INTRODUCTION
A product that was once not badly needed by the producer himself will never sell! Two reasons can be given for that. One, poor utility and two, mediocre design would ensure that it sits on the shelves for ever.
I wrote this blog mainly for the acute difficulty that I faced during the placement season when I was myself a student at the Institute of Hotel Management, Bhubaneswar, between 1991 and 1994. I discovered, after unending embarrassment of multiple rejections, that I did not know what shape my hospitality career was going to take. Getting a decent job seemed like an Olympic gold medal. Information was scarce and even that was not easily available. Apart from GD and personal interviews, making a CV seemed to be a Herculean task. Facing an interview was a nerve-wrecking experience and rejections were shockingly painful. Suddenly, having chosen hospitality for a career looked like a major disaster. Then meandering life took me back to the hospitality colleges, this time as a teacher where I found that more than ninety percent of the students faced the same set of problems that I did! The easily trusting students expected me to provide answers and solutions. I didn’t have any. I reluctantly took on the responsibility of placement in-charge at the very first Institute I started teaching at. Thereafter, it became a burning passion. I went on to gather as much knowledge and information as I could about success in general and interviews in particular. Thus, the compilation process for this blog began. The material that you shall go through now is based on intensive reading of success books which started somewhere around 1994, at Sterling Resorts, Kodaikanal. I started my career as a Management Trainee with this Chennai based Timeshare Company. Here, I must mention the name of my first boss, Mr.Rajesh Nayak, who encouraged me and introduced me to the quality books that I have just referred to. Because I met him and he noticed me, this blog has been made possible. Therefore, it’s with a deep sense of admiration and gratitude that I dedicate this blog to that marvellous man. I am very proud of him and I can only hope that someday, he would be equally proud of his otherwise temperamental subordinate.
This brings me to the power inherent in good books. This world has more knowledge than what an individual mind can ever imagine! Books are the batteries that store an unbelievable amount of energy, if you know how to tap them. You, the reader, are a masterpiece of the Master Creator, a perfect machine. All of us are one. However, the ideas, the knowledge, the information that this perfect machine needs to run on is not freely available; like sunshine or air. Knowledge has to be acquired and that too, from the best sources. I am confident that the material in this blog has come from proven fountainheads and will definitely benefit the earnest reader who is smart enough to know that to apply knowledge in more important than merely collecting it. Let me also clarify that though the entire book has the hospitality career orientation, most of the material will also find general application.
A blog, no matter how informative it is, is never meant to replace a good teacher! Quite a number of concepts in this blog may seem complex or complicated to a beginner but if you have the humility to go to a teacher and seek explanation, you would be astounded at the simplicity of the underlying ideas and assumptions. I take this opportunity to request all the teachers to go through this blog so that we may succeed in our collective endeavor, i.e. to contribute towards the success of those who rely upon us, believe in us.
We teachers definitely recognize that the true measure of our success lies in the success of our pupil. Period.
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