Read and Translate Text 3 hotel career management

Recent school graduates may find themselves frustrated with a lack of a specific department's opportunities at their hotel of choice. If other departments are offering training or internship programs; job seekers would not hurt themselves by looking into them. The hotel industry is renowned for promoting from within. Quality employees are rewarded with new opportunities. A housekeeping supervisor or assistant front desk manager find the chances of gaining entrance into sales and catering much greater than what they would be outside of the hotel.

Perhaps most relevant to the room division is the experience gained dealing with guests and the operation of the front office. The front desk manager will bring customer rapport skills gained from guest interaction to the sales office, not to mention an in-depth knowledge of the rooms division as well. A sales manager can bring a wealth of knowledge on the intricacies of groups to the front desk.

Whether a hotel employee works for a major chain, or an inde­pendent, that worker must always be thinking about how best to enhance his/her career. Assuming that these workers enjoy what they do, what are the keys to their long-term success? The best ap­proach to fostering a career is to predetermine the career path as much as possible.

A good starting point is to sit down and map out long-term career goals. A list or a chart should be made detailing where they hope to see their careers one, five, and ten years down the road. Do they envision themselves as a general manager eventually? Do they want to rise through the ranks and lead a team as a director of rooms or food and beverage? Perhaps they are quite content with where they are currently and feel good about doing just that. No matter what the specific goals are, the yearly plans should reflect where they want to be and how to get there.

The one-year plan should really be a reflection of an employee's most recent job evaluation or review. A yearly plan should focus on those areas where the supervisor feels improvement is needed. It is most useful when set up as an "action plan" to act on right away. These action plans should list specifically what areas need to be worked on and the best ways of doing so.

The five-year plan should really be a blueprint of what the individ­ual wants his or her next position to be. If content in their careers, workers still need to prove themselves and management how they will stay productive there for many years. The employee will find that consistency over five years will put him or her in a position to dictate what the next position will be.

A good ongoing career management tool for hotel employees (and students interested in the hospitality field for that matter) is to consistently keep abreast of trade journals. Publications such as Hotel & Motel Management, Meetings and Conventions, and Events and Hotels offer a wide range of topics that are timely and rele­vant. Association newsletters from groups like the American Society of Association Executives and the Religious Conference Management Association can give people the meeting planner's point of view on the industry. Individuals interested in the food and beverage side of hotels should seek out Restaurant Business, Cuisine, and Hotel Restaurant magazines for similar insight. Other magazines and newsletters can provide resources for research, career opportunities, and networking.

A ten-year plan is more of a rough outline than anything else. Hotel employee may have more or fewer options depending on the type and size company they work for. If they work for a chain, and they want to be promoted quickly, a good idea is to be open to relocation. Human resources managers at larger chains will have some type of career profile on all staff that other facilities may look at when they have openings. Often, these other facilities will look at employee profiles before the employees themselves ever know of another opportunity.

This profile will outline salary, performance history, experi­ence within the company, education, management suggestions or career path, and relocatability. It is a good idea for all professionals to review their profiles from time to time to ensure accuracy and make changes to reflect where they want to be.

Notes

frustrated – расстроенный, недовольный

internship program – учебная практика, стажировка, интернатура

relevant – значимый, существенный

deal with – заниматься, иметь дело с

rapport – взаимопонимание, согласие

intricacy – сложность, запутанность

enhance – совершенствовать, повышать

foster a career – улучшать

predetermine – предопределять, решать заранее

map out – планировать

list – список

chart – схема, план

envision – предвидеть

keep abreast of – держать в курсе

evaluation – оценивание

insight – взгляд

rough – черновой, приблизительный

relocation – перемещение

accuracy – аккуратность, точность

profile – профиль программы