On his first night on the job, Edward Stephenson peeled and crossed four stone of brussels sprouts, cutting his thumbs in the effort. Now in his 30s, Mr Stephenson is general manager of a 182-bed hotel in Dublin.

It was an accident he got into the hotel and catering business in the first place. In a way, the points system for college entry was responsible. "I wanted to do Commerce but was one point short. I repeated the Leaving, got the point and found the cut-off had gone up. I was unsure what I would do next and my mother suggested I go into the hotel business. . . I started a day course in CERT and found a job in a local restaurant in Tralee."

At the end of his first year, he had sufficient insight into the restaurant and hotel business to decide this was where he would stay. "I was fortunate to get a place in Shannon College of Hotel Management," he says. The course followed a sandwich structure with first year spent in college, second year in Lausanne, third year in college and the final year in Britain.

The year in Switzerland, working in Movenpick, was a "big eyeopener". ovenpick was continuously busy, 10 or 12 hours a day.

"The Swiss have a superb work ethic, very organised, with high standards of hygiene. It gave me a good grounding."

Mr Stephenson's second year's work experience was spent in a Trust House Forte hotel in Heathrow, where his coup was to take 80 people from a delayed flight and put them up for the weekend.

After graduation, he went to Nantucket, off the Massachusetts coast. The hotel business is held in far greater esteem in the US than here, he says. Back home, nine months later, he spent a stint as food and beverages manager in Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel and then moved to the Dunraven Arms in Adare, Co Limerick.

He began work with Jurys in 1992, as food and beverages manager in its Ballsbridge hotel. The coffee dock and the banqueting business meant it was very busy. "Jurys has a policy of promoting from within and I was promoted three or four times in the first four years. Then I got the call one Thursday evening. I was to be in Galway the following Monday morning to take over the Jurys Inn there. I was thrilled."

His wife, expecting their first child, remained in Dublin for a year before heading to Galway.

This June, he once again got the call, this time to take over Jurys Inn at Christchurch (182-bedrooms as opposed to 128 in Galway). "It's nice to be back in the buzz of Dublin." His wife was almost sadder to leave Galway then he was, he adds.

A typical day for Mr Stephenson begins with checking the register to see if the hotel was full the night before. Every room in the hotel has been filled for the past 150 days and he is hoping to continue the record into mid-November. "The May Bank Holiday Monday night was the last time we had a room empty," says the patently proud general manager. "It's due to a lot of hard work by the 50 people working here." Another reason for the success is the simple selling policy, whereby a room costs £62, he says.

From the register, he moves to the desk to help with checkouts. "I get a feel for what people are saying - are they happy? Was everything okay? - then I check the breakfasts. It's a very hands-on operation here with a fairly flat structure. The managers tend to get involved in everything."

Staff are also trained in a variety of skills, moving between areas such as the bar, restaurant and accommodation. "This means that the job is not boring," says Mr Stephenson. Of the 50 people working there, 32 have been in the inn for the past four years.

"People say that there is a problem with recruitment in hotels but I think that is for employers who are not willing to put time, energy and commitment into their staff to develop and train them."

As to the rewards, he says there are wages scales and people can progress to become supervisors and managers. "With the amalgamation of Jurys and Doyles a lot of opportunities have opened up. We now have 28 hotels. When I started with Jurys in 1991, we had five."

Ms Jennifer Lee, group human resources manager with Jurys Doyle, says the company employs more than 3,500 people worldwide in its 28 hotels. Of these, about 1,500 work in Ireland.

She emphasises the range of positions from administration, information technology and accountancy to the more obvious chef, bartender-type jobs.