Career Planning Tips For Those Embarking on a Hospitality Industry Career

PERSPECTIVES ON CAREERS IN HOSPITALITY

Hospitality:    “The reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers with liberality and good will”      – oxford English Dictionary

Liberal means bighearted, generous and good will is to have pleasant feelings, wishes, intentions for the person in front of you etc.

Hospice- A medieval “house of rest” for travelers & pilgrims. Also, an old term for “nursing home”, related to hospitals.

          The hospitality professions are among the oldest of the professions, and they involve making a guest, client or resident feel welcome & comfortable.

          Today, opportunities for advancement often mean moving from one part of the hospitality industry to another. Career, in the industry are such that your big break may come in a part of the industry entirely different from the one you expected.

          Hospitality management is one of the few remaining places in our specialized world of work that calls for a broadly gauged generalist (multi-skilled, multi-talented etc.) – and the students who understand this principle increase the opportunity for a rewarding career in one of the hospitality industries.

The manager’s role in the hospitality industry:

          As a successful manager, you must exhibit many skills and command much specialized knowledge. Following are three general kinds of hospitality objectives.

a)    A manager wants to make the guest welcome personally:  It requires both a friendly manner on your part toward the guests/workers & an atmosphere of “liberality & good will” among the people who work with you in serving the guests. That almost always means an organization in which workers get along well with one another i.e. need for inter-personal skills, soft skills.

b)     A manager wants to make things work for the guest:  Food has to be good and served on time, room has to be cleaned and bed has to be made. A hospitality system requires a lot of work and the manager must see that it is done and done well. Quality is a habit.

c)    A manager wants to make sure the operation will continue providing service and making a profit.: When we speak of “liberality and good will” we don’t mean giving the whole place away as a free gift. The establishment has to recover the cost of its operations and to make enough additional income to pay back any money borrowed, as well as to provide a return to the owner, shareholders who risked a good deal of money in the business. The concern here is called “conformance to budget”. Planned working style…

Why study in a hospitality management programme.

          In earlier times of small operations in a slowly changing society, hospitality education was basically skill centered. One could learn their work through apprenticeship/traineeship, with the underlying assumption that knowledge and work were unchanging. That is no longer true as pointed out by Alvin Toffler in his bestseller “Future shock”. The whole world is changing and the rate of change is accelerating. According to Peter Drucker, a noted management guru,  “ Today the center of our society’s  productivity is the knowledge worker, the man or woman who applies to productive work ideas, concepts & information”. In other words, a professional training and education to build a foundation of knowledge is a must for a career in hospitality industry.

          Educational preparation for work is as good as preparation for life. We spend at least half our waking life at work. As we will learn shortly, work lies at the heart of a person’s life and can lead directly to “self – discovery”

M.B.A. versus Hospitality Management(why is hospitality education special)

M.B.A.	Hospitality Management
Mainly concerned with the manufacturing & marketing of a physical product in a national market. Secondary sector of the economy. Manufacturing operations tend to be of huge proportions to take advantage of the economy of scale. Main problem is of a large bureaucracy (system and procedure delay). System driven	Service industry where product is intangible. consumers are face-to-face, local production & consumption. Tertiary sector Comparatively smaller size with local implications. Problems of face-to-face interaction with guests and employees. Relationship driven

Why people choose hospitality as a career (i.e. reasons)

Experience:

·       Personal work (previous) experience.

·       Family background in the industry.

·       Contact with other students and faculty in hospitality management programs.

Interests:

·       Enjoy working with the people.

·       Enjoy working with the food.

·       Enjoy dining out, travel, variety (in the job)

·       The natural glamour of five star hotels.

Ambitions:

·       Opportunity for employment and advancement.

·       Desire to operate own business.

·       Desire to be independent.

Apart from these reasons, a few more of them are given below.

·       Opportunities for self-expression, creativity, initiative and independence.

·       Tremendous growth opportunities.

·       Availabilities of a wide range of career options viz. Hotel, Restaurant, Motor hotel, Fast food, Clubs, Pubs, Hospital, Industrial catering, Cruise & ships, Airline catering, Recreation centers, Shopping malls, Multiplexes, Call centers, Customer care, resorts, Condominiums, service apartment, Senior citizen apartments and centers etc.

Planning a career

Why do we work?

There are several motives. Of course, we work to earn a living. Psychologists & sociologists tell us, however, that our work also provides a sense of what or who we are and our occupation binds us to the community in which we live. Even though the ancient perception of work was not very positive, today it has become a necessary part of maturation and self –fulfillment in our society. In the social context work has been defined as “an activity that produces something of value for other people”.

          Work contributes to our self-esteem/sense of self respect in two ways. First, by doing our work well, we prove our own ability and competence to ourselves. Psychologically, it is essential for a healthy life as this gives us a sense of control over our own life and our environment. Second, by working we produce something of value to others – others come to depend on us. We human beings, as social animals, need this sense of participation. That is why what happens at work becomes a large part of our sense of self – worth and self-identity.

          More over, education for work is also directly related to one’s income. More qualified and skilled you are, higher is your income gain. Wasn’t that too obvious!

Need for career planning

          You have chosen hospitality industry for your career and now, your planning has to become more concrete in terms of the sector which you want to go in, the employer you would like to work for, your expectations from your career and of course, your ability to contribute to the organization and society. Once you start working and face the realities of working life, you may wish to change the plans, This kind of change in plans will be easier to cope with if you have a plan that can guide you until your experience enables you to judge the “fit” between yourself and the available opportunities. As a would-be manager, give at least as much time & attention to planning for decisions that affect your career as you expect to give to decision you will be making for your employer. Remember that no matter whom you work for, you are always in business for yourself, because it’s “your” life.

Educating yourself through employment:

          In business, some part of profits is paid out to the owner or shareholders as dividends and the rest is retained by the organization to provide funds for future growth.  This unpaid portion is called “retained earnings”.

We need a concept of “retained earnings” to consider the real value of work experience in our career development.

Profiting from work experience

The most obvious benefit we derive from work is the income. But as a fresher straight out of college, you need to consider other benefits that are as important as your salary from the job. To understand this idea better, think of the concept of “lifetime income”. The “Job- benefit mix” comprises money as well as knowledge & skills acquired. By opting for a job that pays you less (not inadequate, of course!) but teaches you more, you can guarantee yourself substantial gains in terms of a “life time income”. An entry - level job may sound uninteresting but if you resolve to teach yourself all that you can from your “organization”, you’ll build a bank of skills and knowledge that nobody can ever take away from you. Your learning is , if you notice, your retained (L) earning. India has too many eager hands to employ so don’t expect things to be easy!

Learning strategies for work experience

          No matter what your job position is, you can learn a great deal through careful observation. Look at the following two aspects:

a)    Managerial organization: Organization structure & hierarchy, division of work, affixing responsibilities, the boss and sub-ordinates (Formal organization). Also notice the “informal or social groups”; why they are formed; who is the leader & why; how does management deal with these cliques & is it effective etc.

b)    The physical plant: Make a simple drawing of the places, identify main work areas & major pieces of equipment, problem of “cross traffic” or “bottleneck”, flow of products & raw material, mode of transportation and its effectiveness (for goods that is). This concept is called “flow analysis” and it can be done for all areas and for goods as well as people.

Learning from the Back of the House (Back Area)

·       Quality assurance in product preparation.

·       Menu planning, recipes, cooking methods.

·       Supervision, food cost control.

·       Operating equipment, repair & maintenance.

·       Energy preservation & pollution control.

·        

Learning from the front of the House.

·       You can learn a great deal about an operation by observing the guest or clients. According to Peter Drucker, there are two central questions that determine what a business is and what it should be doing. They are;

o   Who are the customers?

o   What do they value (want)?

While taking up employment, also consider the following elements

·       Would you get the opportunity of deriving personal satisfaction from pleasing a guest / customer?

·       Would your work experience enable you to develop your own unique and effective style of management because your future work lies in managing others and serving people.

Getting a job

You can tap various sources such as      :                  

·       Institute placement office.

·       Job ads in newspapers

·       Personal contacts or your network.

·       Going from door-to-door (pound the pavement).

·       Employment Exchange & consultants.

·       Internet search.

Getting in the door

·       Your appearance is your fortune. Pay careful attention.

·       Dress conservative.

·       Neatness and  cleanliness are the absolute minimum requirements (because hospitality products have to be neat & clean).

·       After applying, don’t be afraid to check on the status of your application. There is an old adage from personal selling, “It takes three calls to make a sale”. Show your commitment and persistence in wanting the job.

Learning from the job.

·       The key to learning is your own attitude.

·       You gain the most useful knowledge on the job on your own time. Help others. Take up responsibility additionally.

·       Many job skills can be learned through observation & some unpaid practice.

·       In hospitality managers remain very close to the operating level. Knowledge & skills give them credibility among their subordinates, facilitates communication & equip them to deal confidently with skilled employee.

·       A good manager should be able to perform himself when employees get stuck.

Benefits from Industrial /summer/vacation Training & Part-time jobs.

·       On graduation, you may get a job.

·       If not a job, you may get a recommendation. Do not underestimate the power of a recommendation.

·       You mat get useful information from the contacts you have developed.

·       Remember that your record now will affect/ shape your career later.

Goal & objectives: The strategy of Job Placement

           Most hospitality students have the following concerns.

a)    Income: Financial independence and adequacy but never ever forget “retained earnings” of knowledge & skills.

b)    Professional status: Developing a top-flight reputation, job designation, prestige etc.

c)     Evaluating an employer: Company’s commitment to training, opportunities for career advancement, company’s quality consciousness in its operations, scope for your contribution to change poor quality, will you be proud to work for it? Will you learn from there or unlearn?

d)    Determining potential job satisfaction:  Opportunities for self-expression, creativity, initiative and independence. You would also consider issues such as working hours, shift timings, weekly offs, vacation time, promotion policy etc. We all would have our own personal goals in determining job satisfaction and we are perfectly justified in that.

e)    Accepting skilled, low-end jobs:  Many of us do not begin with managerial jobs especially if you choose to locate to a small city or town. It may not be very pleasant to begin with these jobs but if you keep in mind the retained earning concept, it would be easier to ride out this phase of your career. Remember never to forget your long-term goals.

The outlook for Hospitality Management

·       Demand is ever increasing as our country prospers.

·       The new age group of retirees will be a novel and a very lucrative market segment. We will have to design products & services for them.

·       Take away food service; fast foods, economy hotels & motels, urban entertainment centers, food courts in the shopping malls are the rapid growth areas.

·       Hotel, restaurants & Tourism are getting matured and will grow at the same rate as economy. (Meaning won’t grow very fast!)

·       Prospect for the employment is solid.

·       There is a continuous shortage of quality and experienced manpower. Mediocres are wanted nowhere. At best, they are compromises organization make.

·       The industry faces stiff competition from other industries in the tussle to grab a larger share of the customer’s wallet. These competitors are convenience stores, home entertainment, event management firms, amusement parks & centers etc.

·       The guy who wins will be the one who will provide exceptional service and never fake his smile. Good luck.