Job scheme trains youth without university plans

Young people who don't excel in their school studies can still enjoy successful careers, something 20-year-old hotel worker Shelly Lau Ngo-shuen knows well.

Thanks to a youth employment and training programme, Lau is now a food and beverage services agent at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Working in the buffet area of the restaurant, her duties include handling takeaway orders, serving drinks and ensuring that customers are comfortably seated.

Serving discerning and often demanding customers from all over the world, Lau has to remember names of Swiss and French cheeses that she had never even heard of 18 months ago, when she knew nothing about the hotel industry.

"Emmental has big holes and is a hard cheese. Another one, Brie, is a soft cheese … the taste is richer," Lau said with authority.

Lau spent two months at a loss as to what to do next after completing her Diploma of Secondary Education examination.