Vocational Careers in Humanities | Reservation Job Description | Becoming a Chef | Food Preparation Workers | Hotel Front Desk Agent Jobs

Vocational Careers in Humanities I. Travel Agent and Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents: Overview: Each year, millions of people travel by plane, train, ship, bus, and automobile. Many of these travellers rely on the services of reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel agent. Agents perform functions as varied as selling tickets, confirming reservations, checking baggage, and providing useful travel information. Most reservation agents work for airlines or large hotel chains, helping people plan trips and make reservations. They usually work in reservation call centres, answering telephone or e-mail inquiries and offering travel arrangement suggestions and information such as routes, schedules, fares, and types of accommodations. They also change or confirm transportation and lodging reservations. Most agents use their own company’s reservation system to obtain information needed to make, change, or cancel traveller reservations. Transportation ticket agents are sometimes known as passenger service agents, reservation agent, airport service agents, or ticket sellers. They work in airports and train stations selling tickets, assigning seats to passengers, and providing travelling details. In addition, they may answer inquiries and give directions, examine passports and visas. Travel agents provide travellers information on points of interest, restaurants, overnight accommodations, and availability of emergency services. In some cases, they make rental car, hotel, and restaurant reservations. Agent also may provide assistance in filling out travel documents and answer other travel-related questions. Job Prospects: Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel agent are employed by airlines. Others work for tour operators and reservation services, hotels and other lodging places, and other companies that provide transportation services. II. Chef / Food Preparation Worker: Overview: Chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers prepare, season, and cook a wide range of foods—from soups, snacks, and salads to various dishes, and desserts. They work in a variety of restaurants and other food services establishments. Chefs and cooks create recipes and prepare meals, while food preparation workers peel and cut vegetables, trim meat, prepare poultry, and perform other duties, such as keeping work areas clean and monitoring temperatures of ovens and stovetops. Specifically, chefs and cooks measure, mix, and cook ingredients according to recipes, using a variety of equipment, including pots, pans, cutlery, ovens, broilers, grills, slicers, grinders, and blenders. Chefs and head cooks also are responsible for directing the work of other kitchen workers, estimating food requirements, and ordering food supplies. Larger restaurants and food services establishments tend to have varied menus and larger kitchen staffs. Staffs often include several chefs and cooks, sometimes called assistant or line cooks. Each chef or cook works an assigned station that is equipped with the types of stoves, grills, pans, and ingredients needed for the foods prepared at that station. Job titles often reflect the principal ingredient prepared or the type of cooking performed—vegetable cook, fry cook, or grill cook, for example. These cooks also may direct or work with other food preparation workers. Executive chefs and head cooks coordinate the work of the kitchen staff and direct the preparation of meals. They determine serving sizes, plan menus, order food supplies, and oversee kitchen operations to ensure uniform quality and presentation of meals. An executive chef, for example, is in charge of all food service operations and also may supervise the many kitchens of a hotel, restaurant group, or corporate dining operation. Responsibilities depend on where cooks work. Institution and cafeteria cooks, for example, work in the kitchens of schools, cafeterias, businesses, hospitals, and other institutions. For each meal, they prepare a large quantity of a limited number of entrees, vegetables, and desserts according to preset menus. Meals generally are prepared in advance so diners seldom get the opportunity to special order a meal. Restaurant cooks usually prepare a wider selection of dishes, cooking most orders individually. Grocery and specialty food stores employ chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers to develop recipes and prepare meals for customers to carry out. Typically, main dishes,  salads, or other items are prepared in large quantities and stored at an appropriate temperature. Counter assistants portion and package items according to customer orders for serving at home. Some cooks, called research chefs, combine culinary skills with knowledge of food science to develop recipes for chain restaurants and food processors and manufacturers. They test new formulas and flavours for prepared foods and determine the most efficient and safest way to prepare new foods. Some cooks work for individuals rather than for restaurants, cafeterias, or food manufacturers. These private household cooks plan and prepare meals in private homes according to the client’s tastes or dietary needs. Private chefs are employed directly by a single individual or family or sometimes by corporations or institutions, such as universities and embassies, to perform cooking and entertaining tasks. These chefs are usually live-in and may travel with their employer. Job Prospects: Chefs, cooks, and food preparation workers are usually employed in restaurants and other food services and drinking places. They also worked with institutions such as universities, hospitals, and nursing care facilities. Few of the chefs or cooks may even work with private caterers. III. Hotel or Resort Front Desks Officer: Overview: Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks are always in the public eye and are usually the first line of customer service for a lodging property. Their attitude and behaviour greatly influence the public’s impressions of the establishment. Front-desk clerks perform a variety of services for guests of hotels, and other lodging establishments. Regardless of the type of accommodation, most desk clerks have similar responsibilities. They register arriving guests, assign rooms, and check out guests at the end of their stay. They also keep records of room assignments and other registration-related information on computers. When guests check out, desk clerks prepare and explain the charges and process payments. Desk clerks answer questions about services, checkout times, the local community, or other matters of public interest. They report problems with guest rooms or public facilities to members of the housekeeping or maintenance staff. In larger hotels or in larger cities, desk clerks may refer queries about area attractions and may direct more complicated questions to the appropriate manager. In some smaller hotels and motels where smaller staffs are employed, clerks may take on a variety of additional responsibilities, such as providing all front-office operations, information, and services. For example, they may perform the work of a bookkeeper, advance reservation agent, cashier, laundry attendant, and telephone switchboard operator. Job Prospects:Front Desk Officers are usually hired by hotels, motels, and other establishments in the accommodation industry. Go to Back / Go to Main