Vincent ASCARAT: 2013 Vatelien Promotion

After graduating with a master’s degree in International Hotel Management in 2013, Vincent quickly found a job at one of the most beautiful establishment in Monaco. 

–          Vincent please tell us a little about the hotel where you work.

The Riviera Marriott Hôtel La Porte de Monaco is located at the entrance to the principality.  This 4-star establishment has 186 rooms and suites, 8 seminar and function rooms, a restaurant, a bar, and a fitness room.

 Operations are divided into 4 separate departments (rooms, restaurant, sales, and administration/management), with an average of 100 employees, and up to 120 at the height of the tourist season.  But that does not include temporary workers and students on internships.

–          What do your own responsibilities entail? 

I am presently the Assistant Human Resources Manager.  My job is to follow the careers of hotel employees from the day they are hired until the day they leave. 

We are in charge of looking for candidates, interviewing them, and hiring them. We also do our utmost to make sure that new employees fit it thanks to training and making sure they are thoroughly familiar with the hotel. 

We consider training – either by outside instructors or ones from the Marriott chain – important for all employees, including temporary staff and interns. 

We are also in charge of labour relations, working with occupational physicians, the labour inspectorate, the works council, members of the health and safety committee, union representatives, etc. 

We organize numerous events for employees, such as a Christmas party for their children, an employee evening, birthday celebrations, and the Semaine des Associés (a week of activities, meals, and special events for employees), etc. 

My day-to-day work deals with personnel management, preparing pay slips and, on rare occasions, disciplinary action.

–          Why did you decide to study at Vatel?

During the summer season, I worked in a hotel in Biarritz, and that gave me a taste for the business. So, when I graduated with a bachelor’s degree, I wanted to go into the hospitality industry.

This naturally led me to Vatel, and what attracted me there was the practical, pragmatic, on-the-job training to accompany theoretical studies. Experience in the field is now virtually, if not entirely mandatory to find a job at the end of your studies. In fact, I believe that companies nowadays attach as much, if not more importance, to practical experience as a diploma. What makes Vatel special is the fact that they offer both job placements and academic excellence. 

–         What do you remember most about your time at Vatel ? Do you have any anecdotes to share?

When I decided to study at a business school, my biggest reservation was to end up in an institution where the key words were: dictatorship and competition! However, at Vatel Bordeaux, the approach is entirely different, and the school definitely has a human face. I was lucky enough to meet some outstanding people, both among the teaching staff and the people who run the school. I also have a fine memory of the students in my class.

–          Are there any special memories you wish to share of your courses, training, or internship?

If I had to choose only one, I think it would be the graduation ceremony at the end of my master’s degree programme. That is when most of us came to the realization that our studies were over, that we would be going out into the world of work, and that we would be scattered all over France, and even the world. We left one another with some extraordinary memories, and promised to get together again one day.