If you work in the hospitality industry, then you will have noticed, like myself, that there is a serious lack of qualified staff. This has been the case for the past few years – I am writing about it now as I thought that the situation would get better, yet it has actually worsened.
I am sure I do not have to tell you that certain unfortunate events have led to the state that the industry is now in. What I am wondering, as I am sure you are, is why the situation has yet to seriously improve and what we can do about it now.
Perhaps we should look back further than we think necessary, to the schooling of our children. I absolutely loved my school, however I was not introduced to hospitality as a viable future career path. In fact, I had no idea how much of an enjoyable and rewarding career it could be had I not decided to work as a waitress whilst I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I landed my first job in a Michelin starred restaurant by happenstance, and after some time in the industry I realised that luxury hospitality is where I belonged. Had I not taken this step and followed my peers straight into university, I may well not be in the hospitality industry today.
Many of my peers share the same sentiment; that hospitality was not a career that they had considered pursuing because they were not introduced to such a career in their early years. Maybe this is part of the problem; if we encourage people to consider hospitality as a career then I am sure we will have more talent to train and mould into our future hospitality leaders.
There are many people who cannot grasp how gratifying a career in hospitality really is, and this is all because they were never introduced to the idea. Thus we must raise awareness of our fantastic industry, not only to students in schools, but also to people who are not sure what career path to take and even those looking for a career change.
This is but the first step in rebuilding and remoulding our industry, and in my opinion a wonderful place to start.
