Career Path Plan and Visual Representation
Tourism and hospitality careers will always be at the top because they are never-ending. As look as people keep travelling, and new receipts are introduced in the food industry, more skilled individuals will be required in this field. Tourism deals with activities that attract visitors, while hospitality focuses on the provision of accommodation, travel, and restaurants. My objective is to improve my skills in hospitality, tourism and events.
Part A
I would like to hold a position in a hospitality career so that I can be of more service to the community. Hospitality is a broad career that involves accommodation, catering, entertainment, cruise operators, travel agents and apartment services. Given the fact that I have skills in hospitality, tourism and events, it will be easier for me to secure a job in one of the big hotels.
To achieve the above objective, there are several job roles that I can get involved with which include: concierge, event planner, executive chef, hotel general manager and housekeeping.
A concierge is one of the most interesting tasks when it comes to hospitality. This is because they interact directly with the clients in order to provide them with the services they might need. In most of the hotels, this is an entry-level job because it is each even for the new employees (Sumner & Quinn, 2017). One of their duties is to welcome visitors when they arrive at the hotel and confirm their reservations. For those guest that might need assistance, they are always available to offer the assistance required. The most vital responsibility is that they have to understand the customer’s needs by providing solutions and suggesting activities and other facilities available at the hotel. Even planner, on the other hand, is in charge of planning all the events that might take place at the hotel. They are responsible for event planning and production within a given time. This means that in case of any event at the hotel, they ensure that everything is well planned according to the time frame. Another duty is to organize facilities and other details such as catering, décor, entertainment, transportation, invitee list, specials guests and equipment to be used during the events. They can also provide any ideas that can improve the event quality.
When it comes to the hotel manager, just like the name suggests, they are responsible for recruiting, supervising and training staffs. This implies that they oversee all the operations that take place within the hotel. Another responsibility is managing the budgets where they are in control of all the expenses (Kaur, 2017). They make sure that they come up with the budget for a specified period. They the ones that handle any complaints from the customers. This means that if a customer is not satisfied, he/she can address the manager. The executive chef is primarily found in the kitchen because he/she must ensure freshness, quality and promptness of all the foodstuffs. They also coordinate cooks’ tasks by ensuring that they follow all the instructions, and in case of any problems, they are always ready to provide solutions. Another role is to hire and train the kitchen staffs such as the cooks, dishwashers and food preparation workers. Housekeeping staffs are likely to work within the rooms. This is because their roles entail cleaning the rooms, washing windows, making beds, cleaning and sanitizing toilets and showers, dusting furniture and cleaning carpets, among other duties.
Additionally, a person is likely to develop several skills from the above job roles above. A concierge is likely to have the skills in hotel clerk and be a cruise ship attendant. These skills can help when it comes to interacting with visitors. For the event planner, the skills include event manager and wedding coordinator (Chan et al., 2019). The event manager controls all the operations during, and event and the wedding coordinator ensures that any wedding runs smoothly. Executive chef is likely to have skills in cooking and being a kitchen manager. Hotel manager, on the other hand, entails skills such as back-office assistance and group sale manger. Lastly is the housekeeping where a person can have skills in lead housekeeping and maintenance supervisor. All these skills are very crucial to the progress of my career journey.
The two top Clifton strengths that I might use include good communication and adaptability. One of the jobs identified is a concierge. I can apply the two strengths when communicating with the customers and still be able to adapt to any new environment. Even planning requires workers who have good listening skills and can make any changes at any time (Mohammed et al., 2016). The executive chef spends most of their time with other people which means that with the two strengths, I can create a conducive working environment. When it comes to housekeeping, I will have to follow what the customers want and to do that, I will employ the two strengths. Lastly, it is about a hotel manager. To be the best manger, I must have effective communication skills and be ready to adapt to any changes.
PART B
Generally, the primary role of the concierge is to interact directly with the customers and respond to their requests. In other words, they are the first individuals to interact with customers. A significant number of hotels are designed with conference rooms that they rent out in case of any events. The person who oversees such activities is the event planner. These individuals work with companies or individuals interested to have an event. Executive chef is a managerial role where work is done behind the scene. In other words, the role of an executive chef is to oversee the food operations in the kitchen. The main duty of the hotel manager is to ensure that all the operations are conducted in the right way. This means that he/she must interact with visitors, staffs and the hotel owners. Lastly is housekeeping who are responsible for cleanliness. They not only clean individual rooms but also the hotel compounds (Tjandraningsih, 2018).
The two strengths that I might use in combination during the peak is communication and adaptability. These two skills are very vitals since Concierge, executive chef, housekeeping, hotel manager and event planners need proper communication skills and they should adapt to any changes.
References
Sumner, M., & Quinn, B. (2017). From the concierge to Superman: perceptions of the contemporary hotel concierge in Edinburgh. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.
Kaur, I. (2017). Role of hotel management and catering technology institutes in ensuring food safety. In Food Safety in the 21st Century (pp. 321-335). Academic Press.
Chan, A. P. H. & Tung, V. W. S. (2019). Examining the effects of robotic service on brand experience: the moderating role of the hotel segment. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(4), 458-468.
Tjandraningsih, I. (2018). Working, Housekeeping and Organizing: The Patriarchal System in Three Women’s Living Spaces. Jurnal Perempuan, 23(4), 227-233.
Mohammed, I., Guillet, B. D., Schuckert, M., & Law, R. (2016). An empirical investigation of corporate identity communication on Hong Kong hotels’ websites. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 25(6), 676-705.