Lisa Alvarado Fall 2016 Blog

by Lisa Alvarado, December 6, 2016

As I continue my education at Kendall College in Hospitality/Management food and beverage, I am beginning to come upon more experiences and learning situations. At the Fall 2016 Kendall College career fair, I roamed around seeking to find part-time employment and even network with Chicagoland businesses. I had a list of restaurants and hotels to whom I wanted introduce myself and made sure I did so. The career fair was a wonderful experience as always and allowed me to see what was being offered and what my options were for now and for the future.

To my surprise, I ended up getting a call from a business which wasn’t on my list to come in for a stage the very next day. Balena from the Boka Restaurant Group offered for me to come in for a hostess stage on a Friday night; I accepted to come in and was quite nervous as I had no experience in the front of house, only in the back of house as a line cook. It was nice to see how the restaurant was run and how everybody worked so closely together. By the end of the night, I was offered a job by the general manager. I responded a couple days after accepting the offer and now I have been at Balena for a month.

It is amazing to see the opportunity Kendall students have right at our fingertips by going to career fairs or talking to chefs and managers when going out to restaurants and hotels. This is the second time I have received a job from a Kendall career fair and both have been and are currently great experiences. Now that I have my foot in the door for the front of house, the options are endless and my goal is to work my way up the ladder while I’m in school so I can achieve a higher position once graduated.