Alan Stutts | BLOG | Education Author

Restaurants and hotels come in all sizes. Small cafes may have fewer than five employees, while large chain restaurants can even several dozen at each location. A boarding house or bed and breakfast may be run entirely by an owner/manager, while a large resort hotel has hundreds of staff people, some of whom live on the grounds.

This is an industry where most people spend long hours on their feet and spend each day making complete strangers feel welcome and happy. Regardless of size, all establishments are governed by local, state, and federal regulations that affect the minimum working conditions your work under. What makes the big difference in how much you like working someplace is what the owners and managers of the establishment do above and beyond the legal requirements.

For example, in a large, chain restaurant you may have an employee break room and lockers for stowing personal belongings. But working for a small café owner who works side-by-side with you and takes a personal interest in your well-being can make up for having to take breaks in an alley or stash your handbag under the counter.

Now that you have spent time learning about yourself, you need to spend some time learning about the realities of a hospitality career. This phase of your research is not about specific companies, but about the industry or occupation in general. The information you want includes:

Characteristics of individuals working in this field
Values held by individuals in this field
Skills required at entry into this occupation
Knowledge areas / educational requirements
Duties & responsibilities
Working conditions (hours of work, environment, physical demands, level of stress, etc.)
Salary range / compensation
Advancement & promotion
Future outlook
Related occupations

On the Web, you can use O’NET Online (http://online.onetcenter.org/) to find descriptive information about specific occupations, either by entering the occupations title or by entering a list of your skills that are then matched to relevant occupations. You can also enter an O’NET SOC number for an occupation if you know it. In the illustration below you see the detailed report on the occupation “Lodging Managers.”

Wages and employment outlook for each occupation is available on a state-by-state basis. The state information also includes links to a video, and a list of credentials or certificates related to the occupation.
You can get a customized report compares wages and occupational trends between occupations and amongst various cities at America’s CareerInfoNet (http://www.acinet.org/acinet/). Select the section “What it Takes” and then under “Wages and Trends” select customized report.
All of the data in the world cannot tell you all you want to know about a career in hospitality. You also need to talk with people who do the job you want to do. Informational interviewing and job shadowing are two ways to see a job from the inside. In an information interview, you find a person who currently has the position you seek and spend an hour or so asking them questions. A job shadow involved spending a day or two following someone around as they do their job.

Types of Career Tests

There are two primary kinds of career tests.

Performance tests measure how much you know, how well you read and write, how well you learn, and how skilled you are.

Assessment tests measure personal characteristics like interests, work values, and personality traits. They don’t have right or wrong answers; there is no need to study for them.

Assessment tests fall into three categories:

Interest Inventories helps you identify your interests related to the world of work. An inventory can assist you in identifying training, education, or careers with activities that you might like doing.

Work Values Instruments allow you to pinpoint what you value in jobs (such as achievement, autonomy, recognition, support, and conditions of work) and then identify occupations that share your work values and the characteristics of jobs.

Personality Measures help identify your personal style in dealing with tasks, data, and other people. An understanding of your personality helps you to make decisions about training programs, which jobs to apply for, or which career direction to take.

If you already know you want to work in the hospitality industry, work value and personality measures may be the most helpful tests for you. Some such tests, such s the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator, are too sophisticated for you to interpret on your own and you need to have your results analyzed by someone trained in career counseling or psychology.

Preparing for a career is time consuming and costly. Before you embark on college or an expensive training program, you want to be sure your personal values and dreams are supported by the career you are training for. You’ll also want to know if you have the personality for the career you want. If you are already working in hospitality and want to advance, you need to consider how your current skills and experience have prepared you to advance or if you have gaps you need to fill.

Potential employers may require you to take both psychological and performance tests as condition of employment or advancement. Research shows that only one employee in every seven hired after a successful interview delivers well on the job. Assessing behavioral traits can improve hiring success rates to thirty-eight percent. When both thinking abilities and behavioral traits are assessed, the right people are hired fifty-four percent of the time. Adding occupational interests to the assessment increases the rate of successful hiring to sixty-six percent.

You can avoid the disappointment of being rejected for a position or failing to succeed in a position by making sure you are training for the right career and getting the right training for that career.

A management career in hospitality typically means you are responsible for managing staff, managing the business operations, or managing the financial side of things. A general manager manages other managers!
In food service, a manager typically hires, trains, supervises, and discharges the service workers who do the day-to-day work. A manager may also purchase supplies, deal with vendors, keep records, and help whenever an extra hand is needed. An Executive chef oversees the kitchen, selects the menu, trains cooks and food preparation workers, and directs the preparation of food. In fine-dining establishments, maitre d’s serve as hosts or hostesses while overseeing the dining room. Larger establishments employ general managers, who then have assistant managers for each department. Food service managers are often part owners of the establishments they manage.

Lodging establishments employ many different types of managers to direct and coordinate the activities of the front office, kitchen, dining room, and other departments, such as housekeeping, accounting, personnel, purchasing, publicity, sales, and maintenance. Managers make decisions on room rates, establish credit policy, and have ultimate responsibility for resolving problems. In small establishments, the manager also may perform much of the front-office clerical work. In the smallest establishments, the owners-sometimes a family team-do all the work necessary to operate the business.

Job growth in lodging is still affected by the downturn in the lodging services segment since 2000, but things are looking up. In lodging, employment of lodging managers is growing more slowly than other management positions partly due to the trend towards in economy and budget commercial hotels where fewer amenities mean fewer departments to be managed. Managers in mid-scale, upscale, and luxury hotels and in chain-affiliated hotels and motels have more opportunities because of the higher number of management jobs. In chains, managers can also expect opportunities to move into general manager positions at one of the properties or take a corporate job setting policy.

As more Americans travel in recreational vehicles, managers will be needed for an increasing number of RV parks. The increase in casino hotels means more gaming manager occupations need to be filled.
By 2012, the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics expects overall number of jobs in the hospitality industry is to increase to 11.2 million from the 10.2 million counted in 2002 to, an increase of 16.4. By 2010, the industry will need 100,000 more managers each year, to keep pace with the employment growth, according to the National Restaurant Association.

In lodging, employment of lodging managers is growing more slowly than other management positions due to the increase in economy commercial hotels with fewer departments to be managed. Managers in chain-affiliated hotels and motels, however, can expect opportunities to move into general manager positions or corporate jobs.

Owner/managers of small lodging places will not have these opportunities. As more Americans travel in recreational vehicles, managers will be needed for an increasing number of RV parks.

Yes, we just said don’t go over the bosses head. When you and the boss disagree about a decision the boss has made, you have to accept that decision and work within the bosses guidelines. He is the boss and you are not. If you are afraid a bad decision by your boss reflects poorly on your, follow-up a meeting with an email to your boss that summarizes the meeting. State the concerns you expressed, the solution you offered solution, and the decision your boss made. Should it ever come to defending your role in the decision, you have this email.

In rare circumstances, however, you must go to someone else of authority in your company and, in strictest confidence, share your concern with them about behavior by your boss that includes any of the following:

The company is on the line because of the decision or action

Your boss has done something illegal.

Your boss is seriously ill or addicted and is unable to function effectively.

Your boss is committing or permitting sexual or racial harassment.

Once you inform the appropriate person, return to work and let this person solve the problem.

Your boss picked you; you did not pick your boss. Your manager is the second most important person in your career (right behind you) so it makes good sense to find out what you need to do to keep this person happy.

There are a few basic guidelines for building an effective partnership with your boss, one that is productive and offers you the maximum opportunity to achieve success in your job.
The first critical piece of information you need to know is how your boss wants you to communicate with her. If you have a meeting with her on your first or second day and get a chance to ask questions, ask these three questions:

What is the best way to communicate with you - send email, call, or wait for a staff meeting?

When I have a question or a bit of news, should I set up an appointment to meet with you or is it OK to pop in to your office or stop you in the hallway?

How much information do you like to get about a subject? Do you want a brief verbal summary, a short written report, or a formal, detailed report?

Your job is to make your boss look good. This does not mean that you become a “yes woman” or a sycophant with no ideas of your own. It does mean that you find ways to make your team or department successful that does not challenge your manager’s authority or self-esteem.
Successful boss management really boils down to these things:

Figure out your boss’s biggest problems and solve them.

Never go to your boss to present a problem without also presenting a solution.

Always refer to “we,” when talking about yourself and your boss; this creates a sense of unity and shared purpose.

Anticipate what your boss needs and give it to her.

Learn what ticks the boss off and don’t.

Be loyal to your boss and your department and committed to its success. Do not continue debating a decision once it is made and never do it outside your department.

Become an expert in some critical area and share what you learn with your boss.

Stay within your authority; don’t speak for the boss unless the boss tells you to.

Don’t go over bosses head.

How you are perceived by management and your co-workers is affected not just by how well you do your assigned tasks, but by how well you communicate, how tolerant you are of others, how much responsibility you take for the entire department or company’s success, how willing you are to help solve problems and help others, and how you react to conflict or a crisis.

The office is not a democracy; your manager and your manager’s manager and everyone up to the CEO set policy and make assignments that you are expected to accept and carry out. Your success can hinge on how well you do this, even when you feel their decisions may not be the best ones.

Although it is not in your job description, two of your major job responsibilities are to manage your boss and to manage your relationship with your co-workers. Failing to take care of these two duties well can be career disaster.

Don’t do anything to embarrass your mother! The work environment requires good manners. In the hospitality industry, courteous and respectful behavior is a job requirement. The following guidelines apply in all professional situations:

Never wipe your hands on your clothes when eating, burp, put your elbows on table, talk with your mouth full, or overindulge in food or alcohol.

Welcome people appropriately. Greet every person in a group. Offer a firm handshake to everyone. Introduce everyone who is with you.

During a meeting or presentation, listen. Do not whisper to someone when another person is speaking. Do not send text messages via cell phone to the person across the table during a meeting. Do not read a book, get out your PDA to check email, doodle, or gaze into space during a meeting or presentation. Never ask a question whose answer was given while you were not listening!

Answer the phone politely, identifying both yourself and your company. Always offer to take a message for someone else or put the caller through to voice mail or someone else. Repeat any message to make sure it is correct. Ask for the spelling of the callers name to ensure you write it down correctly. Thank the caller at the end of the call.

Don’t leave your stuff allover the staff room or let it spill out of your office or cubicle into the aisles. Don’t hang art work on the wall of a shared office without asking your desk mate if it is OK. Don’t crank up your music until the guy in the next office can hear it.

Be considerate of other people’s time. Arrive at the appointed hour for all meetings. Be brief when it is necessary to interrupt a co-worker to ask a question. Turn off your cell phone in meetings and ignore it if it rings or vibrates while you are chatting with someone in the hall.

Always pay your fair share of a group meal, a cab fare, or a round of drinks. Never borrow money or anything else from co-workers unless it is a real emergency, and pay them back or return the borrowed item as quickly as possible.

Never snoop. Keep your hands in your pocket while sitting in someone’s office waiting.