F&B staff and execs are the most in demand these days

Help, Tarun!

Jumping Jobless

The last 12 months have been a time of mixed emotions for C.K. Baljee, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Bangalore-based Royal Orchid Hotels, one of the youngest hospitality chains in the country. While on the one hand, he's in the midst of setting up around 10 properties across the country, on the other, he's chewing his fingernails to the skin as he tries to solve the problem of finding enough people to run the hotels he is establishing. Baljee, however, is hardly alone in the race to recruit and retain people in an industry that is estimated to be growing at around 18-20 per cent annually. With the industry expected to add around 50,000 rooms in the next three-to-five years, hoteliers are rapidly discovering that people just may be the most important cog in their business.

"There is massive demand for people across the board, but the most acute requirement is seen in food and beverage (F&B)," says Baljee, who plans to add around 300 rooms in the next 12 months to the chain's 460 room inventory. Besides expanding at its HQ in Bangalore and New Delhi, the group has just opened a hotel near Mysore and plans to enter markets such as Hyderabad and Pune. Other groups such as the Leela, meanwhile, have laid out plans to add another 1,500 rooms over the next three years. "Human intervention is critical in the service sector, hence experienced professionals are always in demand, all the more in the current environment of robust economic growth which is driving growth in the hospitality and travel business," says the Leela Group's Vice Chairman and Managing Director Vivek Nair. Apart from F&B specialists, therapists, spa managers and front office and sales pros are also in demand, say hoteliers and headhunters.

While there may be a huge demand for people (some optimistic chief executives estimate that the industry will recruit over 200,000 people in the next 18-24 months), average starting salaries, which are actually quite low and long, erratic hours of work remain strong deterrents to being employed in the hospitality industry. "Entry salaries would be around Rs 6,500-8,000 a month, but senior managers, especially people who are heads of properties would earn upwards of Rs 30 lakh a year," says E. Balaji, Executive Director, Ma Foi, a Chennai-based hr Consultancy. "Increments are in the region of 10-12 per cent and bonuses are productivity linked and could be in the region of 15-25 per cent of the fixed salary." Rather than pay alone, says Anil Madhok, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels and Resorts, "you have to enjoy the hospitality industry to be in it" and the long hours and relatively low-pay are "compensated more than adequately" as you rise up the ladder.

Of Hiring and Poaching

While the hospitality industry may be in the midst of a previously unseen boom, it is also unfortunately, a happy hunting (or poaching) ground for other sectors. "There is more turnaround of talent (read attrition) at the entry level in areas like sales and front office," says Leela's Nair. "There are several service sectors like airlines, cruise companies, BPOs, telecom companies and banks which hire from the hospitality industry," he adds.

The industry itself hires from without only at middle and senior levels. Royal Orchid's Baljee claims that a hotel management degree or diploma continues to be a pre-requisite at the lower levels. Some companies, such as East India Hotels, the company that owns the Oberoi Chain, run courses (for those who have been through high school) to satiate their own requirements. "The Oberoi Group is in search of people who really like people, even if they are not always likeable," says a spokesperson for the chain, which plans to add another 12 properties to its portfolio. "Guests may occasionally get upset, even angry and emotional. People who have the service ethic at the core of their being are able to deal with such situations with confidence and assertiveness."

...but demand is also increasing for scarce spa personnel...

However, it isn't just about finding the right people for conventional areas such as F&B, but zeroing in on the right personnel for emerging areas such as wellness and health that are proving to be a bigger challenge. "Trying to retain therapists and spa managers is a huge challenge since there are many (potentially more lucrative) opportunities for them overseas," says Vinita Rashinkar, Spa Director for the recently established Windflower Spa and Resort, Mysore. Like several other hospitality start-ups, Windflower has struggled to keep masseurs and managers from moving to the high-paying West Asian and European markets. "Retention is achieved through competitive emoluments, training, aggressive career mapping and exposure to interesting assignments," explains Leela's Nair. For wannabe hoteliers this means that as you go up the organisational chain you could also look not just for interesting job opportunities within India, but as chains such as the Oberoi and Taj (Indian Hotels) expand overseas, even at sought-after destinations such as London and New York.

New Opportunities

While the hours may be long and erratic and starting pay relatively low, the shortage of qualified people means that rapid internal promotions are the norm and the chances of managing a property individually, even a region, are bright. And while a chef would begin right from the bottom (chopping, cutting, barbequing and grating, irrespective of the school he/she graduated from) the best of breed rise up to running a kitchen, perhaps a restaurant. Many aspirants shell out for exorbitant hotel management degrees from overseas institutions, but the industry itself is divided on their utility, with some placing them on par with those offered by local institutes, while others contend they offer an edge in the job market. "Indian hotel management degrees/diplomas are today no less to the ones being offered abroad," says Royal Orchid's Baljee, whose chain also runs the Presidency College of Hotel Management, while Leela's Nair counters that "degrees or education from international catering and hotel management schools are welcome, especially when they come with experience of working in different environments."

...as it is for front-office execs and managers

The boom in alternative tourism is also opening up new vistas for those looking for a job in the industry. In the sphere of eco tourism, for example, there are emerging opportunities for people with experience in actually setting up new resorts and acting almost as a pro-tem coo. While large chains are slowly getting into this area, many resorts and retreats continue to be owned by entreprenuers, who are willing to give youngsters a go at running their properties. "Youngsters are more energetic and dynamic and this is useful when the day starts as early as 4 a.m.," says Tiger Ramesh, a techie-turned-hotelier and CEO, Wilderness Resorts.

With the demand for people in the hospitality industry reaching a high, several unseen walls are also being broken in the pursuit for personnel. For example, hotels today are breaking through a previously unseen gender wall and hiring women as chefs and men as masseurs. In addition, specific academic requirements are being cast aside in some fields such as naturalists where the requirements are urgent and people scarce. "There are very few colleges that teach you to be a naturalist, and we have to look for people who have an eye for nature and teach them hospitality skills on the job," says Ramesh.

COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!

Q: I am a 23-year-old commerce graduate with an MBA (HR), working as a recruitment and training executive in a private insurance firm for two years. My true interest lies in HR and I always wanted to shift to development and training in the domain of Six Sigma. Please advise.

Since you already have an MBA, look for a job (either within your company or outside) that has a management development angle to it. But with your limited experience, you will have to start at the entry level. Also while Six Sigma is great, you need to figure out whether in the long term you want to be a specialist in it or a generalist. Select your future employer and career path carefully to meet this ambition.

Q: I am a 23-year-old working in a bank. I've done MCom and am currently pursuing a part-time MBA. I'm quite unhappy with my present job as it doesn't pay well. Now, I want to switch to marketing. I live in a small town where there aren't very many educational institutes. Please help.

You could get into sales of financial services. Unless yours is a very small town, you will have firms selling insurance, loans, etc. Or apply for jobs in towns with better prospects. A part-time MBA from a little-known institute will not catapult you into something big overnight. You will have to work your way through it.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055..

Jumping Jobless
The first labour-ecosystem based ranking of states by Teamlease makes the case for massive job creation.

The world is now more than aware of the demographic revolution happening in India and the special gains that it will bring for the country. As of 2001, according to temping major Teamlease, the bulk of the population was in the 20-59 age group (486 million). However, the working age population in the 20-59 years group by 2020 will be over 761 million.

Even today, about half of all Indians (about 567 million in 2006) fall into the 20-59 age bracket. The 761-million-by-2020 figure means that the working population will account for 56 per cent of the country's overall population of 1.35 billion. With agriculture accounting for 73 per cent of employment (currently), the central government and the governments of the states must focus on boosting non-farm employment. That is easier said than done, says the report, raising labour demand takes five years and improving labour supply probably needs fifteen years. As for the ranking, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra make up the top five. Bihar is last if one leaves out Jammu and Kashmir.