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Having a girlfriend who is a consultant, I’m often subjected to hours of consultant-speak. It’s not really English, as it consists mostly of acronyms. One thing consultants seem to talk about a lot, even though they don’t have an acronym for it, is the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card. It’s apparently by far the best credit card for the consulting lifestyle (especially when you work for a firm that almost exclusively puts you up in Starwood hotels). Since I’ve been hearing the Starwood name a lot, and I’ve had a few people recommend their Jobs to me, I thought it was time to take a look at what kind of entry level jobs are available with one of the world’s largest hotel and leisure companies. In case you’re not familiar with the Starwood brand, they’re the company behind Sheraton, Four Points, aloft, W Hotels, Le Meridien, The Luxury Collection, Element, Westin, and St. Regis. All of them are nice places to stay, and a few of them are about as trendy as you can get when it comes to hotels – check out aloft.
Be a Star at Starwood
Starwood gets hospitality. They also get entry level recruiting. They make it dead simple for college students and new grads to figure out how to land a job with them. They have a College Recruiting page that outlines the 4 ways of getting a job with Starwood. You can go through Campus Recruiting or apply online, and you can apply for their Management Training Program or opt for Direct Placement. The Management Training Program seems to be geared towards students who are graduating from hospitality programs, but that’s not explicitly stated as far as I can tell. The program lasts 6-18 months and concludes with placement as an Assistant Manager or Manager in the hotel where the trainee trained. Applications for the Management Training Program haven’t been opened yet, but they say that you will be able to apply online in early 2009. If you go to one of the schools on this list, you’re better off talking to your Career Services office about when Starwood will be on campus than waiting for the online application to be posted.
If the Management Training Program isn’t for you, there’s another option. You can check out Starwood’s Career Paths and apply for Direct Placement. You have to go through a general job search function where you can narrow down from the 1,650 jobs posted by location, hotel, or job title. This is the one area where Starwood’s Careers site stumbles a bit. The job search function isn’t very good. Unless you enter specific criteria, you’re going to be inundated with results that are going to be hard to scan. Still, if you want a job in a posh hotel in an exotic location, that’s the best way to find one.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
- StarwoodHotels.com
- Jobs at Starwood
- About Starwood
- Starwood’s Brands
- Starwood’s Investor Relations Page
- Career Paths at Starwood
- College Recruiting at Starwood
- Starwood’s History
- Philosophy at Starwood
- What a Starwood Career Has to Offer
Have you stayed at any Starwood Hotels?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. I’m presently in Starwood’s Management Training program, and it’s—by far—one of the (if not the) best in the industry. For those still in college, Starwood’s College Recruiting initiative is vast, and they’re big on on-campus recruiting—even now utilizing online/video interviewing for those school’s to which they can’t travel. Unfortunately, the present state of the economy has limited the number of MIT positions available, but direct placement is a great alternative route. Like you said, there are countless opportunities, among nine of the best brands in the industry. Can’t really get much better than that.
Thanks for your input Crystal. It’s good to know that Starwood’s jobs are really as good as they look.
I am a senior graduating from a university not on their campus recruiting list. I can’t seem to find recruiter contact information or the application for the 2009 winter extern program. Do you have any advice?