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How Women in Hospitality Can Contend For Promotions and Win

Without a doubt, women have come a long way in the workplace over the course of the last fifty years. Once confined to only a few positions that were deemed suitable for them, women are now visible in virtually every segment of the workforce. From construction sites to corporate boardrooms, many of the outmoded stereotypes and social stigmas that once served to segregate men and women in the workplace have been dismantled and discarded.

Despite the considerable progress that’s been made, though, women still face unique challenges in the workplace. Getting recognized and rewarded for a job well done can still be a daunting task in even the most progressive work environments, and it can be a particularly tall order in the hospitality industry, which remains largely male-dominated, particularly in supervisory, managerial, and executive leadership roles.

They say old habits die hard, but sometimes all it takes is a little strategic intervention to help break decades-old traditions that have long since outlived their usefulness. These simple tips may be all it takes to set your career path for success.

Become Indispensable

Women in male-dominated fields often have to prove themselves worthy of promotion time and time again before they’re finally rewarded with opportunities for advancement. Pay your dues. Develop expert knowledge and skills in your chosen field. Cultivate niche talents and abilities that few others can lay claim to. Make your advancement in the organization a foregone conclusion.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due – Even If It’s To You

Connie Glaser, an expert on women in the workplace and author of Swim with the Dolphins: How Women Can Succeed In Corporate America On Their Own Terms, points out that even the most successful women are often hesitant to lay claim to their own successes and triumphs. While humility is a virtue, you may be diminishing the impact of your contributions if you fail to take credit for your hard work. Although it may feel awkward, force yourself to take credit for your successes from time to time, especially during chats with upper-level leaders.

Take Full Advantage of Mentoring Programs, Leadership Initiatives, Company Committees, and Other Networking Opportunities

Carve out the time in your schedule and commit yourself to these types of “extracurricular” activities. In order to maximize your chances of success, never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate your dedication, expand your network, and maybe even learn a few new things in the process.

Perfect Your Pitch

Invest a couple of hours in crafting a short and to-the-point statement that outlines why you are the right candidate for the big promotion. Forego the overly assertive approach in favor of a friendly, factual summary of your accomplishments and qualifications. You never know when the right moment may present itself, so it pays to be prepared.

Take a Long-Term View

If you’re passed over for a promotion that you had your heart set on, take a deep breath — it may not have been the right role for you. Try to adopt a broad view of the organization, your relationship with it, and your future with the company. Fixating on a single “dream job” may close your eyes to other opportunities you hadn’t even dreamed of yet.

Develop A Long Term Hiring Strategy

Too much hiring in the hospitality industry is on an ad hoc, as-needed basis without the type of “holistic,” long-term planning that focuses on the entire organization, instead of one small part, and future as well as current staffing needs.

In the high-turnover hospitality industry, a long-term hiring strategy might sound like an impossible dream, but even the fastest-paced enterprise can benefit from this more “corporate” approach. A more engaged workforce, greater employee loyalty and service, and reduced turnover are key benefits of long-term planning.

At Larkspur Hospitality, a rapidly growing hotel company, long-term hiring strategies are a given. “Larkspur’s objective is to be the first choice among the most talented candidates in our industry,” says president and CEO Dennis Markus. “The company has aggressive growth plans which can only be achieved by attracting the best human capital — people who will constantly strive for new, different, and better ways to contribute. As Larkspur Hospitality grows, we anticipate exciting new professional growth opportunities for our team members.”

Who thinks long-term?

Organizations like Wendy’s and Tim Hortons and the large hotel chains such as Fairmont, Starwood, and Four Seasons, which have a culture of identifying, training, and developing their talent tend to use a long-term approach, says Jordan Romoff, vice president of Lecours Wolfson, a leading North American recruiter of hospitality executives, managers and chefs. “They tie ‘people development’ into the long-term strategic plan and will generally be the most successful in meeting their current and future needs. If this is done, then recruitment, retention, and succession planning almost take care of themselves.”

Larkspur’s answer is to offer attractive rewards for long-term loyalty. The company offers everything from a variety of insurance plans to attractive matching pension plans and from recognition programs to discounts on company services and products. Their long-term strategy is clearly to provide careers to talented job seekers.

What about smaller operations?

Not all operators in the hospitality industry have the deep pockets to offer such a comprehensive package of benefits. Some pay minimum wages in positions with high burnout. Others hire “reactively” when they see obvious cracks in their organization. But they can still adopt some of the winning elements of the big guys.

It’s not difficult to establish a long-term hiring strategy even in the highest turnover hospitality sectors, says Romoff. “By developing a metric/system that identifies ‘talent’ and ‘fit’, your turnover will decrease. The caveat is that an organization must reach a certain size to provide growth opportunities, which can be difficult to do in a Mom and Pop operation or one-off. The smart organization will look at the equation of happy employees = happy shareholders = high profits = happy guests.”

Long-term hiring tips

Smart employers in the hospitality industry know that to find the most professional job seekers, they have to think long-term and be professional in the way they lead and manage.

The Objective: Tell Your Potential Employer Where You Want to Be

Your objective is the first thing prospective hospitality employers see on your resume, so it must grab them from the start and encourage them to read on. An objective is a brief, no more than 20-word statement of your personal work mandate. It must walk a fine line between being too general and too specific. Too general, and an industry employer will pass you over for someone who seems more qualified. Too specific, and you might limit your options for employment in an interesting, thriving business.

Says Peter Shrive, a partner with Cambridge Management Planning Inc., “You want to give the reader a general idea of what you’re about, but at the same time the objective has to be as specific as you dare. It has to tell prospective employers what you want, where you’ll be the happiest and therefore the most productive. It’s the first opportunity on your resume to give the reader an idea of who you are and where you want to be.”

Tailoring your Objective

Nothing is worse as an objective than a total generality. If you’re going to be general, you might as well write, “I’m looking for a job,” says Shrive. At the other extreme is a mistake many job seekers make, of using meaningless corporate jargon, such as “I want to use my excellent skillset to grow your business.”

Chef/consultant Gary E. Miller, who has worked in the restaurant industry for more than 25 years, has been on both ends of hiring: as a prospective employee and a hiring employer. “One objective I used to put on my resume was ‘to produce top quality food in a top quality kitchen.’ It’s very much to the point of what you need to do.”

For several months he’s been hiring staff for the rapidly growing Firkin Group chain of pubs and family-style restaurants. Sifting through hundreds of resumes, he’s found most objectives to be too general and non-descriptive. “I received a resume for a training position as a cook,” he says. “It didn’t meet any of the criteria. The objective said: ‘Seeking a position where my skills and experience can be fully utilized.’ The objective needs to be really clear. If they don’t have the resume to back it up, they must say they really love the restaurant industry, they have spent time in the business, and have the interest and a willingness to learn.”

Your objective, like your resume, should change with each job posting. A one-size-fits-all approach will give recruiters the impression you’re mass mailing for jobs. Your experience and skills are facts you can’t change, but, advises Peter Shrive, you can adapt them to the particular hospitality posting. Also, if your career goals have changed, you must ensure your objective reflects the fact you’re ready for a change. For instance, if you’ve been a server for 10 years but want more challenges, your objective is where you tell prospective employers you’d like to be a restaurant manager or maitre’d.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The right objective will make recruiters and HR managers put your resume on the must-interview pile. Here are some examples of objectives to avoid and others to adopt, offered by Peter Shrive:

Bad

I want to use my skills to make your company better.
To participate in the strategic leadership of a progressive organization.
To gain a position of increasing responsibility that will highlight my expertise.

Better

To apply my sales background to increase the bottom line of a boutique hotel.
To work directly with customers in the hospitality industry.

Best

A career as a front desk clerk serving customers in a major international hotel chain.
Employment as a sommelier in an upscale (50 table-plus) downtown dining establishment.
Work as a server in a busy suburban, family-oriented eatery with potential for advancement to management.
I am a Cordon Bleu-trained chef seeking an appointment as a chef in a restaurant featuring fine French cuisine.

Taking the time to hone your objective will not only communicate your hopes and desires for employment to prospective employers, but it will also help you focus on your entire resume. Short, sweet, powerful – that’s a winning objective.

Ready to Relocate

The heat continues to turn up in the highly competitive hospitality industry, as employers look farther afield for qualified candidates to fill a variety of positions.

In her testimony recently to the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Valerie Ferguson, former chair of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said, “When Disney Hotels was recruiting workers for its hotels and restaurants in Orlando, company representatives traveled to Pittsburgh, Rochester, New York, and San Juan, Puerto Rico offering $1,500 relocation bonuses and a $100 airline ticket to anyone who would work for Disney for at least one year.”

The Omni Hotels chain on its website includes “relocation allowances” as part of the package of benefits. And it’s not just hotels upping the ante to attract job seekers. Restaurant chains, catering operations, attractions, resorts, and institutions, among others, are all spreading the word: no matter where you live, we’ve put out the welcome mat for you.

This is great news for job seekers in the hospitality industry. In the “old” days, according to recruiter Peter Shrive, partner with Cambridge Management Planning, relocations were most common at the upper echelons. Employers advertising such high-level positions as general manager, chef, sommelier, and food and beverage manager cast their nets wide to attract the best candidates. But today, with so many centers suffering extreme labor shortages, ads for job seekers willing to relocate are becoming increasingly common.

Getting the word out

So how do you communicate your willingness to relocate for that special hospitality job? First, even before you present your credentials, advises Shrive, you must tell your prospective employer that you’re available to move because you’re looking for career advancement. “Cardinal sin #1 is dissing your current employer,” he says. “You have to be aware of the fact you might be perceived as a transient instead of a genuine career builder, so you must impress any prospective employer with the fact you’re willing to relocate strictly for a career opportunity.”

Once you’ve decided to go, then you need to prepare these documents: a compelling cover letter; a rock-solid resume that shows you in the best possible light, containing the reasons you should be offered career advancement; and a blueprint of where you want to go in your career once you make a move. As with any job application, the purpose of your cover letter is to encourage the employer to read your resume; the purpose of your resume is to open the door to an interview.

If your cover letter and resume are written properly, most employers will admire your initiative and open the door to the all-important interview. Be prepared to address the issue of why you’re relocating: desire for career advancement will work in your favor; the desire to get away from an unhappy job situation will only raise suspicions.

Chances are, if you are hired, your new employer will offer to pay your moving expenses, offering a flat fee, compensation for your exact costs, or a relocation or signing “bonus”. As the hospitality industry continues to heat up, you can expect more and more enticements if you’re willing to relocate.

Tips to massage your cover letter and resume

Peter Shrive offers these pointers to job seekers ready to make a move:

Do your research. Let’s say you want to be a bartender with a restaurant chain in another city. Demonstrate in your cover letter that you understand the operation and that you’re willing to relocate to work with this chain. Use language like: “I’m ready to move and I’m qualified to relocate for a bartender’s position with your chain.”
Make your case for career advancement. Let prospective employers know you want to move up the ladder in their organization. For instance, “I’m planning to relocate to your city and I’d like to work for you because your hotel offers the career opportunities I’m looking for.”
Keep it professional. Employers don’t need to hear why you’re relocating. A simple line in your cover letter, like “I am moving to Denver on June 19” is all you need to say, followed by “I’ve attached my resume as I’m interested in pursuing employment (or replying to a job ad) with your food service operation.
Indicate your willingness to pay your own way for an interview. Let prospective employers know, “I’d be happy to travel to meet with you.” At the very least, offer to speak on the phone with them. The distance these days should no longer be an issue in getting the hospitality job you seek.
In your resume, highlight your achievements and state up front that you’re willing to relocate or are ready to move now.

Polish your language skills for your dream hotel job

In the competitive hotel and resort employment market, candidates need an edge; a quality that makes their resume jump out from the rest of the pile. In this industry, perhaps more than any other, bi- or multilingualism can easily give you the upper hand over unilingual candidates with similar skills and work history.

International tourism on the rise

International tourism is a huge industry, contributing billions of dollars to the world economy. According to the World Tourism Organization, international travel to North America increased by an amazing 5.8% in 2005. The number of visits made to the UK by overseas residents in 2005 was the highest ever recorded – 30.0 million, with visitors spending a record £14.2 billion! International travelers clearly want to get out and see the world.

Hotel and resort companies realize that as this diverse group of guests travels from Greece, France, Japan, Germany, and other countries to vacation, they appreciate the comforts of home in their hotel and lodging accommodations. Sometimes a friendly “Hello” in their own language is enough to make the hotel stay a positive, memorable experience for a traveler.

Why employers need your language skills

The guests’ experience is enhanced when they have someone to turn to for restaurant recommendations, directions to popular landmarks, and advice on using public transit, among other vacation concerns. Employers realize the value of providing these seemingly small, but very important, services to their guests.

According to Dennis McMonigle, director of Human Resources at the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver, Colorado, “In our industry, customer service is what it’s all about, and the ability to communicate effectively with customers, as well as co-workers in their native language, is a valuable asset in our recruiting strategies.”

Bilingual hospitality workers in the United States are in such great demand that in 2005, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced nearly $2.6 million in grants to train hospitality staff, with an emphasis on providing English language training to those fluent in other languages. “The fast-growing hospitality industry is very much in need of skilled workers,” She commented, “Thousands of workers will benefit from the outreach, English literacy, and occupational skills… possible through these grants.”

Bilingual hospitality workers are promoted more often

Working in the hospitality industry offers employees the chance to travel and see the world while building their careers. As a result, hotels are often diverse workplaces and may employ staff from many different countries. Employees who speak other languages and understand the cultures of their coworkers are attractive candidates for management training and promotions, as they are able to communicate effectively with diverse staff.

Hotel employers often pay multilingual employees a better wage and consider them first for promotions. Bilingual candidates also find it easier to enter the job market and change jobs more easily, says Ghislain Savoie, Chief of the Social Research Group for the Department of Canadian Heritage. In the United Kingdom, the international and culturally diverse workforce, especially in the hotel and resort industry, makes bilingualism in the workplace a huge asset, especially among supervisors and managers. 40% of all Chinese women and 33% of Bangladeshi women in the UK work in the hotel and restaurant industries. As a result, the potential for Bengali/English or Chinese/English speakers to receive promotions and move into management is much greater than that of a unilingual speaker who could not communicate effectively with their staff.

Get that job

True bilingualism means that you can speak, read and write fluently in your second language. If you took a few courses in high school but can’t converse as you do in your native language, don’t tell prospective employers that you are bilingual; they will be disappointed if you can’t perform the duties you were hired for.

Most community colleges offer part-time and continuing education language courses. Interacting with others in your language class is a great way to develop and polish your skills. Once you are confident in your new language, don’t stop there! Learning a third language is not as difficult as you might think, especially if the two languages have similarities such as French and Italian.

Highlight your multilingualism on your resume as one of your major skills. You may even have a chance to show off your talent in an interview!

Avoid Appearing Overqualified Or Underqualified

Every job seeker dreads being told that they’re not a good fit for a particular position. In fact, according to Orville Pierson, career coach and author of The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search, many men and women in the market for a new job strictly limit the positions they apply for in order to avoid this kind of rejection.

But in truth, most successful job seekers aren’t a perfect match with the stated qualifications for the jobs they’ve landed. And by writing off large numbers of positions just because you feel you might not be fully qualified for them, you may be severely curtailing the professional opportunities that are available to you.

Of course, employers outline minimum qualifications for a reason. You can’t expect to land a head chef position if the sum total of your kitchen experience is one summer as a part-time line cook. On the other hand, if you’ve got years of experience under your belt, it’s probably safe to expect that applying for an entry-level position is going to raise a few eyebrows.

In the Middle? Make the Leap!

In short, if you’re vastly under or overqualified for a particular position, it’s probably not worth your time to apply for it. But if you, like the majority of your fellow job seekers, fall into the grey middle area of the qualification matrix, it may be well worth it to take a risk and apply anyway. Maybe the help wanted ad calls for three years of experience and you only have two, but you also earned straight As in related college coursework. Or perhaps, you’ve got an advanced degree when the job posting calls for an associate degree.

These are the type of qualification discrepancies that can easily be overcome with a bit of planning and strategic thinking. Apply these tips to increase your chances of coming across as the perfect match in your next job interview.

1. Customize Your Cover Letter and Resume for Each Position

This is important for all job seekers, but it’s especially vital if there may be concerns about your qualifications. By tailoring your application materials to each position, you can take the time to frame your experience, education, and other assets in the best possible light. If you’re underqualified, list volunteer experiences, or coursework that pertains to the position. If you’re overqualified, focus only on the most relevant parts of your career.

2. Make Your Salary Expectations Part of the Discussion From the Outset

In many cases, the labels “underqualified” and “overqualified” have to do with the employer’s concerns about compensation. If you don’t have the experience to completely fit the qualifications for a position, make it known that you’re willing to pay your dues and start out with a salary commensurate with your experience. On the other hand, if you have a great deal of experience, but want to change careers or enter a new area of specialization, clearly define your level of salary flexibility at the beginning of the discussion. If the hiring manager’s salary concerns can be satisfied, the importance of qualification concerns will likely diminish.

Emphasize your Unique Potential

Whether you’re underqualified or overqualified for a position, be sure to underscore the fact that you’re in it for the long haul and that you offer the great long-term potential to the organization. What you lack in experience with other employers, you can make up for in on-the-job training, growing into the role over time. If you have a lot of prior experience, point out the ways that you will be able to leverage your accumulated skills and abilities in the new role, improving the organization as a whole in the process.

Project a Winning Attitude

Many employers’ concerns about underqualified or overqualified candidates center on whether your experience (or lack thereof) will alienate you from the rest of the team. If you are a bit lacking in experience, take special care to convey an air of poise, maturity, and professionalism. If you’re overqualified for the position, make sure your interview demeanor is consistent with a humble team player who is eager to learn and fit in. You just might find that having the right attitude is much more important to your future employer than having the perfect qualifications.

The Intent Behind the Behavioral Interview

Thousands of employers in the hospitality industry are forgoing the traditional interview format and are instead opting to use behavioral interviewing, which has grown in usage over the past decade. We live in an economy that demands that potential employees have skills specific to a posted job, as well as transferable skills and the ability to work both alone and as a team player.

Behavioral interviewing differs from traditional interviewing in that it allows the employer to ask what the candidate did do in a past situation, rather than what they would do. An employer searching for a viable candidate for a hotel or resort job wants to know what type of customer service skills the candidate has. An employer needing to fill a position within the food service or restaurant industry wants to know how reliable a person is with respect to quality, sanitation, and safety.

The intent of behavioral interviewing is to give the employer a clear sense of a person’s experiences, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The premise is that asking varied questions will reveal past performances, which are good indicators of future performances.

What are the techniques for interviewing?

Behavioral interviewing models are very different from traditional interview. There are three basic techniques used by employers.

Open-ended questions– these questions begin with “Tell me about a time that you” or “Share with me about a time when” This type of question allows the employer to gain insight into the candidate and will allow for asking further questions.
Closed questions– these questions would be asked to verify data noted on the application. For example, an employer seeking a front desk manager may ask “You have ten years working as a supervisor in Customer Service, correct?”
Why questions– these questions allow the employer to listen to the reason and logic of the potential candidate. For example, an employer doing interviews with chefs may ask “Why did you decide to train at Johnson and Wales, rather than the Culinary Institute of America?”

How should an employer prepare for a behavioral interview?

Employment specialists, such as twenty-year veteran specialist Jennifer Eldridge, of Employment Support Services, suggest that an employer in the hospitality industry begin by looking at the mission statement and vision of the company when creating the questions that can be asked of candidates.

Employers can pull keywords from the vision and mission statement, which state the core value that is held by the company. If customer satisfaction is a keyword; the employer might create an open question such as “Tell me about an experience you had with an unhappy customer.”

After reviewing the vision and mission statement of the company, an employer should review the specific job description of the position being interviewed for. The owner of a reputable hotel and restaurant has stated that he considers punctuality essential to the job, and asks questions such as “Tell me about a time that you were late for work.”

A list of ten or twelve questions should be developed, to prepare for the interview. If the mission/vision statements and job description do not reveal desired values, the following list may be helpful:

Candidate’s knowledge of the hospitality industry and the specific job interviewed for
Candidate’s professional skills and training
Candidate’s ability to work in a specific culture
Candidate’s ability to learn new skills and techniques
Candidate’s work ethic and relational skills
Candidate’s ability to make decisions
Candidate’s organizational skills

An evaluation tool will be essential. Most employers use a simple 1-5 rating scale, with 1 being unacceptable and 5 being excellent. Questions are written, with the desired answer or keywords in bold beneath the question.

Pick the interview team. In general, it is a good idea to include a direct and a mid-level supervisor in the interview. Depending upon the position being interviewed for, the company president or CEO should also be a part of the interview team.

Ask the interview team to review candidate resumes and cover letters. These provide critical information about the candidate. If one of the required skills is attention to detail, take note of whether or not there are spelling or grammatical errors. Weed out the ones that have them. If they have not been detailed when applying for a job, chances are they will not be detail minded at work.

Select the candidate who most closely aligns with the answers that were determined to be needed for success on the job.

You will see results

Making the switch to behavioral interviewing will yield a high level of success for both you and the employee; as well as increase the quality of your company. If you are in the hospitality industry, it is essential that you find viable candidates that will give five-star service to your guests, and behavioral interviewing will aid you in hiring those people.

Mature workers in hospitality: How to stay in the game

After a lifetime of working in customer service positions, Kathy suddenly found herself facing layoffs after her employer decided to hire younger staff who were willing to work part-time versus full-time hours.

Instead of accepting the prospect of early retirement, the 55-year-old decided to retrain through her local Tourism Education Council in an area of customer service she had never tried. Following a five-week course in tourism and front desk training, she quickly found a full-time hotel job in her chosen hospitality career.

“I thought the graduates would have to start at the bottom of the ladder since we were the rookies despite our experience,” she says. “But after I faxed in my resume, I had my hotel interview the next day, and I was working three days later at a hotel chain.”

Mature Workers Finding Steady Employment

Kathy’s experience, it turns out, is becoming increasingly common as mature workers choose to remain in the workforce past retirement or return to part-time and full-time jobs. As people live longer and healthier lives, and with the abolition of mandatory retirement laws, there is a pool of talented candidates who want to continue contributing to society.

The hospitality industry has a critical need for such workers.

The Older Advantage

The advantages older workers offer to the people-hungry hospitality industry are many:

Experience. Many mature workers have already worked 30 to 50 years, so they have wisdom and expertise to offer.
Financial security. They’re empty nesters who have paid off their mortgages, so their financial priorities have changed. They no longer face the same financial stresses as their younger counterparts.
Patience. Because of their vast experience, mature workers have seen it all and done it all, so they’re better able to react calmly to stressful situations.
Work ethic. Today’s older workers come from a background that values hard work for fair pay. They’re loyal and dedicated, and they’re not always looking over their shoulder for the next opportunity.
Flexibility. They’re flexible in the types of jobs they’ll perform and the hours they’ll work.

It was this flexibility that helped get Kathy her hotel job. “In the interview, I looked straight into the GM’s eyes and said, ‘I want this job, and you won’t be sorry if you give me this job. I have the personality and the qualifications. At the same time, I am willing to be flexible enough to do other jobs in your building, if necessary. If the bartender can’t make it, I can do his job. I’m prepared to do whatever it takes at a moment’s notice because I’m a team player.'”

What Older Workers Want

Why are so many mature workers seeking out jobs in the hospitality industry? Hotel, restaurant, resort, and food service jobs offer the kind of flexibility many retirees seek as they change careers or return to post-retirement employment.

This is what motivated Paulette LeBlanc to return to work after taking early retirement at 53. “I stayed at home and raised two daughters. Once they had left for university, I wanted a part-time job that would give me some extra money and allow me to travel,” she says. She also sought a new career that would combine her love of cooking with a desire to work with people. She applied to a nearby four-and-a-half-star establishment, where she helps in the kitchen and also greets guests as they arrive.

“In this day and age, 58 is not old,” she says. I’ve worked all my life, and 58 to me is not old to work with the public. That’s what keeps you young – to be out of the home, to do a part-time job. My dad is 81, and he’s still working part-time. It’s good for the morale to be out with people and not stuck in your home.”

Tips for Mature Workers

Do you see yourself switching jobs or returning to a career in the hospitality industry?

Consider these tips:

It’s not important to stay competitive; it’s important to understand the work involved in the job and then go and sell yourself to an employer based on your talents.
Know your limitations. If it’s a restaurant job requiring heavy lifting, ask yourself whether you’ve got the physical stamina required.
Be clear in your interview. If you’re applying for a hotel job, for instance, let your prospective employer know what hours you’re willing to work.
Know your financial worth. Be prepared, especially in a restaurant job, to accept wages that might be lower than you’re used to.
Be a team player and a good co-worker. If you’re working in a hospitality job where you’re the oldest staff member, remember to respect the other workers. That way, after a while, your age will become “invisible.”

Verbal references: What do employers ask?

References are a way to confirm the details of your resume and cover letter pitch. Everybody knows that past behavior is an excellent indicator of future performance. A good reference will show you are trustworthy, reliable, self-starting, cooperative, and hard-working.

Ask the Expert

Industry specialists tell all about contacting the reference.

“I ask about the kind of employee the applicant was, about the specific job tasks and duties they were required to perform. I ask about reliability, where they excelled, and where they need to brush up on their skills. I also ask if they would be eligible for re-hire.”
-Kate Lain, Human Resources Manager, Pacrim Hospitality Services Inc.

“What did the employee do for you? What was their hourly rate? Did you ever have any issues with attendance, tardiness, work ethic, or professionalism? If/when you did a performance review for them, what did you identify as opportunities for improvement for them? Why did this person leave your organization?”
-Jason Lessman, Manager of Corporate Recruiting, Boston Market Corporation

“We first want to verify the information that you have supplied us. This includes your position, pay, employment dates, and re-hire status. For many companies, this is the official information that is shared with other employees. Of course, we would like additional information from your immediate supervisor. Ideally, we want to know about your work experience, service orientation, and interpersonal skills.”
-Randy Goldberg, Executive Director Recruiting, Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Be a Sommelier: Your love of wine adds value to diners’ experiences

There’s a mystery and fascination to wine that becomes a passion for those genuinely interested in viniculture. Many of these wine lovers, especially those working in the restaurant industry, take the next step to turn their passion into a career as a sommelier.

That’s what happened to Dan Volway, who’s worked at white tablecloth restaurants for the past 15 years, 11 of them as a sommelier. He fell in love with the restaurant business when working part-time in a restaurant during university. His love of wine culture grew to the point he decided to become a professional.

“The majority of people in it have a passion for wine,” says Volway. “It drives a lot of people, even those who aren’t in the business but are just passionate about wine. The more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. As a sommelier, you’re always discovering new things.” Today he consults the upscale Rain restaurant and also teaches sommelier courses at George Brown College and Niagara College.

Roger Vieira, food and beverage manager with Liberty Entertainment Group, became a sommelier in 1990. His passion for wine was ignited 18 years ago as GM of a Centro restaurant. “I was very involved in managing and scheduling, and I was very interested in food. I increased our wine list and had a basic knowledge of wine, but not detailed. I thought I should learn more about it. Not too many in the restaurant business at the time understood wine. People were just looking at the price to determine whether the wine was any good. I felt I wanted staff to be able to answer questions from diners.”

A desire to find out more turned into a lifelong love affair with wine for both Volway and Vieira.

Who’s a sommelier?

According to Joseph Miller, president of the International Sommelier Guild (ISG), the profile of sommelier is evolving. It used to be mainly males over 45. Now it’s 50/50 men and women, half under age 40. The profession traditionally appealed to more mature workers, but say both
Volway and Vieira, that’s changing as the general population’s interest in wine grows, thanks to gourmet magazines, the internet, and TV food shows.

In the past, sommeliers hailed mainly from the hospitality industry, but that, too, is changing, and today’s grads of certification courses also come from retail and production backgrounds.

What skills do you need?

Wine knowledge is a given. But the presentation of that knowledge is even more important. There can be an intimidation factor when the server asks whether diners want to speak to the sommelier. “What’s made me successful is being able to be approachable and to share that knowledge with staff and guests in a way that’s not intimidating,” says Volway. “There are a lot of wine snobs out there, and that’s not good for the image of wine. My approach is that I want people to drink and enjoy wine.”

What does a sommelier do?

Like so many other careers in the hospitality industry, a sommelier’s hours can be long. Your day might not start until 2 p.m., when you review your inventory, meet with suppliers, and arrange to taste wines. Before the dinner crowd begins to arrive, you get ready for seating and go over the wine list with your staff. Then you work the floor, seeing to diners’ needs and romancing the wine menu. Your day might not end until 1 or 2 a.m.

Much of the sommelier’s work is back of the house. You:

Purchase the wine and create the wine list, working closely with the chef to ensure the wines coordinate with the food.
Suggest to the restaurant owner what to buy, based on menu, price, and value.
Take care of inventory management.
Handle staff training and management. Since the sommelier is only one person, the staff must also be knowledgeable about the wine list. That means holding daily or weekly staff briefings before the shift to discuss how to incorporate wines into the meal. Trained staff can increase wine sales by 20-30%.
Educate staff. If there’s a wine producer in town with new products, the sommelier will often bring that person to brief employees.
Organize staff to visit wineries. You’ll want to refresh your own knowledge through special winery tours in Europe and North America.
Attend tastings and encourage your staff to attend, too.

Where to find out more

Court of Master Sommeliers

The Court of Master Sommeliers was established to encourage improved standards of beverage knowledge and service in hotels and restaurants. The first successful Master Sommelier examination was held in the United Kingdom in 1969. An American chapter was founded 10 years later. By April 1977, the Court of Master Sommeliers was established as the premier international examining body.

International Sommelier Guild

The ISG is a licensed vocational school that currently provides sommelier training in more than 20 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces.