The J-1 Internship program is a fantastic program if you want to receive structured training in a U.S. hotel or restaurant. We want you to have a good idea of what the training entails, how it works and what you will learn, which will be explained here. Because we are Hospitality experts we only offer Intern and Trainee programs in the Hospitality industry.
J-1 Intern and J-1 Trainee Visa
There are two types of J visas for structured training in the Hospitality industry. The J-1 Intern and the J-1 Trainee visa. The type of training you'll receive depends on the visa you use, and which visa you are eligible for. This article focuses on the J-1 Intern visa.
J-1 Intern Visa
The goal of the J-1 Intern program is to bridge the gap between education and the workplace. This is the perfect program for current students and recent graduates (graduated in the past 12 months), who have little to no work experience and want to learn the operations of the Front Office, Food & Beverage or Culinary department. Each J-1 Intern Program is designed to have several phases.
Example from one of Training 4 Hospitality Hotel Partners:
Field of internship: Food & Beverage
Phases of training:
Orientation - get to know the hotel, hotels procedures, service standards, team members etc.
Restaurant operations - go through several roles of restaurant operations; food serving, hosting, server in training, bar tending etc.
In-Room Dining - get to know the fast pace environment of in-room dining
Banquets/ Events - improve knowledge about food, and service standards of large banquets and events
As you can see, you rotate through different departments for each phase of your internship. At the end of each phase, interns will be evaluated and will be given feedback about their performance. This way we can ensure that your learning process is monitored properly and you gain the experience to successfully enter the Hospitality industry after your program ends. All the phases of the training you'll receive are documented in a training plan. You'll receive this training plan once you have secured a position, so you know exactly what you will learn before you depart to the U.S.
