Skanderborg Festival Klub

- Creative co-ordinator Jonas Hallberg, organiser of the SMUKFEST festival

 

Advantages

The Creative Co-ordinator of Skanderborg Festival Klub, Jonas Hallberg, thinks that there are many advantages in hiring a Service, Hospitality & Tourism Management student, because they contribute solid schematic tools in a world filled with creative people who are focusing on other things.

 

To him, the students are good at getting things organised and create structure. This is a necessity when organizing events and festivals like Smukfest.

 

A tougher business

Fourteen full-time employees handle the Skanderborg Festival, or Smukfest as it is called, and Jonas Hallberg believes that the organisation could also hire a person with a Degree in Service, Hospitality & Tourism Management full-time.

John Hallberg himself works with events and sponsors. He argues that he does so because the event and festival business has got tougher and that the experience economy is becoming a part of it.

 

That is why an organisation like Skanderborg Festival Klub could make good use of employees with a more professional approach. According to Hallberg such an employee could very well be a person holding a Service, Hospitality & Tourism Management degree.

 

Hallberg sees a good connection between the specialisation of service management / sport management / experience economy and the needs of the business and underlines that Finance is an important subject regarding the employee’s skills.

 

On an internship in Skanderborg Festival Klub

So far, Jonas Hallberg has had two Service, Hospitality & Tourism Management students on internships and is looking forward to the next one. This year the intern helped plan and carry out different events and assignments concerning Smukfest.

 

Some of the important ones being the ability to think through all aspects of the event, identify possible pitfalls, set the criteria for success and be on top of financial factors.

 

The intern also took part in meetings, checked contracts and made sure that sponsors had the right information and access to the festival grounds. Furthermore, the intern also planned and carried out small events during the main festival.

 

It takes grit

Jonas Hallberg also made sure that the intern was thrown into situations that took grit - and the intern had it! So Jonas Hallberg is very satisfied with the intern’s effort. He even recommends other companies to taking a Service, Hospitality & Tourism Management student as an intern because it has advantages but the company has to make an effort too!

Among the advantages he mentions that an intern can challenge the company’s daily ways and help open up to new thoughts and ideas. Quite often, interns are young people who can provide input and act as arbiters of taste. The festival’s interns have been typical examples of festival guests and the company benefited from it very much.

 

The company’s effort

At the same time, he wants the service industry to know that a company that is considering having an intern must also make an effort. It is important that the company really wants it and is honest about what having an intern means. It takes time and resources but that investment often gives a lot in return.

 

It is also important that both parties set up expectations for each other. Jonas Hallberg considers it a great advantage that the internship lasts so long because it gives the student time to develop.

 

If the student shows commitment and a will to work with the assignments, he or she will also get responsibility and influence in return.