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Identifying
The Right Path
Dear
Sir,
I am a regular reader of the magazine Express Hotelier & Caterer
and am currently in the final year of the four-year degree programme
in hotel management. I am 23 and will complete my course in May
2001.
I would
like to know that at this stage, should I opt for further studies
or join the industry directly after completing my degree course?
I am interested in front office and food and beverage service. I
have also kept my options open for airlines, cruise lines and travel
agencies.
Please
inform me about the chances I have in these fields and advise whether
it would be a right decision to branch out into these industries.
Vikas
Wadhwani
By e-mail
Dear
Vikas,
You are at a stage wherein you have acquired the necessary skills
to start working in the industry. So, going for further studies
immediately after completing your course would not be a wise decision.
Join the industry and try understanding it more closely. But, before
that, you need to decide as to which department would be a better
choice.
For
that you need to ask yourself a few questions that would help in
decision making. If you remember, we published an article a few
months back entitled ‘Going Abroad - A Students’ Manual’.
It had some questions that dealt with identifying one’s area
of interest. Take that test and start working on enhancing your
skills in the department that interests you most.
Once
that is done, get a feel of the industry. This will help you gain
valuable work experience and understand the operations hands on.
After that, if you feel the need to upgrade in terms of educational
qualifications, you can always do that later (if necessary).
If you are lucky, your training requirements would be taken care
of by the property you join since most of them lay special emphasis
on human resource training.
Regarding branching out in the industries you mentioned, once you
have taken the above mentioned test, the answers would come automatically
as you are the one who has to decide on aspects related to your
career and life.
Guidance
On Career And Courses
I have completed my higher secondary education and presently
working as a banquet captain with a three-star property for the
last five years. I would like to know that, with my qualification
and work experience, is it possible for me to get a job in the United
States of America (USA) or any other country.
If
my qualifications do not make me eligible, which are the institutes
that can offer courses in hospitality education as I would definitely
like to upgrade my educational qualifications.
Ramesh
Puttagunta
By e-mail
Dear
Ramesh,
With the qualifications and experience you posses, it would prove
a bit difficult getting a job offer from the US or any other country,
if you are talking about really good properties that can offer good
compensation packages.
You can upgrade your educational qualifications and add weight to
your curriculum vitae by taking up courses from the Educational
Institute of American Hotel and Motel Association (EI-AH&MA).
You can get in touch with K V Simon, regional vice-president, EI-AH&MA,
for the courses his email address is eiahmain@bom5.vsnl.net.in.
You can also check their website www.ei-ahma.org which will provide
you with all the necessary information about the institute and the
details about the various courses offered by them.
An
Edge Over Others
Dear
Sir,
I am doing a diploma in hotel management and will complete the course
this year. I am also doing bachelors degree in commerce through
correspondence. After completing my diploma and bachelors degree,
I plan to further studies. I believe this will give me an edge over
others while applying for jobs in the industry. I request you to
kindly guide me in the right direction.
Mayur
Langadia
By e-mail
Dear
Mayur,
We would suggest that you should get employed in the industry after
the completing your course before going for further studies. Another
thing which is not clear is, whether you want to further studies
in hospitality of any other field.
If
it is hospitality, you should gain some valuable work experience,
which would definitely give you an edge on others. It will also
give you a better idea about the industry and will also help in
identifying your area of interest. You can always pursue further
studies later if required.
Shaping
Career In Front Office
Dear
Sir,
I am second year diploma student of Institute of Hotel Management,
Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (IHMCTAN), Bhubaneswar.
Presently, I am doing my industrial training with the Taj Coromandel,
Chennai.
I
am very much interested to shape my career in the front office department.
Can the Taj Management Training Programme (TMTP) be helpful for
me? Please advice.
Thanking
you
Vamsee Krishna D V
By e-mail
Hi
Vamsee,
It is good to know that you got selected for the industrial training
with the Taj Coromandel property. Besides, it also seems that you
have gained enough confidence and have decided on your area of interest
in the industry.
Coming to your query, the TMTP will certainly help you in gaining
an insight into the intricacies of front office operations besides
also taking you through other core areas of hotel operations. What
you could do is convey your area of interest to the respective personnel
in the property so that you get maximum exposure in the front office
area, eventually making you competent enough to take charge of the
respective operations.
We hope that you make it to the TMTP just like you did for the industrial
training.
All the best.
Problem
Of Maintaining Clientele
Dear
Sir,
We
are a four-star property in Visakhapatnam and since its launch we
were doing very well as far as the overall business is concerned.
Our restaurants were quite well-received by the guests besides the
local population. Not only that the restaurants also received rave
reviews in the local press.
There
was a situation at one point of time that people used to queue up
outside the restaurants for reservations and the who’s who
of the city used to regularly frequent the outlets. But with time,
the situation started to deteriorate. The morale of our staff working
in these outlets went down and they started leaving the organisation.
Meanwhile,
the restaurants in other hotels were doing excellent business and
particularly noticeable fact is that they were offering similar
cuisine like ours. I have tried to reorganise my outlets by replacing
the food and beverage manager besides also changing the menu and
getting in new cutlery and crockery, but problem still prevails
and the restaurants are not catching on. The problem is aggravated
by the fact that sometimes a few of the outlets do no business at
all.
I
wish to derive a fruitful solution to my problem through your E-Solutions
facility. Please suggest me a way or provide hints which I might
be overlooking in turning the business around.
By
e-mail
Visakhapatnam
Solution:
Business from the food and beverage department contributes
majorly to the overall performance of any property. And the downfall
in the restaurant business of your property is certainly a matter
of great concern. Coming to your problem, you haven’t mentioned
about the operational details in terms of inception of the property,
number of restaurants and their themes.
Anyways, after going through the short detail provided we have minutely
analysed the scenario and would like to offer you a few suggestions.
First of all, you need to change the theme of your restaurants.
You said that there are other properties offering similar cuisine
in their restaurants, this could be one of the reasons for the downfall
in your restaurant business. Changing the theme should be feasible
because you have already incorporated a new menu. Try and get a
unique theme - different from all the others - offered by the competition.
Simultaneously introduce a membership or association scheme with
some interesting offers in the form of promotional packages.
Coming to another important aspect which is the human resource employed
to service your restaurants. You mentioned that the morale of the
staff started to deteriorate and as a result they started leaving
the organisation. It could also be possible that the competition
may have poached your staff and ultimately all the business got
diverted as guests couldn’t get that same dining experience
which your restaurants used to offer before.
If the low morale problem still exists we suggest you to hold a
meeting with your present staff and discuss the matter across the
table. Also try and conduct an anonymous survey to gain knowledge
about the reason for their moral being down. After getting a concrete
feedback and possible reasons for the same, rectify the aspects
that you feel were not working to the benefit of the staff. Besides,
incorporate practices and policies - of course within reasonable
limits - that would increase the staff morale and encourage them
to do their best.
You could also look at conducting a series of food festivals. Ensure
that these are well-planned, offer more variety, are for a longer
duration and also should be well-promoted in advance.
There was no mention of how competitively your menus were priced
against the competition. Visit their outlets and see what is different
in their outlets. You could also explore the reasons for the downfall
by initiating communication with some of your previously regular
guests and seek their opinion.
You mentioned that your outlets were featured regularly in press,
a sudden drop of coverage may be the cause of reduction in business,
but the effect may be compensated by advertising appropriately and
also sensibly (as per the feasibility in terms of funds available,
etc.)
By incorporating the above mentioned steps you should be able to
attract and maintain your clientele besides turning around your
restaurant business. Do let us know about your opinion on the above
and also the impact of these changes on your restaurant business.
G&K
Consulting
(The firm is actively involved in quality systems audit of hospitality
organisations ranging from stand-alone properties to hotel and restaurant
chains)
Want
To Take Up MTP In Indian Hotels
I
am an Australian citizen and have completed my four-year degree
course in hospitality management. In all, I also have about four
years of work experience in the field. I am very much interested
in working in hotels in India and wish to apply for their management
training programme (MTP).
I
wish to clarify a few things in terms of making an application for
the desired programme. Do these hotels recruit NRI applicants for
their training programmes? Will my Australian citizenship be a disadvantage?
How should I go about applying for the MTP. I would really appreciate
if you could guide me in the right direction with the necessary
inputs. Waiting for a reply.
Puja
Soeny
Australia
By
e-mail
Hi
Puja,
You haven’t given the name of the institute you have graduated
from and details on the four year work experience you have in the
field, in terms of name of the property, post held, job profile
and responsibilities shouldered etc. This would have helped us in
getting an idea about your area of interest in the hospitality industry.
Taking about your queries, with globalisation Indian has witnessed
good number of international hotel chains making an effort to establish
their presence here. This is besides Indian chains opening more
properties across the country. So there is no question of not accepting
applications from non-resident Indian (NRI) students or for that
matter any foreign candidate who is interested in working in India.
But s/he should be ready to comply or willingly accept the Indian
work environment and pay scales. You would be surprised to know
that there are quite a few foreign professionals working in Indian
and international properties in India but they are mainly in the
middle and top level management positions.
Now, the only problem with applying for the MTPs is that most of
the properties offering MTPs recruit students through campus interviews,
mainly during December to March. This means anyone interested will
have to wait for the next recruitment season. In your case, since
you wouldn’t have the opportunity to attend campus recruitment
in India, what you could do is identify the hotels chains you wish
to work with and make an application to their respective training/
personnel departments. Just log on to their website and post your
resume along with other details and if you are lucky you may land
up getting selected for the same.
Here is another suggestion from our side if you are really interested
to work in the Indian hospitality industry. Instead of applying
for the MTP why don’t you straightaway apply for a particular
post in the hotel chains (ITC, Taj, Oberoi, Leela, Marriott etc)
you wish to work with. You can follow the same procedure mentioned
before and depending on the manpower requirement in their respective
properties the officials would inform you or call you for an interview.
This, in our opinion, would be a more sensible approach and would
provide you with the desired insight into the Indian hospitality
industry. In case you need any other clarification or information,
please feel free to mail us. Wishing you all the luck for future
endeavours.
Future
Prospects For My Son?
Dear
Sir,
My son has finished his standard 10th (SSC) and has enrolled for
the Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association's
(EI-AH&LA) catering diploma course at the Canan Institute in
Chennai. I seek your guidance on the following aspects:
1.
Whether the institute is a ranking institute or not?
2.
Will this course offer him a good future in the hospitality industry,
in terms of employment?
3.
He wants to do a specialisation from the UK, will he be eligible
to take up a course there?
5.
Can he take up a BBA programme from Madras University, he has not
completed 18 years, and will complete 18 years only in march 2003?
Would
really appreciate if you could advice me on the above mentioned
aspects. Your response in this regard will be highly appreciated.
Thanks
and regards
Usha
A
Dear
Usha,
We appreciate your concern about your sons future. We have analysed
your query and have tried to answer them one by one, as follows:
-
We are not in a position to comment on whether the institute enjoys
a good ranking in the industry or not. This is for the simple
reason that we are not an authority to do that. Besides, there
is no such body in the country which ranks hotel management institutions
in particular. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
has formed a body called National Board of Accreditation (NBA)
which grades all the institutions in the country which offer technical
and professional courses including hotel management but, there
are no hotel management institutions in their list of accredited
institutions.
-
If by settling down you mean getting employed, I am sure he will
get a job in a hotel in the one-star to three-star category or
may be a restaurant at the grass root level, immediately after
completing his diploma programme ie on the basis of his 10th standard
qualification. If your son really has exceptional skills as far
as hotel operations are concerned some hoteliers may offer him
a better post but then it all depends on the capabilities of your
son.
The reason for this stand by the industry is because of the following
reasons: The EI AH&LA diploma is not recognised by any education
board / university in the country and is an autonomous programme.
This doesn’t mean that it has got no value in the industry.
The hospitality industry in general regards EI-AH&LA courses
as good and very much on par with the international standards.
But there is something called as minimum eligibility criteria (as
per Indian education standards) which requires a candidate to undergo
the 10+2+3 curriculum (be it a diploma or a degree). Most of the
reputed hotels in the country recruit their manpower keeping this
qualification in mind.
In a way it is always advisable for students to take any professional
course after completing one’s 10+2 education. This is because
the student can then simultaneously take a distance education programme
from the local university and complete his/ her graduation (either
BA / BCom). Taking this approach helps in two ways:
1. The person is a graduate and has professional qualification in
hotel management which is comparable to international standards,
thus the minimum eligibility criteria requirement in most of the
hotels from one-star to five-star deluxe is taken care of and the
candidate is free to apply in any of these hotel properties in the
country or for that matter across the globe.
2. Being a graduate from a recognised university, the candidate
is also eligible to take up any post graduate, Masters and MBA programmes
offered by reputed institutions across the globe including those
in India.
-
Coming to the specialisation part, keeping his qualification in
mind (ie diploma after at standard 10th), it would be very difficult
for him to enroll for any specialisation programme abroad (ie
advanced and post graduate level programmes). It would have been
a much better option for your son to take up a hospitality programme
from one of the hotel schools in the United Kingdom itself. Though
it would have been an expensive affair there are various ways
and means available to take care of the finances required. Besides,
your son could have worked part-time during the 27 months programme
and would have been in a position to refund half or full loan
amount by the time he completes his programme and starts working
in the hotels there.
As far as the BBA programme from Madras University is concerned,
the 10+2 criteria is still applicable for any kind of graduation
programme across the globe.
We have tried to answer most of the possible queries that you have
raised in your e-mail to us. If you still need any clarification
on any other subject, please feel free to write back to us.
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