Every industry requires a specific set of skills to become a successful professional. Hospitality is not an exception to that rule. Of course, it is always open to beginners and learners, but it is a great idea to start working on your professional skillset early on.
If you are a student in Hospitality, college is a great period to develop essential skills to significantly increase your employability. In this guide, you’ll learn all about vital Hospitality skills to work on.
Communication and Language
Communication comes first in this list because Hospitality is all about working with people and providing them with excellent customer service. Great communication skills are crucial to be professional and effective on the job.
It includes both oral and written communication. If you train it, you will be more confident and helpful to clients. You will also be a better team member and manager. As for languages, it is not a usual requirement, but if you know more than one language, it is always a benefit. It can streamline your career in the hotel industry pretty quickly.
It is essential to improve your writing as well. Often students struggle with academic writing as it requires a lot of advanced competencies. But you can always get help from a professional paper writer when needed. Professional academic writers provide guidance and advice, which helps to develop those competencies and become more confident in your writing. Also, they can polish your work or do it completely for you if you need more time for other duties.
Academic platforms assist with all types of college assignments, from an essay to a dissertation. They also provide valuable examples to learn from and become more precise with your wording.
Cultural Awareness
In Hospitality, you might meet people from different cultures and countries. You might welcome guests from all over the world. And it is important to be culturally aware to not make common mistakes or be disrespectful.
Besides being extremely beneficial for your future career, cultural awareness promotes personal development and expands your worldview. Here are some tips on becoming more culturally aware:
- Learn about the cultural iceberg and what it entails;
- Learn by asking others about their culture and how to be respectful;
- Make friends and connections to people from other countries and ethnicities;
- Pay attention to non-verbal communication;
- Observe others and listen to their experiences;
- Be open-minded.
All of that will come in handy in the future and might expand your social circle.
Attention to Detail
Another crucial skill to work on is attention to detail. A good employee always notes small things that might influence customer experience. Some might prefer a table by the window; others have specific food preferences you can remember.
Remembering the specific preferences of regular customers allows for building long-term relationships. If you want to get better at it, try to observe people around you and notice little things about them. This might also be a great contributor to your relations with friends and family members.
Time Management and Organization
These are important for any student, but in Hospitality, they are essential. Often you’ll need to multitask and deal with various tasks at the same time. You might collaborate with vendors, colleagues, and clients at the same time.
Organization and time management can be improved with specific apps, a comprehensive approach, and clear planning. You’ll need to learn how to set goals and prioritize tasks. You also need to know how long processes might take and plan with spare time in mind so that you have a buffer in case of an incident.
Often, you will need to delegate tasks to others or manage work under pressure or with limited deadlines.
Patience and Resilience
It is not a secret that working with people requires a lot of patience. You never know what type of customer you’ll get today or why they might get upset. If there is a conflict or frustration, it needs to be resolved effectively.
A Hospitality student has to train patience and resilience to avoid burnout. It is also quite helpful to get some conflict resolution training. You need to always stay professional and polite, even if the customer is unreasonable. This might be one of the frustrating parts of the job. But when done right, it helps save relations with clients and resolve conflict so that everyone is satisfied.
Teamwork
Whether you are going to be a hotel manager or restaurant employee, you will be working in a team. Teamwork is the foundation of success here. If one is slacking or underperforming, it will affect the whole business. Also, if there is no reasonable management, there might be a lot of confusion in terms of responsibilities and duties.
A healthy and successful team has specific characteristics, namely:
- There is trust between team members;
- Everyone knows their role and responsibilities;
- The communication is clear and effective;
- You work based on collaboration instead of power dynamic;
- Everyone is motivated and committed to the shared goal.
This requires empathy, respect, and communication with others. The best way to train these skills is to work on group projects or join any other team (in sports or hobbies).
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence allows becoming a better communicator, team member, and professional. Emotional intelligence or EI is the skill of the future for hospitality students. It means you can clearly understand and interpret the emotional world around you and act accordingly. It also teaches empathy, accountability, and maturity.
In many cases, it is the basis of professional success in Hospitality. Students can work on it by learning more about Psychology and behavioral patterns. Also, it is helpful to do self-reflecting and work through various emotional issues with others effectively.
In Summary
If you are a Hospitality student, you need to develop these skills to become a great professional after graduation. Providing excellent customer service requires dedication, time management, communication, and teamwork. And your relations with clients are based on emotional intelligence, attention to detail, and cultural awareness.
