Students from eight schools near Cardiff took part in a behind the scenes tour of the stadium and participated in workshops including hospitality box setup, cupcake decorating, mocktail creation, retail role play and marketing activity.
The students also had the opportunity to hear from people in the industry with talks from Mark Phillips, head of operations at Principality Stadium and Barry Rotherham, apprenticeships & early careers quality and compliance manager at Compass. Current apprentices with Compass Cymru Jason Fox and Kelly Stapleton were involved in a Q&A session.
Jane Byrd, managing director of Compass Cymru, said: “One of our central aims at Compass Cymru is our commitment to people, and supporting development and the creation of jobs for Wales with a genuine focus on wellbeing and skills development.
“In particular, creating opportunities for the next generation of talent within the Welsh hospitality industry - so events like this, which open the doors to the possibilities for young people, is something we’re really proud to support.”
A survey of 121 students found that prior to the event just 11% considered a career in the hospitality and tourism industry but this increased to 49% after the student takeover.
Gemma Edmonds, head of South England and Wales at The Springboard Charity, added: “We’ve received lots of positive feedback from the students and were very pleased with the event. Going forward, we aim to continue the relationship with these schools and engage them with our other educational programmes, such as FutureChef and Summer School, to ensure that their students continue to have access to a range of career and learning opportunities.”