Hospitality Industry has been booming since before. As time goes by, the experience became more tailored to the current generation it caters. From hotels, resort, restaurant, spa and many more sub establishment that it can offer, people will surely not end up being unemployed.
But that’s the case before. Now since it’s pandemic this industry has been impacted big time. A lot of establishment were forced to lay off their employees, some went for a temporary closure and the worst ended up closing their business due to profit loss.
Big companies are not exempted as well. News of cutting down their staffs are everywhere even until now. Since hospitality is a profit based industry, their activities are based on their income status. So if there’s no sufficient profit that can keep the establishment rolling, they’ll still end up deciding things just to cut down their expenses.
Some employees are lucky enough to have a forced vacation rather than a termination (Which I’d experienced). That will be the worst nightmare for those who are not financially secure yet. Even though nobody really expected that things will turn out like this, that experience still gave us a lesson that we’ll always bring with us.
Now for those who are still in the mid of their careers and just graduated, this will be surely a great challenge for them. Of course since a lot of people we’re laid off, it also means that people looking for job will be more.
The competition will be there from fresh graduates up to those who already have years of experience. It will be very hard for all the beginners to apply since their background are not enough to compare for those who are in the industry for so long.
Now to help everyone who are just starters in the hospitality, here are some simple tips that I want to share based on what I’d experienced being in the industry for almost five years.
1. Don’t look for money, look for experience.
One of the mistakes of people looking for job right now is they usually aim for a higher salary. Well, it’s not always flowers and butterflies that welcomes you in every garden that you visit. There are some yet to bloom and some may take time to flourish.
If you know that you don’t have yet the professional experience, moreover the years that the company requires every aspirants to have, stop looking for a higher salary. You need to get rid of all these expectations regarding salary and benefits especially if you are just new in the industry.
In hospitality, your best friend here is time. You can’t be an instant professional unlike those other who can take license and certification and be acknowledge as one. Even if you had a training in a prestigious company, it doesn’t mean you can expect to have a salary like a supervisor.
You need time to grow and more experiences to have before you can ask for a higher benefits. By having more work experience, recruiters will acknowledge the years you’re in the industry and the company that you’d been. You’ll automatically create your own edge in the industry and you’ll see how they’ll bargain their offer from your skills just for them to have you in their company.
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” -Saadi
As you take your first step in the industry, focus on gaining experiences and stick to what you’d started. Never ever demand something that you know that you’re still not capable of doing it. Focus on enhancing your skills and gaining more knowledge about the industry that you’d chosen. As the saying goes,
“Don’t look for money, let your experience define your worth.“
2. Show Yourself.
I’d been pretty mentioning this always in my blogs. Showing yourself professionally through different means of communication can help you to establish connection within your industry. This is one of the easiest steps for you to be acknowledge regardless of what you’re status you’re in now.
If you’re currently looking for a job, this tips will help you in so many ways knowing the power of social media right now. You can utilize your social media accounts by showing your activities, crafts etc. that will make other acknowledge you.
Linkedin has been one of the best means for anyone to have a platform for their career. You can easily connect to those professionals in just one click! By means of sharing also your activities here in this website, it can caught someone interest and a probability of getting it viral is high.
Like what I mentioned in my previous blog 7 Easy Tips to Boost your Career Profile, creating your social media accounts and utilizing it to grow your professional connections, will help you in so many ways. Who would know that one of these days, someone will message to hire you?
Without trying, you will never know. So get rid of your laziness and start to work on your goal by doing this simple tip!
3. Be Consistent.
Years of experience is very essential for you to be considered as professional in your field. It is the basis for you to be hired and your foundation for any career decisions you’ll choose in your life. Getting those years is the only challenge that you’ll encounter.
It is every important that before you choose a career, your passion should be there. You won’t be able to stay in a job which you don’t really like in the first place. Determine what you’re good at, slowly work for it to develop and then stick to it. You can not just give up something that you work hard to develop just because of some petty issues. You should have this consistency to pursue it even challenges will be present.
“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson
If you tend to give up easily, you should first do something to fix that kind of mindset. There’s no room for giving up in any career path you’re in. If you’ll continue to practice it, you’ll never ever succeed in any career you’ll choose. You need to be fearless and face everything with courage.
4. Set your goals.
If you’re currently choosing your career or you are already working for it, it is necessary for you to set your goals at the same time. Setting your goals is like giving yourself a motivation to pursue something while working. It may be about your career, personal, social and many more.
Some of the examples are written below:
- Career growth every 2 years (salary increase/promotion)
- Cross training in other department
- Employee of the month/year certification
- Attending seminars with certification
- Joining company groups for employees welfare
Working for your career without setting a target is like walking on a road with no particular destination. You need to decide and set it for you to be more motivated in your work. Even without achieving that goal, the journey that you’ll experience are more worth it to have. Don’t feel discourage if ever you did not achieve your goals, remember that mistakes are not considered failure but giving up is failure.
“The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance, and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.” – Oprah Winfrey
5. Have a timeline.
Having a timeline in your career goals will give you a proper tracker of your growth. Without having it, you won’t know how efficient your career is going. Not only it will help you to reach your goals fast, it will also give you an insights of your success throughout your working years.
From the set goals that you planned, you can just simply think of how many years you can achieve each of it. It’s like planning your steps in a thorough manner where you need to know how & when it should be.
By having these plans, you’ll have an edge from everyone since you already determined what you wanted to be in the future. Rather than knowing it in the latter part of your career, realizing it earlier will save you more time and efforts.
“Never leave ’till tomorrow which you can do today.”- Benjamin Franklin
6. Learn new skills.
Acquiring skills that will help you to be well equipped will surely give you an advantage from everyone. Never settle on what you already know and look for something to learn everyday. You need to make sure that you’ll gain something out of this day.
Since tourism and hospitality is booming every single day, you need to strengthen your capabilities to enter this industry. Regardless of not having any job right now, you can still acquire skills and knowledge by practicing it in your own space and time.
You need to keep up with the trends to make sure you’ll not be left out. Since internet nowadays play a big role during pandemic, take this opportunity to use that platform to know more. From training, manuals, video tutorials and many more educational stuffs, your excuses will be invalid.
“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
7. Establish your foundation.
While working out to be better, grab this opportunity to build your foundation. Your first decision will plays a big role in your future, so you need to take it seriously. The opportunity will always be there in front of you but you’re the one who needs to grab it and work for it.
Never settle for less. Don’t let the pandemic be your excuse. Although opportunities may seems less than before, you need to consider the competition comes after that. Mass hiring will be there but at the same time mass of people will look for a job. You need to build an advantage from the rest. Do something that can make you stand out.
Even you’re just starting or have less experience than the rest, you can still do something out of this time that was given to you by the pandemic. Rather than taking it in a negative way, take this as an opportunity to grow.
Don’t let your excuses and worries stop you in chasing your goals.
Dream big and work for it!
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”—Eleanor Roosevelt.
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