Great Place to Work: A Job with a View to a Brighter Future

Everyone gets tired of everyday routine every once in awhile. The morning commute becomes a bore; a Boots-meal-deal lunch starts to taste the same, no matter how they spice up the sandwich selection; a job becomes a habit. You just get used to it. However, some jobs can surprise you every day. Like working at Aqua, for instance. At the soaring height of London’s tallest landmark’s thirty-something floor you get used to the views, according to Elisabeth Blum, Senior HR Officer. But if you have to get used to anything, we’d choose the views, if you ask us.

Elisabeth Blum, Senior HR officer and Laura Scrase, HR Manager

Aqua Shard is the most visited among the group’s restaurants in London (surprise-surprise). Although, the view is just an extra, according to Robert Dunning, HR Director of the aqua Restaurant Group. For them, it’s all about providing the best experience with attention to detail. Aqua Shard has 4 sister locations in London, and more than 13 in Beijing and Hong Kong, where the group originated from. All of them strive to provide the very best in memorable dining experiences.

Each restaurant offers high quality contemporary cuisine, presenting each dish with a ‘wow’ factor. However, unlike other restaurants, aqua Restaurant Group applies their principles not only to their customers, but to every member of staff, too.

“When you enter the hospitality industry, you can be dropped in at a deep end”, says Robert. At aqua, they decided to go another way (quite the opposite, frankly). And, would you look at that – they got shortlisted for an award for their on-boarding programme. All the fuss because they cared about their team just as much as about their customers. They wanted to provide the same “wow” experience. In saying that, we won’t disclose too much. But, if you were to join the Aqua team, be prepared to see your trainer eat a piece of paper on your first day. It’s nothing weird, don’t worry – it’s all about providing the surprise factor, they say. That’s it, we won’t say another thing.

Jokes! It’s too good to keep from you. When you join the team, you get the full package – from welcome board games and cocktails to full food and wine tasting. You also get to meet various members of the management team and hear about their journeys. And many of them have the inside success tales to tell.

This tradition didn’t come across by accident, though. It was inspired by the story of John F. Kennedy, who, visiting NASA once, met a janitor there. The president asked him what he was doing there. The janitor replied: “I’m helping to put a man on the moon”. Not many janitors can say that on their CV, we reckon. Either way, it’s the bigger picture we’re talking about. When one embraces their role, no matter how large or small, one contributes to the the whole organisation on multiple levels. Therefore, when an entire team has the same attitude, it can do wonders.

Hire for attitude, train for skills. The Aqua way.

From there, the only way is up – opportunities are endless. With the right attitude, of course. The unique thing with hospitality is that you can can go anywhere with it and go up the ladder very quickly. The majority of management staff come from within at Aqua, so it’s all up to a self-starter to achieve that goal.

Antonio Di Gennaro, Head Bartender at Aqua Shard said: “I began working at aqua shard in November 2014, when I first came to London. I learned a lot starting as a Barback. I quickly understood that my passion lies behind the bar and working at Aqua helped me to reach many of my goals. I’ve been given the chance to grow professionally & personally. Today, I’m the head bartender and will give all my support for the next generation of Barbacks”. But that’s not all – Aqua wants you to grow with them, which is why they provide all sorts of resources for you to develop various skills and fulfil your ambitions. 

In fact, they are always on a lookout to fill various positions – you better check it out. The sooner, the better. Download the JOB TODAY app and see the positions at Aqua. Or, apply to their latest job – let this opportunity be the shard of light on your street.