The Campus Circus - part 1

The fog made sure I was there much later than I would have liked. Drove like the possessed to reach at least 10 minutes before the presentation was due. Not that it really mattered....

I was part of the team my organization trusted to get in the "creators of the future" through the campus placement interviews at a prestigious Hotel Management Institute. It was the third time I have been visiting this very same campus, and I was looking forward to an enlightening time.

Us hoteliers are an obsessive lot. The presentation has to be just the right style, with exactly the perfect pictures and the immaculate ambiance we are known to create in our own worlds namely, the hotels. Maybe that explained why my senior colleague was there fidgeting with the wires, and checking for the umpteenth time, whether everything was "just perfect". This walking-talking brand ambassador of the hotel industry would not take any slackness too lightly. But today, the smile said it all - we were rolling as per schedule and we were looking forward to it - just like the many times we have done before.

The presentation was our stage - and if we were a movie, we would have been a blockbuster hit. The students (some of who started out looking bored, skeptical, and amused) were now eager to see themselves crack the interview code... success round 1!

Finally, we were meeting the students one by one. I am tempted here, to quote a few statements made by the "creators of the future".

My favorite : "I would like to be in Front Office because I think my personality is best suited for that." Ask why again, and you get a winning answer - "Coz I like to interact with guests" A couple more 'Why's from the interviewer, and the end result looks something like the statement below

"I think I look good, and all I like doing is standing and looking important. I dont like to roll up my sleeves and get going. I would prefer just picking up a phone and having someone else do the dirty job. Ofcourse, when its time for the guest to leave, I would be more than happy to ask him if the problem was rectified (by some one else!!)"

Another favorite : "I am appearing for the Management Training Program, as I want to be a manager" Now, this is a tricky one. Ask why and you get answers ranging from clichés to shockers!

Cliché : "I am a person with leadership qualities, can learn fast and... blah blah"

Shocker : "My parents have spent way too much money on my education and hence I can only work as a Manager."

The hospitality industry prides itself on dignity of labor. Tenacity and the ability to innovate are the medals every proud hotelier wears on his heart. As one of my senior colleagues painfully stated - "We went hunting for second hand books which would give us a picture or two of hotel lobbies to stick on to project reports. Our books were too few and too precious to be actually of much use to us and We didn't have the internet to do our assignments. What we did have, was the love of the hospitality world, and the passion for everything that had anything remotely to with Hotels"

Are hoteliers slowly becoming a vanishing breed? More on the same thoughts later!