Nicole Reis has three hospitality degrees, but cannot get the job she wants in the tourism industry because she has no experience.

She graduated in May with a degree in hospitality sales and meeting management and has chosen conventions as her specialty in Bermuda's changing tourism industry.

Nicole, 23, contacted The Royal Gazette and spoke about an article printed on September 18 in which Government, the Hotel Owners of Bermuda, and the Bermuda Industrial Union came together to discuss opportunities for Bermudians in the Hotel Industry.

She said she applauds the initiatives of training Bermudians to seize opportunities in the industry, but questions: "when will it be done?'' Nicole's goal is to be a hotel manager and convention organiser and to eventually gain her masters degree to teach at Bermuda College.

When she went away to school last year, she said hotels were excited she was pursuing a career in the industry and she later submitted her resume to both Fairmont Hotels, Elbow Beach, Sonesta, and other smaller guest houses and informed them she was graduating in May.

She was offered positions as a front desk agent and administration assistant to "get her foot in the door.'' However, she has studied for five years, and spent summers and holidays gaining work experience and was not willing to start so low.

Managing director of Fairmont's Southampton Princess, Norman Mastalir, said: "It is fair to say that these jobs are particularly coveted jobs and a great number of our employees aspire to these jobs.'' He said they required people to have experience in the hotel and related areas such as catering as the worst scenario is when a conference event organiser promises what can be delivered, and is then not able to deliver.

He also said they were always looking at grooming people for this role and mentioned one such employee who has been working towards managing conferences at the Southampton hotel.

Mr. Mastalir said the employee was presently gaining experience supervising the set up crew, and he would soon be moved into the food and beverage arena, before moving into the conventions management area.

The employee had already completed two years in the front desk partly in a service manager role and so will have had four to five years experience before working in his chosen area.

Mr. Mastalir's advice to Nicole was to get into the business and get a good foundation before she can expect to have the experience needed for such a dynamic role in the hospitality industry.

He added most hotels would expect anyone going into that position to have gathered experience.

In 1996 Nicole spent the summer working at the Hamilton Princess and in 1997 she did an internship at the Stonnington Hotel and worked in nearly every area including front desk, reservations, housekeeping, and even a week as general manager.

Nicole said the whole idea of an internship is to gain experience, to get a taste for it and see what section or department they would like to be in.

However, Nicole said she was forced to do her internship at Stonington which does not host conventions, her chosen specialty.

Hospitality students can now choose where to do their internship, and are no longer forced to do it at Stonington.

In 1998 and last year she worked at Meyer agency as a cruise excursion assistant, conducting tours throughout the island from cruise ships.

Nicole said one major hotel had even given her a scholarship to attend Johnson & Wales University for one year but after graduating, the only position available to her was as an administrative assistant.

Nicole applied to 35 hospitality companies in Bermuda and spoke to the Department of tourism who tried to help her, and last month Nicole was offered a position in a marketing company outside the hotel industry.

Nicole said: "Once I graduated they had nothing for me. I am glad the Government, The Hotel Owners of Bermuda, and the Bermuda Industrial Union are coming together to provide training and taking specific steps to encourage growth, I applaud that.'' She said: "We need to market certain types of crowds to come down here.

"We need to focus on specific markets and possibly promote special package deals.'' Nicole said there were currently around 35 students studying abroad for careers in the hospitality industry in Bermuda and said she hoped when they returned they would be able to get the position they wanted. But she asked: "will they be trained?'' There were seven students in Nicole's two-year-long class at Bermuda College from 1996 to 1998 but two dropped out leaving only five.

Nicole graduated magna cum laude from Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island on May 20 with a bachelor of science degree, majoring in hospitality sales and meeting management. In November last year she received an associate of science degree, majoring in hotel restaurant management (cum laude) from Johnson and Wales.

Prior to Johnson & Wales, Nicole attended Bermuda College where she graduated with an Associate in Arts, majoring in Hospitality Management. She is also a graduate of Mount Saint Agnes Academy.

It was reported in The Royal Gazette that young Bermudians working in the Fairmont Hotel chain will be able to do internships in Canada thanks to an immigration deal struck between immigration authorities.

The agreement is expected to encourage Bermudians to gain international experience.

Waiting in hope: Nicole Reis, who seeks a job in the tourism industry