We are well aware that the hospitality industry is one of the biggest employers in India and around the world. We can all agree that competition is tough and to be extremely successful, you need to do things differently and be unique, passionate and innovate at the same time. This, I believe is alot of work. With proper planning and focus you can, however, achieve your dreams and a successful career is few years away.
In this post, I will share few important and useful factors that can help you build an amazing career in the hospitality industry.
So, let us begin .................
Career Planning is all about creating a long-term goal for your career, and then thinking about how you’ll achieve it.
However, before you can know what you want to do in the long term, you need to reflect on your current situation.
What are you good at?
Where do you need to improve?
What opportunities are available? And, Are there factors beyond your control that could have an impact on your goals?
To begin the process of introspecting, we can work on our
SWOT Analysis
By using this tool, you can gain a better understanding of where you are now, and you can think about where you want to go.
SWOT Analysis as the name suggest mentions the Strengths and Weakness of an organization, and identifies the Opportunities and Threats that it faces.
Just as it is important for hospitality organizations, it’s also useful when you apply it to your own situation.
By knowing your strengths, you can focus your efforts on the things that you’re good at. And, by understanding your weaknesses, you know what to avoid, what to improve, and where you need to get help.
Taken together, your strengths and opportunities help you identify potential long-term career goals.
Your weaknesses, and the threats you face, are the things that need to be managed, mitigated or planned for, to ensure that your goals remain achievable.
To conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis, you ask yourself a series of questions about your current situation and then work on answering them.
STRENGTHS
When thinking about your strengths, don’t limit yourself to your professional skills. Explore all of your experiences, and the opportunities that you’ve had to grow and develop. This includes your education, aptitudes, personality factors, and interests.
Ask yourself the following questions:
•What are you really good at?
•What skills do others recognize in you, and what do you get rewarded for?
•What do you do better than most people you work with?
•What are you most proud of?
•What experiences, resources or connections do you have access to that others don’t?
Remember to ask your friends and colleagues to list your strengths as well.
We often downplay our own abilities and capabilities, so this is a great way to get more ideas. When you learn where others think you excel, it can be a real boost to your self-esteem!
WEAKNESSES
Here, you have to mention the things that you’re not so good at, or the areas where you can improve your performance.
When you list your weaknesses, you can reduce or manage them, so that they don’t stop you achieving your goals.
We all have our weaknesses and it is also said that "to err is human", so make a list of weaknesses.
The trick is to recognize them and manage them appropriately. Also, don’t be too self-critical. If you’re fair and forgiving about other people’s weaknesses, make sure you forgive your own, too.
To complete the Weaknesses section of your Personal SWOT Analysis, use the following questions as a guide:
•What skills do you struggle to master?
•What do you do only because you have to, in order to satisfy job requirements?
•Are there one or two aspects of your personality that hold you back?
•What do other people most often identify as your weakness?
•Where are you vulnerable?
•Where do you lack experience, resources or connections, where others have them?
OPPORTUNITIES
Now that you’ve reflected on your strengths and weaknesses, you need to focus on understanding the opportunities that are open to you.
Ask yourself:
•In what ways can you take advantage of your strengths?
•What opportunities are open to people who do these things well?
•What would you love to do that you’re good at?
•How can you minimize your weaknesses?
•Where do you see the most potential growth for yourself: within your current company, in a different organization, in another industry, or in a separate career entirely?
•What trends are having an impact on your current career, or on the one that you’re thinking about pursuing?
THREATS
Finally, reflect on the things that could derail your success.
Although threats often can’t be directly controlled, they can be planned for.
That’s why it’s so important to identify as many of them as possible.
It is possible that thinking about threats will cause you worry and stress. However, you will likely experience more anxiety if you don’t consider them, especially when they start becoming more significant.
Remember, a threat loses much of its impact when it’s managed and prepared for.
Ask yourself the following questions to uncover potential threats:
•Are there any general threats that you need to think about?
•If you don’t address your weaknesses, what problems could they cause?
•What setbacks might you face?
•What obstacles have other people overcome when they’re trying to get to where you want to go?
