SHMS student shares Montreux Jazz Festival Working Experience: The Best Summer Job I ever had!

The Claude Nobs Chalet is well known by the top musicians of the Montreux Jazz Festival as an exclusive and convivial haven to relax, unwind, celebrate and when the mood strikes, start an impromptu jam session. From the outside it looks like your typical Swiss Chalet nestled in the clouds. But once you enter, you are swept into a full musical experience filled with screens, sound systems, decoration and objects that take you through a celebration of the many decades of the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Guglielmo was the acting Banquet Manager during the Mercury Phoenix Trust Special VIP Banquet held at SHMS Caux this past winter when he met Le Picotin’s staff recruiter. Impressed by Guglielmo’s professionalism and customer service he offered Guglielmo a work opportunity that eventually turned into the Service Management Role during the Montreux Jazz Festival. An opportunity Guglielmo will never forget!

Top 10 Reasons why working for the Montreux Jazz Festival was the best summer Job of my life.

1. The Montreux Jazz Festival is legendary. It is in my opinion the coolest and finest music festival in the world.
2. The people I met. Thanks to this job I had the chance to meet: Sam Smith, Paoli Nutini, Tony Bennett, Carlos Santana’s band, Lady Gaga’s band, Quincy Jones, George Benson, Zaz and many more exceptional musicians and personalities…
3. The Team at Claude Nobs Chalet was amazing. 26 of us from different parts of the world worked together, lived together and every single night after work partied together during the Jazz Festival.
4. Free access to concerts! I got the chance to see so many fantastic concerts including Damian Rice who impressed me with his ability to entertain with the simplicity of his guitar and his voice.
5. The Chill Atmosphere of the Chalet: At one point I was serving the table of Sam Smith and I accidently dropped two flutes of champagne on the lady sitting next to him. Thankfully everyone was very cool and very friendly about it.
6. Good working hours. My working days were between 12:00 – 21:00 leaving lots of time at the end of the day to enjoy the ambience of the Festival.
7. Getting real experience in my field. I am studying Hospitality Management and Events at SHMS and my dream is to one day run a festival of my own. This job was the perfect opportunity to put the skills I learned at SHMS to use and prepare me for a future in events.
8. Getting paid to have fun. Even though we worked hard, it was always so much fun to come into work. Every day was completely different and we never knew what (or who!) to expect next.
9. Entering new professional territory. I had never worked in a celebrity setting before and it was definitely a good learning opportunity to keep calm, not to panic and meet the different pressures involved with a celebrity clientele.
10. The unforgettable memories I will carry with me. I feel so grateful for this opportunity and will never forget the experiences, people I met and things I learned.