Hostess training for exhibitions & events

This course prepares you for fair-hostess jobs, promotion and other typical event jobs. Most hostess jobs are sought after, as they are paid well – thankfully this course offers you the possibility of enhancing your chances. We touch upon the following subjects:

Which tasks await me on a fair, an event or a promotion job?
How to make my Sedcard look professional
The typical dresscode for several jobs
How to communicate well with a client
What you need to know as chef-hostess, promotion-team leader or model-hostess

If you are already registered as a host / hostess at InStaff, please use the same e-mail-address for the test. If you successfully pass the test, we will remark this on your profile. This way, potential clients will know about your theoretical service knowledge, improving your chances of getting booked.

Fundamentals

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Legal employment & income tax

The work of a waiter or service staff is generally a dependent employment, at which you as an employee have to be billed through income tax card (Lohnsteuerkarte). You cannot get paid through trade license ("on account") as you offer your sole workforce and do not bear any entrepreneurial risk. Should a company bill you through trade license, this is called pseudo-self-employment or illegal employment. bezahlt werden, weil du lediglich deine Arbeitskraft anbietest und kein unternehmerisches Risiko trägst. Sollte ein Unternehmen dich über Gewerbeschein abrechnen oder dir das Geld bar auf die Hand geben, so handelt es sich um Schwarzarbeit durch pseudo-self-employment. This is punishable by law, so you will have to report this to the financial control of illegal employment. Should you not file a report, there can be dire consequences in form of fines and retroactive tax payments. Should you be in such a position, we offer free consultation for our all our employees.

At InStaff (as well as the most professional agencies) you are therefore employed as a short-term employee - not to be confused with marginal employment (aka 538-€-minijob). You may be short-time employed for max. 70 days a year and not as a main occupation. There are no social security taxes, but you have to pay normal income tax. This is 10 to 30% of the salary, whereas you can get back the bigger part at the end of the year with your income declaration.

Sedcard & photos

You present yourself to potential clients with a so-called sedcard, or at InStaff with your online-profile. As you usually won’t have to write a separate application for a hostess job, and the client sees solely your sedcard, it should contain all relevant information – for example language skills, body-measures, qualifications and pictures. All information needs to be current and correct, as false data in any case justifies instant dismissal.

For the hostess photos in your sedcard, you have to ensure that you are the holder of copyrights. This means that you either took the pictures yourself or have a written statement permitting you to use the pictures. Your sedcard should contain 3 to 6 different photographs, a mix of natural private-pictures and professional photographs is best. You should be alone and well visible in the pictures.

The client does not want to see your complete CV. Instead, you present your relevant experience in summarized form and list the most-exciting or significant points first. Also list the names of agencies, company brands, and fairs for which you worked – this is valuable information to clients. If you only collected bits of experience, don’t leave the field empty, but at least list projects and jobs you did while in school. As a positive exemple, you can look at the Sedcard of Lea.

Wages

Most agencies offer jobs with a rigid wage (e.g. 13.50 EUR/h). At InStaff however, you will normally list a hostess wage at which a client can bindingly book you. Your wage selection, next to your sedcard, is the most important criteria fort he client. You should mind the jobs as well as your profile when listing your wage.

The following wages can function as a guideline:
13-14 €: no experience as hostess, promoter or event-assistance
15-16 €: approx. 2-3 Jobs completed as hostess / host
17-19 €: more than 5 jobs completed as hostess / host, fluent in at least two languages
min. 20 €: special skills that justify such a high wage

If the job comes with long journeys or it’s only very short, you need to always include all respective costs in your wage calculation. Usually, travel-, accommodation- and other costs are not seperately paid, and the wage is not a matter of negotiation after you list it.

Overview of different hostess jobs

There are different kinds of jobs for which hostesses are the usual choice, and they are mostly not easily distinguished from another. A fair-hostess, for example, can also do the tasks of a multi lingual hostess. The table below provides a rough overview over the tasks & requirements for different hostess & promotion jobs.

Special features of model hostess & promotion jobs

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Photo-copyright for model hostesses

Fundamentally, you own all the rights to your picture in Germany. This means you are free to decide, who may take a picture of you and how he or she is allowed use it. Simultaneously, there is the possibility of implied consent. If, for example, you pose for a hostess job which description stated that pictures of you will be taken and possibly published, you are not able to deny the client to use the pictures, as long as it stays within the expected limits.

To avoid complications, InStaff always reminds clients to state if they want to take pictures and, if so, how they would like to use them afterwards. In some cases, hostesses receive additional payment for the pictures` copyrights.

Additional responsibility as chef hostess

If you apply for a chef-hostess job, you are responsible for smooth operations prior to and during the deployment. You function as the connection between client, agency and hostesses. Initially, you have the task of ensuring a stable flow of information and everybody is well prepared for the start of the event. During the event, you solve any daily problems and enable the client to focus on the important parts.

As chef-hostess, you are the first that comes, and the last that goes. Thus, you are left with a great deal of responsibilty for the client, the other hostesses and yourself. Therefore, you will receive at least 3€/h more.

Work hour control at promotion-jobs

At some promotion-jobs, the promoters independently hand out flyers or give-aways on the street, without a contact person being on site. Usually, the client will control work hours at least once a day at irregular intervals.

Consequently, you have to be really precise when listing your work hours. Even short private trips to the supermarket for example need to be reported to the client in advance. Should you not be present during controls, the client must assume that you haven’t been working the whole time, which results in a salary-cut.

Deployment procedure

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Preparation & Client-communication

The moment a hostess gets booked for a job, she should pro-actively contact her client to solve any questions regarding the precise meeting point, particular tasks or passes for accessing buildings. In business, one expects replies to calls and emails. Moreover, one has to mind that the client might call with a blocked number.

Always be on time, delays leave a negative first impression. Should you nonetheless be late, inform your client and InStaff (your personnel agency) about the delay, as soon as you notice the lacking time. You should always be on time, if you’re late you probably leave a bad impression of yourself. Should you be late nonetheless, inform the client as well as InStaff (or your personnel agency) as soon as you realize a lack of time. If you do not, your client will have to assume that you fell ill and will not appear. In this case, replacement will be booked and your job is terminated.

Outfit & Styling

Work time & breaks

It is not allowed to smoke or eat during work. Even drinking breaks should be announced in a friendly manner, so the client does not wonder about your whereabouts. Especially disliked is the usage of mobile-phones. Should you play games, text or call somebody at work, even though your client asked you not to, he may directly fire you.

By the German labor law, employees are entitled to at least 30 minute break time if they work more than 6 hours. You can take your time whenever you want, but you should definitely inform your client/employer instead of just taking your leave without a notice.

Illness & Emergencies

If you fall ill or cannot come to the jobs, you will have to do the following:
1.) Report an emergency in your InStaff Account (or other agencies via mail and phone)
2.) Call your client and explain why you cannot come which you already reported to your agency who will take care of finding a replacement for you.
3.) Go to the doctor and get an attestation.

To be valid, the doctor’s certificate must be…
1.) ... issued directly around the time of the emergency report, as pre-emptively or subsequently issued attestations are not valid.
2.) ...issued by a German doctor, in German language.
3.) ...explicitly prove the inability to work.

If you have approved an employment contract and cannot bring a valid doctor’s certificate, you may be obliged to pay contractual penalties. This is justified (you could get sued by your employer), if the conditions for this penalty are explicitly stated as a part of your contract and the penalty is equivalent to max. the monthly salary.

Problems on the job

In exceptions, it can come to work- or client-related problems. If so, please directly report this to your client and try to find a solution. If there is still no improvement, call InStaff (or your agency) and ask for help in solving the problem.

Please note that you may not go home without priorly communicating the matter, as you would breach your contract.

After the deployment

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Thank-you note to the client

If you have worked through InStaff, you should thank your client for the cooperation in a short email. Thus, you will be positively remembered, increasing your chance of getting a good review from the client.

The recipient should know about the content of the email by looking at the subject field. An email could look like this:
"Fair XY – Thanks a lot for the good co-op"

The email should be in correct, complete and polite form. Address your contact by his name and watch out for spelling.
"Dear Mrs./Mr. XY,
Hereby, I would like to thank you again for the good co-operation. The job for your company XY was a lot of fun and I would be happy about repeating it. Have a wonderful weekend.
Kind regards

Payroll accounting

At InStaff, you have to upload your hour sheet after the job and list your work hours online (most agencies require you to send emails or call them). The client then approves the data being correct. Please pay attention to exactness, as typically, clients react allergically to “accidentally” pay for more than you worked.

The employer is obliged to pay you until the 15th of the following month, naturally InStaff also sticks thereto. You only have to complete your personnel-info including your tax- and social security-ID. Note that you will receive your salary MINUS the income tax, as employers are also obliged to pay your income tax to the tax office. So you can review how much taxes you paid, we will send you a payroll. You may use this for your tax declaration to get back your paid taxes back at the end of the year.

Deployment Photos & Report

At InStaff, you are offered the possibilty of uploading an expressive picture of the job and write a short report/review on the job. Thus your future clients may see what kinds of experiences you made. Here are a few good examples:

Test your knowledge!

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Additional online seminars from InStaff

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We currently offer four online seminars for temporary jobbers.