We’re living
in the age of choice, freedom and possibilities. The millennial mindset has
transformed the business landscape. Business today is about delivering a great
experience as much as a good product. Businesses are spending millions on
humanizing their brand – and even more on hiring people who can translate that
into the consumer experience.
The companies flourishing the most in today’s
landscape are praised for not just what they’re selling – but how they’re
selling it. And, even more importantly, how they retain their customers
afterward. Good brands sell a good product. Great brands build a relationship
with their consumer and make them feel good for buying their product.
It’s all about the humanity of both company and consumer
Hospitality,
at the very core of its essence, is about making someone feel welcome, at-ease,
and joyous. The way we treat guests in our home is the same way we should be
treating customers – if we want to see them again, that is. If the person
selling you a pair of shoes genuinely listens to you, makes you feel heard and
makes you feel looked after, you’re bound to go back the next time you need a
new pair, or at least tell your friends about it.
If, on the other hands, it was impossible to get any help, or, even worse, you felt like
you were being done a favor by the assistant, you’ll not walk out and never
come back, you’ll make sure your entire network knows to avoid the store, too.
The same principle applies to big-budget corporations. Whether you’re buying a
new sports car, going on a holiday, attending an event or heading off for a
meeting – you’re more likely to remember the way the experience made you feel
rather than what happened. And that’s where the world of hospitality management
truly comes in.
The
hospitality factor – raising humanist, socially responsible entrepreneurs
To break it
down, hospitality management consists of a primarily business focused
education with extra. All in all, a hospitality management
curriculum shares a majority of its modules with a standard BBA. Students learn
marketing, finances, economics, human resource management, law & ethics,
strategy, entrepreneurship and other business fundamentals, with business cases
and special focus placed on hotels, resorts and leisure management scenarios.
What sets hospitality graduates apart from traditional BBA pass-outs, however,
is the ‘hospitality’ factor.
As an
education that focuses on the art of celebrating humanity and all cultures,
students are prepped with a unique skill set. Due to more and more hospitality
brands being aware of their carbon footprint, students learn about
sustainability and environmental issues. As hospitality is a rapidly changing
industry and they’re been prepared for embracing change and working around it –
they’re being given an entrepreneurial mindset. They’re tutored invaluable
soft skills, cultural sensitivity and social responsibility. They’re being
taught people skills like communication, attention to detail, leadership,
emotional intelligence, conflict resolution – plain old simple manners
and savoir-être.
Experiencing
the ‘real world’ while still in college
All too often,
great schools prep up graduates with the best in theoretical knowledge and book
smarts and send them on their way after graduation. Graduates then soon come to
realize there’s a lot more to the real world than just being really, really
good at the theory of business. Reciting the five P’s of
marketing won’t get you that promotion, nor will it help diffuse a stressful
situation at work. Many of us have learned how to navigate the professional
world through trial and error and sheer experience.
It’s normal to
look back at our early years entering the working world and cringe – and that’s
okay. Hospitality management students, on the other hand, are privileged to
have a curriculum that has them spend up to a year working with brands and
corporations before they even graduate. Whether it’s an internship or business
project, the curriculum introduces them to the ‘real working world’, its
processes and hierarchies and social intricacies, giving them a massive leg up
on students who don’t get to experience that until after they’ve finally landed
their first placement.
Better yet, it
also helps students make their mind up on what they actually want to do before
they graduate – saving them the months or even years of post-graduation
professional fumbling students often go through.
A great
starting point for the rest of your career
Hospitality
management shares most of its DNA with a business degree. However, it’s got the
added bonus of actually making a point of teaching its graduates charisma,
charm and sheer likability. As another added bonus, the hospitality and tourism
industry has more than doubled in the last 20 years – and is set to do the same
over the next 20. That’s 1 in every 10 jobs everywhere.
Hospitality
graduates, possessing the skill set of a business graduate with the social
skills of someone with considerable time in the working world, flourish across
banking & finance, event management, start-ups, restaurants, luxury
lifestyle & retail, consulting – and every other landscape that
requires business knowledge and great people skills – which, in
today’s world is almost everywhere.
To keep things
simple, how many 18-year-olds really, truly know what they want to do for the
rest of their life? The answer is not many. And that’s okay. How many of us
still aren’t sure at twice that age? (By the way, that’s also okay.)
If there’s one
thing that would help ease the stress of this part of a student’s and their
parents’ life is knowing that they will have good career options once they
graduate. They’ll have a portfolio of skills that will make them employable and
in demand with employers. They’ll find a livelihood, a good career, and, in
turn, they’ll find their passion. It’s okay to not be sure of the final
destination just yet – but choosing an education like hospitality management
can help you get to some very exciting and rewarding destinations while you
figure it out.
By Kunal Vasudeva – COO and
Founder Member at the Indian School of Hospitality