Sell my cafe · 2019-10-01 · 7 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
21 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
This episode covers the foundational approach to first meetings when assessing candidates for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programs in hospitality. The key insight is that RPL is not an exam or burden - it's a government-supported pathway recognizing that hospitality workers already possess skills through years of on-the-job experience; the qualification is simply formal recognition of that work. The assessor walks through the why (government skill shortage initiatives), the how (three main components: third-party testimonials, workplace observation, competency conversations, and evidence collection), and the importance of communication style matching. Since hospitality workers - whether café, bar, or kitchen staff - are skilled at reading and mirroring people's behavior, RPL assessors should apply the same principle: identify personality traits, stay casual and friendly, and build trust. The process typically requires three meetings and relies on collecting everyday workplace documents (rosters, procedures, feedback forms) as evidence. This approach benefits hospitality business owners, managers, and experienced staff seeking formal qualifications without classroom commitment, as well as assessors implementing RPL programs.
The assessor visits three times to conduct observations while the candidate works, collects evidence like rosters and cleaning procedures, conducts competency conversations asking about real scenarios they've handled, and obtains a third-party testimonial from the candidate's supervisor confirming competence.
The government recognizes hospitality as a skill shortage area (more accurately, a qualification shortage) because experienced workers learn on the job and won't leave their full-time roles to pay for formal training they've already mastered, so RPL removes that barrier.
The assessor typically meets with the candidate about three times over the course of the assessment, without interrupting their regular work schedule.
Evidence includes everyday workplace items the candidate uses daily: opening and closing procedures, cleaning rosters, staff rosters, customer service policies, and feedback forms - essentially operational documents that demonstrate competency in action.
Stay casual and friendly, explain the why and how of the process, match the candidate's personality style, use witty banter to build trust, and emphasize that it's not an exam but a way to formalize skills they've already developed through years of industry experience.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode is largely padding and repetition of a single idea - be casual and explain the RPL process - with very little novel, non-obvious content for a B2B operator. The handful of practical process details (assessment components, government rationale) are buried in generic rapport advice and filler phrases.
be casual be yourself create a rapport a little witty banter
just relax and be casual and have fun
The only genuinely clever reframe in the entire episode is the '15-year diploma' line; everything else is conventional onboarding wisdom recycled into an instructional monologue with no contrarian or first-principles thinking.
mate that is the longest diploma of hospitality management I've ever seen anyone done
every personality is different and people react to different communication styles
This is a solo monologue from a single unnamed RPL assessor with no verifiable credentials, scale, or track record presented; there is no guest at all, and no indication the speaker has operated at any meaningful scale.
so that's my approach to building a rapport with someone in the first instance is explaining why they get the opportunity to do this
my job is to help you compile all your experience and put it into terms that the Department of Education and Training understands
There are a handful of concrete specifics - Queensland government, the Department of Education and Training, a rough visit count, and a list of evidence types - but no data, no outcome metrics, no named businesses, and no dollar figures to substantiate any claims.
it probably going to take us you'll probably need to see me about three times
opening and closing procedures, cleaning rosters, staff rosters, customer service policies, feedback forms
This is an uninterrupted monologue with zero dialogue, no host questions, no follow-ups, and no pushback whatsoever; the conversational craft dimension simply cannot be evaluated because there is no conversation.
so that's my approach to building a rapport with someone in the first instance
I may look a little bit weird but that's okay I won't interrupt do it work
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
all right so you're heading into your first meeting what you're going to find at this first meeting is people are going to ask you generally the same questions this is a really great time to really get to know the candidate and to figure out what kind of personality they've got and how best for you to approach this person. As we all know, every personality is different and people react to different communication styles. So being a great RPL assessor means being able to identify people's personality traits.
It's exactly like being in hospitality. When you're working behind the bar, when you're working in a cafe, how you approach people and how you deal with them is generally a mirror of how they behave as well. We generally tend to match people with their personality styles. It makes much easier exchange.
So at the first meeting, try and be super casual, okay? You know, people can get scared off of the idea that someone's there to assess them. I mean, I would, it's like going into an exam. So I try to be extremely casual, extremely friendly, and just explain to them, look, this is an easy process.
It's an easy process because you've already done all the hard work. You've been in the industry for 10, however many years that they've been in the industry. This qualification is recognition of all that time spent. We're not expecting them to do an exam.
We not expecting them to do any projects or submit any reports What we asking them to do is to chat with us and it becomes our job to assist them in compiling all of their experience into something that can be submitted to the Queensland government So what I like to do is explain to them why they get the opportunity to do UPYAL. People can be very cautious of programs being too easy or it's too good to be true kind of scenario and how I respond to that is how long have you been in the industry and they respond with 15 years and I say mate that is the longest diploma of hospitality management I've ever seen anyone done I wouldn't consider this short course or whatsoever you've already done the work we're not putting you of course all we're doing is mapping what you've done into the units of competency easy peasy so the reason that we're doing this and the reason that it's not costing you a lot of money to do it is because the government recognizes hospitality as a skill shortage area currently now you and I both know that there's no shortage of skill but there possibly is a shortage of qualification and the reason that is, as you and I both know, you get into hospitality, you learn on the job, you then don't leave your full-time job, go and pay a bunch of money to go study something that you've already learned.
It just doesn't happen like that and the government has recognised this and that's why they're supporting recognition of prior learning. So for those of us within the industry that really do have the skills and experience, gives us an opportunity to access the same qualifications as people that went to say for example to learn it so on the first meeting always trying to explain the why um the how how are we going to do this what the process here oh cool i'm glad you asked it's super simple as long as you're happy to catch up with me and have me lurking around your workplace like a real weirdo we're going to do just fine because we're going to do break down your assessment into separate parts one is going to be a third party testimonial which we're going to get your boss or your supervisor to sign that they think that you're competent in this as well we're going to do observation so I'm going to hang out here with you while you work writing notes I may look a little bit weird but that's okay I won't interrupt do it work um competency conversation we're going to have that as we go so you're going to have me asking you strange questions like hey tell me about the last time you dealt with a conflict situation what happened was it you know staff member or was it um customer tell me about it so I'm going to be collecting notes on that as well and creating um a report based on that and the other thing that we're going to do is evidence so I use the term evidence very loosely because evidence is essentially items that you use on a day-to-day basis and you probably don't even think twice about it.
Stuff like opening and closing procedures, cleaning rosters, staff rosters, customer service policies, feedback forms, all of that beautiful stuff.
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