV is also called a Curriculum Vitae. It is a document with information about: your skills, your qualifications and any jobs or volunteering you have done. You may have to send a CV when you try to get a job.
and learnt job interview skills. Some people from Barclays came in as well and helped us with that.
Tell us about the work experience you have done as part of the supported internship.
So, Hilton is a very nice place. My role there is to the greet the guests who are checking in. I say, "Good morning, welcome to Hilton are you checking in? Yep? The check-in desk is just on the side there!” I also look out for rubbish and help to keep the lobby clean. I’m taking on more and more tasks now like posting guests’ mail. Last week, I got to help my colleague, Arman by putting water and ice in the bucket for the water cooler. And I did this all by myself!
I get to go outside the lobby as well and give people tours of the hotel! I like meeting the guests and speaking to them and giving them compliments like the other day, there was a lady in a sparkly suit and I said to her “you look lovely”. One guest once said to me, “I just want you to know you put a smile on my face all day”. I do two shifts a week on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I do 10 hours a week. I started at the Hilton in September, so I’ve been there a while now and I love it! Yay!
I have a uniform that I have to wear as well. I come in in my casual clothes and then I go into the locker room where I have my own locker – locker 26 – and I change into my white shirt, my blue trousers, my tie, and my blue waistcoat. It's a very fancy hotel!
Xavie at the concierge desk in the lobby at the Hilton, ready to greet and help the guests. Xavie loves speaking with the guests and looking super smart in his uniform!
I've learnt lots of skills at the Hilton like how to talk to different people and change up how I talk to different people. I've learned timekeeping skills because now I know what time my breaks and lunches are and I know what times I need to go and look around the lobby for rubbish. People leave a lot of coffee in the mornings and I clear those up and put them in the bin.
Are your colleagues nice and do you get on with all of them?
I certainly do! When I first started at the Hilton, they told me that I’m part of the Hilton family. “Welcome to the Hilton family” they said. They're very supportive and I really like working with them.
How has your skills coach helped you in your work experience placement?
My skills coach, Chloe has helped me very nicely! She helped me learn how to travel to the hotel on the train as I didn’t know how to do this before September and now I get two trains into work by myself. She also helped me learn how to greet customers.
She made me some cue cards to help me learn what to say to guests. I don’t need those anymore, but I've got other ones still to help me remember the codes for the different doors at the hotel. There are four codes that I have to remember to get into different rooms like the locker room.
Xavie with his skills coach, Chloe. "Not a day goes by without Xavie receiving some kind of compliment", says Chloe, "and he gets a lot of tips as well!"
After I got the job at Hilton, Chloe still used to come along about once a week to see how I was getting on, but now she doesn’t come into the hotel because I can do the job independently. I love being independent, I really, really love it!
I understand you have recently been offered a paid job, congratulations! What are you hoping to do next in your career?
One day I would love to become the
manager
A manager is a boss at work. They tell you what you need to do and give you support if you need it.
at the Hilton! I really want to stay in the Hilton family and maybe increase my hours and do an extra day possibly in the future.
Xavie transporting guests' luggage through the lobby of the Hilton hotel.
Do you have any nice plans for things you can do with the money you are being paid?
Yes, I want to buy some new clothes, and I use the money to do my own food shops now I live alone. I’m also going to France in the summer so I’ve been saving money for that. I’ll send you all a postcard when I go away!
What would you say to any young person who would be thinking about doing a Mencap Training Academy supported internship?
You should join the supported internship because it will help you to find a job and get work experience Experience is when you have learned or tried something before. . It will also help you to make new friends. I have made lots of friends on the programme like Emily, Charles and Alexa. I see them sometimes outside of Mencap as well, because some of them do the same clubs as me which is great! I have got so much out of my time with Mencap!
Natalie Duo is a co-trainer at Mencap, delivering learning disability A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things. awareness training to employers. She is a graduate of one of our supported internship programmes, during which time she completed work experience with The Financial Financial means anything that is to do with money. It is used to describe how people, businesses, or governments get money and how they use it Times. Natalie loves writing and regularly contributes articles featuring interviews with our employer partners and learners.