What’s wrong with our industry? Hospitality as a profession - will it ever be taken seriously?

I love the hospitality industry. I should, I have been immersed in it for 20 plus years. One of my very 1st jobs was in a bar. My flat mate had done a runner and stuck me with the rent. My landlord was kind enough to hold the rent till I found a new flatmate, but I still owed arrears. I was desperate for money. I already had 2 part time jobs, studied full time and lived week to week. I saw an ad in the newspaper for bar staff wanted. I rang and applied and then heard nothing back. Still desperate, I rang to follow up. Some clearly frustrated guy who had no idea who I was, told me to turn up on Friday at 4.30pm. Nervous and excited, I arrive at 4.00pm, was given my uniform and shown how to pour a beer. The same clearly frustrated guy told me not to move from that spot. So my job for the night was to pour beer from the DB Bitter tap. And that is exactly what I did till 1.30am. No breaks, no toilet stops and at the end was told I had been successful with my trial. None of that mattered though. I was hooked and four years later, I was the manager.

So, why the other day, when I told someone what I did, they went “oh” and changed the subject? Why was a young team member upset when a customer said “Don’t worry, you’ll find a real job soon”?

And herein lies the problem. Hospitality jobs are real jobs. But as an industry are we convincing anyone? Will my friends/family be happy if their children tell them that when they grow up they want to be a chef, a barista, a concierge, a hotel manager, a waiter, bar tender, caterer or function manager?

So how do we convince you that hospitality is a genuine career choice?
1. Be professional –Do we supply employment agreements, job descriptions, performance reviews, and staff handbooks?
2. Set a standard – What are the uniform requirements? Do we have a minimum standard of makeup and hair style? Do we use an order of service? Do we teach our staff about what they are selling?
3. Invest in training.  Shouldn’t everyone be trained? Shouldn’t we all have an opportunity to develop?
4. Encourage career development and gaining qualifications.
5. Pay well and offer reward for targets met. 
6. Give key staff the option to buy into your business
7. Are our tertiary intuitions providing quality and value courses? Is the course content relevant? Is workplace training compulsory? Working in a test kitchen is not the same as a fully geared and operational kitchen. Fluffy ducks and blue lagoons are not relevant cocktails.
8. Get rid of rubbish TV shows that depict bad hospitality businesses being fixed by a hot shot chef. This already makes us look like idiots.
9. Consider the generation that work for us. Times have changed. Working all nights/ 70 hour weeks/no breaks are over. Deal with it. We need to offer flexibility and work balance if we want to attract the right people.

What will they get out of a career in hospitality?
To work in an exciting and diverse industry, that could take them any were in the world. An industry where passion and hard work means you can up skill and be a head chef, owner,hotel manager or coffee roaster. The options are endless. You will have some of the strongest problem solving, planning, operational, behavioural assessment, negotiating, sales and team leadership skills which would rival any other industry. You will have an opportunity to be in contact with hundreds of people and no 2 days will ever be the same. You will make lifelong friends and if you are like me, even meet your spouse.