Journey of Oberoi's STEP Programme.

When you start the journey you don't know what's in front of you! Only once you complete those three years and have experience in guest dealing, learning new recipes, working during busy restaurant hours, and so many other situations you realise that you have experienced so much and have the knowledge to deal in various circumstances that it has left so many memories with you. 

You have three different fields to choose from-

1) HOP: Hotel Operation which consists of the Food and Beverage department and Front Office.

2) HKOP-Housekeeping operations

3) KOP-Kitchen operation.

Once you choose your desired field you fill the application online in the Oberoi group site.

So the process goes something like this, there is a Group discussion in the first round where you have to introduce the person sitting next to you. You get 5-10minutes to get to know about the other person and then each has to present for 2 minutes and tell the group what all you got to know. The secret to getting through this round is Be confident. Try to think out of the box and learn something different about the person. Like their favourite band or what they like to pass time, once known frame it into a sentence which is catchy for example during my interview, the person I was introducing was from the same school as I was a however different branch. I opening statement was "I just met my soul sister here however we were away from each other because of different school branches" and that caught the attention of the audience. Once you clear the first round then comes the second round which is the personal interview. You just need to have good communication skills as well as be confident about yourself. 

If you get through the second round you would get an email regarding the same that same evening itself. 

In the third round, it's logical reasoning and ability round. And the online test is done and it's pretty easy. You get through that and the final fourth round is with the Dean of OCLD ( Oberoi centre of learning and development). 

If you get through all of them, you will get an email within 4-5 weeks. 

Now comes the question about our degree, we do our degree through IGNOU which is Indira Gandhi National Open University. 

We have a degree in Bachelor in Tourism studies. We would be studying as well as working in the hotel.

Once in the hotel you join and start working, each week you would get One weekly off and One study day where you have to complete all your assignments and projects given by IGNOU. 

Being from Hotel operation background, I had more exposure to the Front Office and Food and Beverage service as one year each I had the departments and in my third year, I was in ancillary departments which include, engineering, sales, kitchen stewarding, finance, laundry and linen room.

You would be getting some books like any other IHM student, which would be Housekeeping operation, Food and Beverage service Operations, Kitchen operations and Front office operations. 

Monthly we have tests on each of the department, a calendar is prepared by the OCLD itself for the chapters. 

If you choose the kitchen, you have all three years in the kitchen with intermediate exposure to other departments. Your tests are only from the Kitchen books.

Now we talk about the leaves structure, we have 42 leaves total in a year. 21 leaves are for the IGNOU exams which happen in June. Those leaves are not used throughout the year except in June. The other 21 days are your annual leaves and sick leaves. 

My experience in these three years has been excellent and knowledge worthy. The exposure you have, when you are in direct conversation with the guests, is really worthy. You are groomed well, you are taken care well off. 

The Oberoi group would be paying you a monthly stipend and you don't have to pay anything from your end. 

They take care of you and your needs really well. The hotel staff, supervisors and managers are cooperative towards your learning and development. 

You just need two things-

Self-confidence and good communication skills.

If you have these two things you will definitely ace it!

All The Best !