An internship can be considered as work for a beginner to get some experience. Many organization offers free and paid internships. The idea is to train an individual to learn about particular fields in a practical way. The hospitality industry includes many sectors including event planning, lodging, foods, theme parks, travel, and tourism. That is a lot for one industry.
Hospitality internships are often offered by the top companies of the hospitality industry. However, there is always strong competition among the individuals to go for it. Furthermore, some companies offer free internships just to gain experience and a few others offer paid ones. The most important thing is learning. An individual may prefer an internship with less pay but better learning. In this article, the idea is to list the things that a beginner should look for in a great hospitality Internship.
Important Things to keep in mind for a perfect Hospitality Internship
1. Look for an excellent hospitality brand
Let’s begin with a crucial tip on finding hospitality internships. You need to know the right places and methods to reach out to the right people and the right companies.
Try looking at the career websites of top hotels for internship opportunities. Also, if your college already doesn’t do the job, reach out to the HR department of a hotel or connect to the human resources people on LinkedIn.
The simplest way however is to reach out to your network and ask for a referral. A referrer can help you reach out to top brands as soon as there is an available internship opportunity.
The first thing anyone would love to have from an internship is an excellent learning experience. An intern wants to learn.
A good hospitality firm would ensure a 360-degree learning experience for an intern.
Right from facing customers to opportunities to get trained and work with the best of the hospitality industry.
It is thus advisable to look for the best hospitality employers. Hyatt Hotels have been one of the most popular destinations for interns. However, various other top hotel chains like Four Seasons, Hilton Worldwide, Marriott, and more offer awesome internship opportunities.
2. Look for a Great Leader
A good leader who can happily answer the questions and can bear the mistakes of an intern is ideal. A bossy style leader can ruin the internship.
Therefore, it is important to figure out before the start of the internship who will be the head of the intern.
Try to reach out to a leader on LinkedIn and request an internship opportunity.
OR before taking an internship opportunity check who would be your boss.
Look for compassionate leaders who can make your first experience a memorable one.
3. Keep your CV and Profile updated
If you are not yet on LinkedIn, make a profile now. Also, make sure that your profile is a well-made one.
Whether it’s your CV or your LinkedIn account, please do take care of a few basic things:
- A brief and clear career summary
- Up to date and acurate educational qualifiations and achievement details.
- Clear mention of certificates, awards, accolades.
- Professional profile picture for LinkedIn.
There are many other things that one must keep in mind to have a stellar CV or for an amazing LinkedIn profile. We have covered these in detail through other blog posts.
4. An internship opportunity must facilitate Strong Interpersonal Skills
The basic requirement of an intern is to get strong interpersonal skills. An internship that increases the skills of an intern is ideal.
The reason is that the purpose of the internship is to get some experience for finding a good job. That experience is related to the skills an intern wants during the hospitality internship.
For example, if an intern is interested in the tourism part of the hospitality industry, he must look to do an internship with a top travel company. During the internship, the intern must also be a part of the organizers in order to learn how to manage everything.
A hospitality internship without any learning in terms of interpersonal skills is just like spending time to get a certificate of internship.
The purpose of the internship is to help you make job-ready. Interpersonal skills are the most crucial ones for the customer-facing roles of the hospitality ready. Look out for opportunities that can help you enhance interpersonal skills.
5. Be ready for Multi-Tasking Opportunites
A lot of job roles in the hospitality industry might need you to multitask at times.
Some of the highest-paid hospitality jobs are tailor-made for multi-taskers due to the nature of the hospitality industry.
Thus, while applying for a hospitality job, one of the qualities that might matter a lot is multi-tasking abilities. In other words, a person who can perform many tasks is preferred. One of the reasons is hospitality and many other organizations want to hire fewer people who can perform more tasks.
As mentioned in the Introduction, the hospitality industry covers many different fields including planning, lodging, foods, theme parks, travel, and tourism. Multi-tasking ensures better opportunities and a fair amount of income.
6. Punctuality is paramount
Another very important thing related to the hospitality industry is punctuality.
An intern, like other regular employees, must learn to be punctual during the internship.
Punctuality is the key to success, in the hospitality industry, it is even more important to be punctual.
Think of the Aviation industry. A few minutes delay can cost the company fortunes (at least in terms of reputation and brand).
Likewise, delayed food delivery can spoil the taste and experience of a customer.
An intern is expected to be punctual all the time. This is not even a requirement to get a good job- it is a necessity.
7. Work on your Communication Skills
The hospitality industry will be a lot about public dealings. An intern in this field must have excellent communication skills.
This skill includes how to communicate with the general public as well as the people working with you in the team.
These skills must not be limited to the face to face communication. An intern should be able to write well and explain details to the customer for a better overall experience.
The intern at the later stage of the internship must be capable of proposing and writing his project ideas.
For example, in the case of hotel Sales interns, he or she must be able to give an exciting image of the property and location through storytelling techniques and effective communication.
The intern should be able to convince people in order to close deals.
8. Taking Criticism in strides is important
Interns in every field can do mistakes and hence can be criticized.
They must be skilled to take the criticism in strides.
Especially, in the case of hospitality internships where interns may need to tackle a lot of customers, one can be criticized at any step.
Mistakes by an intern are well expected due to the lack of experience. One should be able to learn from the mistakes and learn from them to improve with each passing day at work.
CONCLUSION
There are many factors a person should look for while joining the hospitality industry. This includes good leadership, self-respect, project management, strong interpersonal skills, multi-tasking, and the ability to take criticism.
A person must consult with some experienced people before taking an internship offer. A great start through a perfect internship will set you up for an excellent future in the hospitality industry.
