Statistics show that the hospitality industry has been growing at a rapid pace and would grow faster in the years to come. Growth of the tourism sector and the food services sector directly have a positive cascading effect on the hospitality sector.
What Prospects does this offer to the students of Hospitality? What exactly will you be doing and how you will grow and what galore of options will be ahead of you once you jump into this field?
Career After Graduation: A Peek into Hotel Managers Role
Hotel management requires hard work, experience and understanding. A hotel manager must know and appreciate the challenges of each department. You must be confident, organized, and friendly. You must also have passion, ambitions, and a strong drive.
As a hotel manager, you will be more involved with every area of the business than anyone else. Far from being removed from the day to day operations, you will have a strong overview of it, supported by your team. This is essential as you will need to be flexible and responsive, allowing the hotel services and staff to adapt to changing customer needs.
The buck stops with you, so you will need to put your strong strategic skills to action to ensure the hotel is always working to a plan, based on market needs and the overarching company direction. You will need analytical abilities to take care of finances and employee processes, but you will also be responsible for innovation and improving the user experience.
To be successful as a hotel manager, you have to have a range of both soft and hard skills. It is important to be able to bring strong knowledge and attention to detail, but equally as vital are soft skills such as communication and teamwork. It is believed to be a blend of both which is crucial in hotels. “Soft skills really make a difference to guest satisfaction,” while “leadership and good communication are essential.” “In terms of soft skills, creativity and vision are important. For hard skills, you need strong knowledge to help support your vision.”
A hotel manager has to lead rather than follow. They must set an example to their employees by adhering to the rules and standards. However, they should also be a team player who can communicate and show true spirit. They also have to be flexible, able to assist with a variety of tasks in many different departments.
When it comes to leading the direction of the hotel, a hotel manager must have a holistic view of all factors, from the expectations of today’s guests to technology, innovation, and workplace standards. Combining all this into something tangible requires business acumen and people skills to both build a framework and help your team understand and deliver what is needed.
Career Opportunities Aplenty
There are a lot of exciting job opportunities after graduating with a Hotel Management degree. Apart from restaurants and hotels which are the natural progression of most hotel management graduates, there are various other arenas for fresh graduates which they could explore, some of them are listed below:
- Hotel Managers / Chefs / Housekeeping Managers / Learning & Development Managers / Front Office Managers / Human Resources Manager
- Restaurant Operations & Managers
- Aviation: Flight Attendant & Airlines Ground Staff Attendants
- Cruise Ship Hotel Management
- Club Management
- Bar Management
- Event Management
- Business Development Managers
- Hospitality services in various MNC’s Corporate Offices
- Kitchen Management
- Airline Catering
- Hospital Administration & Catering
- Hoteliers or Restaurateurs (Self-employment / Entrepreneur)
- Tour Manager
- Chef
- Food Stylist