December 2019
Opinion
Career Progression
M D Warrier, managing director at Bin Eid Executive Search, gives us an in-depth look into recruitment challenges and the best ways to overcome them A department head from a reputed hotel approached me with a lot of frustration and told me he wanted to resign: “Too much politics and partiality. No promotion,” he lamented. "How long have you been working with this organisation?" “Twelve years," he answered. “In this role, around four years," he added. "I’m not getting a promotion, only the minimum yearly increment.” "Why are you not getting promoted?" When I posed this question, he expressed his dismay, disappointment and frustration for almost 10 minutes. I realised he wanted a clear hearing. “Are you worthy of a promotion? He was bit uncomfortable with my question. “I work very hard," he said. I felt like he needed some guidance and started probing the causes in a subtle way, asking him if he could explain his typical working day as well as his activities on off days. His description of his working day was quite normal. On his off days, he goes to the beach in the morning and spends around three to four hours, then comes home for lunch. His afternoon nap is two hours long. In the evening, he takes the family out for an outing: a movie, the park or shopping. “When do you get time for yourself and your professional development? Do you read books? When did you last read one?" He had no answer.” Do you subscribe any newspapers or professional magazines? “No I read online. Otherwise, all negative news. There’s nothing interesting?" he posed. After careful review, I realised that he was just repeating the same experiences, and not enriching his professional domains. In the
rapidly changing business and professional environments, he’s not equipped and prepared to face factual challenges." “Do you watch any self-help videos on YouTube?” “To be very frank," he said with an uncomfortable smile: “I watch films and I’m always very much interested in jokes. My friends share many on Whatsapp." “How much money do you spend on self-development.?” I probed. “For the past eight years, I have not even purchased a book.” He continued: “I’m really good at what I do, and attend in-house training programmes, etc.” “How old are you?” He’s 49. “Do you know that you’re already far behind in your career path? Many of your
classmates are probably GMs.” "Many of my classmates became GMs before they were forty. I’m still an F&B Director." I then told him all about selfdevelopment programmes, GM training modules by Cornell and other relevant institutes, goal-setting and the importance of reading. He needed to stay abreast with the industry changes, including technological ones. I also advised him to spend minimum 30 minutes per day to read relevant professional materials and gradually increase the time to one hour daily. I stressed: “Learning is absolutely necessary if you want to grow both professionally and personally.” To be continued… Hotel & Catering NEWS ME
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