IU Indy, White Lodging seek to find new wave of talent through hospitality co-op
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Indianapolis employs 83,000 hospitality workers, and visitors generate $5.8 billion in economic impact each year, according to data from Visit Indy.
A new co-op program from Indiana University Indianapolis aims to fuel the hospitality talent pipeline by giving students on-the-job experience through a partnership with Merrillville-based White Lodging Services Corp., which operates the JW Marriott and four other Indianapolis hotels.
“The Marriott downtown opened up in 2001, and for a long time…college students have been important to our success,” JW Marriott General Manager Phil Ray said. “The goal was to be able to give students an opportunity to come learn while they’re going to school and actually do hands-on learning. [We’ve] taken that process and kind of formalized it.”
The two organizations have partnered for years through classroom visits and other events and launched the two-year co-op program in January.
“With moving into this co-op model, it really even helps students more transition from college to career,” Amy Vaughan, director of internships for tourism, event and sport management at IU Indianapolis, said. “We think [hospitality] is such an important industry to our city and to our state, and with IU Indianapolis’ location in the heart of downtown Indianapolis, we really want to leverage giving those kinds of opportunities to our students.”
The inaugural group of four students have the opportunity to get experience across four areas of hospitality, including working as an event concierge or in food and beverage.
MieYoung Reed, dual director of human resources for the JW Marriott and Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, said the partners want to make sure that students are not only successful but have many different experiences when they come out of school.
“We’re hoping with this partnership and collaboration that we can get more people to come out with degrees in hospitality and see us as a career, not just a part time job while they’re going to school,” Reed said.
In October, IU Indianapolis announced three new majors: tourism, hospitality and event management. Each major offers an experience-based education where students can earn credit for work experience.
Visit Indy says there is currently $3 billion in tourism-related infrastructure underway. Ray tells Inside INdiana Business as the industry continues to grow, talent attraction and helping people get industry experience are part of White Lodging’s focus.
“We’re [an] amazing convention city, and we’re the most group dependent city in the country. We do it exceptionally well because, quite honestly, we have to do it really well to be successful,” Ray said. “The way I look at Indianapolis now is we’re an ascending city. This is the convention city that continues to grow and get stronger and stronger. I think it’s only going to continue [over] the next two or three decades. For our industry to be successful, it really always comes down to having talent.”
Vaughn said she is already looking for ways to continue and grow the co-op program.
“What I’m looking forward to is in the fall having a little bit more time to kind of build momentum for the program [and] get the word out to recruit more students,” she said. “So I’m excited. I think we were off to a good, strong start.”